 This is your platoon, Sergeant. She will be at your side throughout basic training to help you make the transition to Army life. It's a well-known fact that sergeants know more about trainees than anybody else. So it's a good idea to listen when your sergeant talks. I'm sure you've all heard the saying, there's a right way, a wrong way, and the Army way. My job is to teach you the Army way, the Army way to do everything, including many things you've been doing all your lives, things that will help you in your future jobs, and in your Army living. Things that might be called strictly personal is a brand new experience for most of you. It means that each of you will have to be doubly careful about personal hygiene. The Army insists on a high standard of good grooming. This begins with the care you give your own body. After all, it's what you put inside the uniform that really counts. Keep your legs clean-shaven. They'll look neater in your stockings. Keep your underarms clean-shaven. That's one of the ways to guard against natural body odors. Take a bath or shower at least once each day. Daily bathing is a necessity, particularly when living in a close group. Be sure to use a deodorant every day. Your life in the WAC is a very active one. Much of it will be spent in a warm climate. Don't risk offending others. To be really clean means being clean from the skin out. Just as you wash yourself and your uniforms, be sure to wash out your stockings and your underclothes every day. And put on a clean set every day, too. In addition to cleanliness, good grooming means good taste. One false note can ruin the total impression. To be well groomed in the WAC, your hair should be neither too long nor too short, but an appropriate length for the uniform and the cap. It should not extend below the bottom edge of the collar. This obviously won't do. And neither will this. You're in the women's army, not the men's, and should always strive to look feminine. To look your best, brush your hair once a day and wash it at least once a week. Put it up at night, if that's the way to keep it looking neat. And don't borrow anyone else's hairbrush or comb. There as personal as a toothbrush. Brush your teeth after every meal. There's only one right way to brush your teeth. That's not it, Private Baker. Brush with an up and down motion, gently massaging your gums while you clean your teeth. That's more like it, Private Baker. You should have two toothbrushes. Use them alternately. Store them in a plastic cup on your locker shelf. By keeping your toothbrushes exposed to the air, they'll have a chance to dry out, and any germs on them will die a natural death. Wash your face a couple of times a day. What you put on it at night is your own affair. But what you put on your face in the daytime is the army's business. You will not have the time, Private Baker, to put on a complicated makeup like that every day. But more important, wearing a lot of makeup with the whack uniform is bad taste. Powder and lipstick are enough. Follow the natural shape of your lips and blot off any excess lipstick with a cleansing tissue. Another part of good grooming is the care of your hands and nails. Keep them clean, and keep your nails short so they don't interfere with your work. If you use nail polish, use a moderate or colorless one, and keep your polish neat. Hardly anything looks worse than chipped nail polish. Carry your comb and lipstick with you during the day. And make a point of freshening up your appearance between classes so you will always look neat. The well-dressed whack is always ready for inspection. With shoes polished, stocking seems straight, uniform pressed, brass polished and correctly placed, hair neat, and cap worn one inch above the right eyebrow, not down on the nose. Everything just right. But the whole effect can be spoiled by bad posture and an awkward walk. There are many different ways to walk. There's the duck waddle, the debutante slouch, the masculine lope, and the teenage wiggle. But none of them looks right or uses the muscles properly. There is only one correct way to walk in the whack, with head up, back straight, buttocks in, stomach flat. When your posture is good, you feel better, and you look better. A large part of basic training is spent on your feet, marching to classes and in parades. In your future army assignments, all your life. The condition of your feet is an important part of your physical well-being. So it's important to take proper care of them from the start. When your feet hurt, you hurt all over, and you're not much good for anything. That's why the army takes so much care in fitting your new shoes properly. But it's equally important that your socks and stockings also be the right size. If they are too short or too long, they will make your feet sore, and they may give you blisters. Alternate among your shoes from one day to the next, so that they will get broken in gradually and painlessly. After they are broken in, continue to alternate their wearing, and have run-down heels repaired. To avoid ingrown toenails, trim your nails straight across. Wear your shower slippers to and from the latrine. Be sure to dry carefully between your toes after swimming or taking a bath or shower, and watch for crocked skin between your toes. It may be the first sign of athlete's foot, a painful infection which thrives in the warm, damp air of swimming pools and latrines, and can spread rapidly from one person to another. If you think you have athlete's foot, report it to me, your platoon sergeant, immediately. When you go into town to buy your pumps, let good taste be your guide. Get a plain black leather pump, a suitable commercial design with closed toe and heel. Be sure the heel is at least one and a half inches high, but not more than three inches high. With these rules in mind, you are free to select any pair of plain, high-heeled black leather pumps that suits your fancy, and expresses your individuality. Fancy shoes do not belong with a military uniform. They are as inappropriate as this would be. Wheat has a great deal to do with maintaining good health, a good appearance, and a high level of energy. Army meals are carefully planned to give you a balanced diet of the proper foods in the proper proportion. Each day, the Army menu offers you a varied selection of the following. Pastry and cake for the carbohydrates that give you energy, fruit and salads for minerals and vitamins that build blood and bone, butter for protein and fat that also give you energy. Neat or fish for the protein that develops muscle tone, starches like beans or potatoes, vegetables such as string beans or tomatoes. And of course, such staples as bread and milk. All of these are necessary foods. So take some of everything at every meal. Only that way can you make sure you get the variety of food you need to maintain health and energy. This is the right way to go down the line. And this is the wrong way. Second helpings are fine. But when you eat more food than your body needs, your weight goes up. And when you concentrate on high-calorie foods to the exclusion of everything else, the same thing happens. Don't eat snacks between meals. Especially not candy, ice cream sodas, or other fattening sweets. They represent excess calories over and above what you need and what has already been provided in the mess hole. One candy bar every day can put an extra 10 to 15 pounds on you in a year, Private Baker.