 Okay, move out. This Army platoon is winding up a three-day search and clear mission in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Although mud caked and bone-tired, each man is still giving his best. A soldier's performance in the field depends on his training, equipment, and experience. And one thing more that's not so easy to define is morale. The thing that keeps him going when the going gets tough. The morale depends on a lot of things, but there are three there's no doubt about. Together they form a highly personal triangle of support which cannot be seen on the battlefield, but nonetheless makes itself felt in the total effectiveness of the man in his job. This is the story of the Army's never-ending efforts to supply these elements so vital to a soldier's well-being. The story of the Army Triangle is the U.S. Army Food Service Center in Chicago, starting point of the Army Chow Line. Here the master menu used by the entire Army is planned and prepared by a staff of nutrition experts. This staff is constantly striving to devise the best and most appropriate diet possible for use under a wide variety of conditions. Organized on a one-year cycle and employed by troops stationed in every corner of the globe, the master menu provides for different meals every day of the year, thus laying to rest once and for all the old myth about the sameness of Army food. But planning however difficult is one thing, actually obtaining the provisions is quite another. Procurement of the literally hundreds of items in the huge quantities needed is handled by eight subsistence regional headquarters of the Defense Personnel Support Center located throughout the United States. Purchasing agents from these headquarters buy from wholesale suppliers at prevailing prices in the open market. Almost all of the food a soldier has served comes from the United States. Tons of tons of food bound for Vietnam are shipped to the West Coast. There much of it is loaded aboard large refrigeration ships known as reefers. So extensive is the planning that food must be ordered seven months in advance of the time it will appear on a soldier's plate. Preparations for the Thanksgiving meal begin as early as April and all the turkeys are in Vietnam one month before the holiday. When fully loaded, the holds of these reefers will be sealed and kept at low temperatures during the long voyage across the Pacific. The refrigeration compartments are not opened until the ship arrives at one of the four ports in Vietnam where major storage depots are located. Army veterinary teams are on hand to inspect each incoming shipment. Light on the ship samples are taken from the containers and checked for freshness before being sent on their way. Bacteriological tests are also made and if there is any doubt about the food's condition the entire batch is rejected. In keeping with the Army's policy of providing the best and freshest food available a growing percentage of fresh vegetables have been procured in Vietnam itself. Many new areas of land are being brought on the cultivation for the first time. Just as in the States, a procurement team meets with the supplier and inspects his farm facilities. When the produce is ready for harvest it is picked and bad leaves removed by the local Vietnamese. Lettuce, cabbage, radishes and carrots are being grown in the central highlands. Ideal climate and rich soil permit harvesting of crops the year round. Vegetables are packed into crates, weighed and properly secured. The vegetable purchasing program here is not only helping the Vietnamese economy but new businesses have been started up such as the making of crates. Transported to Dalat air strip the produce is transferred to large pallets for easy loading aboard aircraft. Three times a week, big Air Force C-130s airlift the vegetables to American units fighting all over Vietnam. On arrival the produce is subjected to rigorous inspection procedures by the Army vets. The crates are then placed in storage compounds to await distribution. Dalat vegetables may appear in a soldier's dinner as little as two days after harvesting. Despite field conditions, 87% of the meals served in Vietnam consist of A-rations, that is fresh, unpreserved food. One aim of the food service branch is to see that each man gets at least one hot A-ration meal a day, even those engaged in active operations with the ultimate goal being all A-ration meals everywhere all the time. While traditional mess kits are still in limited use, they are now often replaced in the field with something usually more appropriate at a picnic, paper plates. Unlike the mess gear, paper plates need not be washed after use, thus conserving valuable water supplies in the field and also eliminating a sanitation problem. On holidays such as Thanksgiving, the percentage of A-ration meals jumps toward 100 as the Army goes all out to see that every soldier gets the traditional hot turkey dinner with all the trimmings. While the eagerly awaited food is kept hot with insulated food containers, helicopters work overtime, ferrying it to isolated units. On arrival, no time is lost setting up a chow line and in a few minutes it's going full tilt. Thanksgiving dinner, Vietnam style, tastes mighty good and means a lot to men a long way from home. There's no doubt the American soldier is the best fed in the world, but that doesn't stop the Army from searching for ways to improve his diet even further. Nutrition experts have recently come up with a new wrinkle inspired by the special rations used by the astronauts. Here at the jungle test center in the canal zone, the new LRP or long range patrol packet is being checked out. These packets contain full meals such as beef stew and chicken pie. They are not condensed but frozen and dehydrated in a vacuum. The ingredients retain their form and flavor without any further refrigeration and mixed with a little water are fresh and ready to eat. Lighter and packing nearly as much nutrition as the old sea ration, they are expected to see wide use in Vietnam. The Army is attacking the age-old problem of food preservation in still another way, with radiation by subatomic particles. This bacon, prepared and canned in the usual way, is one of several foods now being tested. After sealing, the cans are taken to Brookhaven National Laboratories on Long Island. Here they are encased and lowered into a cobalt-60 irradiation cell. Gamma rays penetrating the can kill the microorganisms which cause spoilage. The radiation also changes the color of the seal on the can, indicating that it has been irradiated. No radiation is retained by the bacon or can. It can be kept indefinitely without refrigeration and tastes as good as ever on a cold morning. For today's widely deployed Army, this technique may greatly increase the selection of food in areas where refrigeration equipment cannot be used. As any cook knows, it takes more than good food to make a good meal. The way it is cooked, the way it looks, and the environment where it is eaten all play an important role. All of these things are the concern of the Army's food service technician. Here in Vietnam, he works with the mess stewards and cooks of the many dining halls in his district, talking over their problems, and seeing to it that the men are not only being served the best foods, but also the most appropriate. Food juice in place of coffee, for example, is proving very popular in the Vietnamese climate, and the food service technician does all he can to see the men get as much of it as they want. The opportunity to express individual preferences in food as in everything else is an important part of a man's morale. Many mess stewards have set up salad bars in the dining halls where the men can mix ingredients and dressing in exactly the combination they like. While the menu may describe a food, it can't tell you how it's going to taste. That's where the skill and training of the Army cooks come in. They know the style in which a meal is cooked can make all the difference. Many are alert to the preferences of the men they are serving, and the chow of a unit from the south is likely to taste that way. One of the Army's most unique examples of mess hall ingenuity can be found at Fort Gullick's School of the Americas in the Canal Zone, where Latin American students hailing from 18 different nations come to study leadership. Working within the confines of the Army master menu, the mess steward and his staff of cooks manage to add a Latin American flavor to a variety of dishes. Salads made of tropical plants and rice are used frequently. Veal cutlets are prepared in vinegar and onion sauce. The result is that even though the normal diet of a Venezuelan from the coastal jungles and a Bolivian from the Andes is far different, they all find familiar and tasty food awaiting them at meal time. The intensive training of an Army cook begins at one of six centers in the United States. Fort Lee, Virginia is the largest and most specialized. Here, during a six-week course of study, the fledgling chefs receive instruction in mouth-watering preparations of desserts, pastries, beverages, salads, and meats. Even a short course in microbiology is included in the curriculum. Admittedly, some of the initial concoctions of these tiros are not very appetizing, but you can't make an omelet without breaking some eggs. As students gain in skill, however, this stage passes quickly. By the time graduation rolls around, the new cooks are ready to head for assignments all over the world. For the Army cook who shows exceptional talent and dedication, there is what might be called a post-graduate course. Some major hotels in Washington, D.C. have opened their doors in a cooperative program with the Army. For eight weeks, a select handful of talented Army cooks are permitted to work with the hotel chefs, among the finest in the nation. Here they learn many sophisticated techniques in the art of food preparation, not the least of which is learning to give their work the all-important quality of eye appeal. When they finish their apprenticeship at the hotel, these cooks will return to practice at an enlisted man's mess, where their skills will benefit the largest number of men. The second side of the Army triangle is mail. Few things can give the soldier the lift of a letter from home. Last Sunday, I drove out to the beach and walked alone, thinking of you. Dad was thinking of fixing the roof again this year, but he figured he better wait till you're back to give him a hand. He's ready to start kindergarten next week, and I think I'm more nervous than he is. Guess that's all for now. Love, Jean. This letter was written just four days earlier in the soldier's home outside a small town in Minnesota. No matter where in the United States, big city or rural deliveries all, the coordinated network of civilian and Army postal services are on the job, carrying the mail as swiftly as possible. To expedite delivery all over the globe, more than 400 Army and Air Force post offices are in operation, scattered throughout 48 countries and territories. If properly addressed, a letter will quickly make its way to one of the three postal concentration centers in the United States. Mail heading for Vietnam is processed at the San Francisco Center, which also forwards mail to men stationed in Japan, Thailand, and the Pacific. Within three hours, a letter can move through the center and be on its way. In the first step of the process, the letters are sorted and broken down according to military APO numbers, and wiped down to individual units wherever possible. Every letter set at the first class rate gets air mail treatment. Tied in bundles and placed in pre-labeled sacks, the mail is ready to leave the postal center. This rapid processing, however, is possible only if the letter is correctly addressed. The first line should include the man's rank, full name, and service number. Below it should be the military unit, written out completely. The last line should include the full Army post office or APO number. Missing any of these things, a letter will almost certainly be delayed at the postal center. Added to the thousands of incompletely addressed letters, which must be examined by the postal service directory to determine the correct address. Packages are also sorted by APO numbers at the center. Secure packing helps to avoid the risk of damage and delay. Many parcels sent with ordinary surface postage will go air mail. If no more than five pounds in weight, nor more than 60 inches in length and girth combined, they will be sent by air on a space available basis. This special service is known as SAM mail, and also includes newspapers and magazines going to Vietnam. Outside the center, mail for Vietnam is frequently loaded into special containers known as igloos. Each can holds upwards of 75 sacks of mail and weighs close to two tons when full. Specially made to fit into a jet fuselage, they utilize every bit of a plane's capacity and save much time in the on and off loading process. Surface mail and parcels too large to qualify for SAM treatment are generally shipped in metal containers known as connexes, which were introduced during the Korean conflict. Traveling across the vast Pacific, mail sent by a ship will require about 40 days to reach a soldier in Vietnam. Meanwhile, the igloos are trucked to the San Francisco International Airport. These huge quantities of mail don't stay on the ground for long. Pan Amalone has 29 mail flights a week into Saigon. Specially designed equipment expedites the loading process, and only hours after it arrives at the postal center, the mail is airborne over the Pacific. Meanwhile, letters and parcels headed across the Atlantic are funneled through the New York Postal Concentration Center. The largest volume of mail processed here is headed for our forces in Germany, more than 10,000 bags a week. Much of it is shipped in a new type container, which is literally a truck trailer. Able to contain the equivalent of several connexes, they can be driven to dockside where the wheels are removed and the container hoisted aboard. These containers have already proven their value in reducing damage, pilferage and loading charges. Even more important, they help get the mail to the service man faster than ever. At the destination, the wheels are put back on and the mail is simply driven away to the nearest Army Post Office. First stop for incoming mail in Vietnam is the Tonsanot Postal Terminal. Working round the clock, military postal personnel cross as tons of mail every day. The peak period is of course Christmas, when facilities are strained to the limit and beyond, as thousands upon thousands of packages pour in from home. Despite the crush, soldiers and airmen at the terminal have managed to meet their goal of getting all gifts and mail delivered by Christmas morning. Some unit personnel come to the terminal by truck and jeep to pick up the mail which has been sorted and sacked for them. Some mail in Vietnam is trucked directly from the terminal to individual units over routes that are safe from Viet Cong attack. But the majority of mail is moved by air from the terminals at Saigon, Cam Ranh Bay and Da Nang. These flights have become known as the Pony Express and are a welcome sight to the men at base camps in outlying areas. Attempts are made to deliver the mail even to units engaged in active operations against the enemy. Not only receiving a letter but being able to get one off is an important plus for a man's morale. One of the most common requests heard by helicopter pilots is, can you carry mail? They usually can, even if they have to stuff it under the seat for the return flight. A lot of letters get their start back to the states on the floor of a chopper dodging sniper fire. At most base camps, there is a post office which handles both incoming and outgoing mail. Nearly always there's a line of soldiers sending things to the states. Postal money orders are very popular as many men send a good part of their pay home. A soldier's pay makes up the third side of the army triangle. Prompt, regular, accurate and dependable, it means more to a man in combat than the dollar amount. It's an avenue by which the army helps him to fulfill his needs and express his own individuality. By seeing that a monthly allotment is sent home he can express his concern for his family. He can make a deposit at the finance office under the army's new savings plan which offers him 10% annual interest. This can also be handled by monthly allotment. He can buy savings bonds and when banking service is not available he can buy a treasury check from the finance office and have it sent home. It's now even possible for soldiers to open their own interest earning checking account with American military banking facilities operating in Saigon. With millions of men serving in the United States and overseas the job of keeping track of their pay and allotments is a formidable and complex task. Responsibility for this Herculean task rests with the Army Finance Center at Fort Benjamin Harrison better known as the home of the Army Dollar. This is the army's largest building almost a fifth of a mile long. More than 3,500 people are employed here. Inside a museum recounts the early days of Army Finance from the Revolutionary War right up to the present regardless of where a soldier is stationed or how often he moves. The finance center maintains its service to him. Home office for 250 dispersing officers stationed throughout the world the center processes more than 14 million pay vouchers each year. Actual payment may be made under a variety of conditions. In Vietnam, it is often done in the field as vouchers are painstakingly prepared by hand. In contrast, is the computer system now in operation at the finance center. On rolls of magnetic tape millions of bits of information concerning each and every soldier are stored. This data processing center is at the heart of the finance center's activities coordinating all its branches the entire Army military pay operation will soon be entirely converted to a centralized computer system which will take care of all pay computation and provide high-speed satellite communication links with dispersing officers worldwide and other way in which the Army is working to serve its soldiers with greater efficiency. In Vietnam and all over the world the missions of the Army are many and varied but wherever he may be the American soldier can count on the support of the Army Triangle no matter how far from home or what the conditions the lift that comes from hot chow mail from home and a payday is still the same. The new allotment check arrived and boy did it come in handy. The kids all love the gifts you sent. Honey, did you ever get a chance to give the Miss Sergeant my recipe for goulash? Food, mail and pay the Army's way of ensuring each man the personal respect as an individual so important to his well-being and in turn his success as a member of the Army team.