 The latest weapons, coupled with the fighting skill of the American soldier, stand ready on the alert all over the world to defend this country. View the American people against aggression. This is the Big Picture, an official television report to the nation from the United States Army. Now to show you part of the Big Picture, here is Sergeant Stuart Queen. 100 miles deep in the Soviet zone of Germany lies West Berlin. Here every day goes on a silent but ceaseless struggle for supremacy between our way of life and the slave state way. Every day spies and agents are sent in across the border from Soviet-controlled territory. That's why checks have to be made on people going in, people going out. Moving the borders is one of the many jobs of the MPs. And in our first pictorial report, we will see the Berlin military patrols in action. The scars of World War II are still everywhere in West Berlin, especially in the rubble and bombed-out buildings that line so many streets, today and every day, through these same streets move the American military police patrols. In land and on water too, the MP patrols cover every part of free Berlin. At company headquarters, their daily tour of duty starts early in the morning, rain or shine with a rigid inspection. Officers and men are both aware that they are in the limelight in West Berlin, so special efforts are made to see they look like good soldiers and are good soldiers. One military policeman and one West German policeman will form a vehicle patrol. The German will ride along in the event there are cases involving American soldiers and German nationals. Nothing is neglected. Pistols, haircuts, belt buckles, the press in the pants, the shoe shines. From top to bottom, this must be a spit and polish outfit. For once they leave the company compound and go out into the city, the eyes of free Berlin will be upon them. As the final stage of the inspection, the jeeps are examined carefully. Before the day is over, the vehicles will have traveled many miles. Breakdowns are averted by preventive maintenance. The inspection over, the MPs move out of the company area. Out into West Berlin, past the airlift memorial which honors the Americans who died in the airlift that kept West Berlin free. Like the policeman in his hometown, an MP's job is to be on the lookout for trouble and to snuff it out before it gets serious. The MPs range all over West Berlin from dependent housing areas to the Allied Control Headquarters where they have the job of guarding an important building with a lot of important people. Just as important from the standpoint of the MPs are the children of American Army personnel. They get the same VIP type protection. To work closely with the West German police is a basic policy of the MPs. The two organizations cooperate to the fullest extent, particularly on border checking patrols. Nobody knows a city better than a native and the MPs do not hesitate to call on assistance when the need arises. Sometimes at the request of the MPs, West German police will stop all cars going along a designated street and examine the driver's papers. Generally, MPs will not deal directly with civilians but will contact the Berlin police. In similar fashion, the British MPs will call in the American patrols whenever an American is involved in a case in the British sector. In such a case, the British turn over all information as well as the man involved to the American MPs. As the many signs placed on the boundary make abundantly clear for all the police, American and British and West German, border control is the heart of the job. Most of the signs around West Berlin have been erected by the military police to prevent anybody from going into Soviet-controlled Germany by mistake. One team of MPs has the responsibility of inspecting the signs regularly, replacing them if necessary. Signs, of course, are only the props for the job. MPs maintain a tight control of all Americans entering and leaving West Berlin at checkpoint Baker. Since free Berlin is separated from West Germany, an American who leaves the city by automobile must drive through 110 miles of Soviet-controlled territory. After examining the driver's travel orders, the MP checks the tires as well as the condition of the spare to lessen the possibility of a breakdown en route. A full tank of gas is a must. The exact mileage of the automobile is recorded. In the event of a breakdown, the driver will halt the first American vehicle passing on the Autobahn and give the current speedometer reading. This tells the MPs exactly where the car has broken down. Help can then be dispatched to the precise location. The exact time of departure is logged by the MPs. Any unexplained delays in arriving at his destination bring on an immediate search for the whereabouts of the driver. This same procedure is followed by drivers of all vehicles moving out on the Autobahn through Soviet-controlled Germany. Most people think of the army solely in terms of land operations. But one job in the army has a slight nautical tank, such as the MP boat patrols that putt-putt up and down the One Sea Lake. The lake sprawls across one stretch of the West Berlin border. It is a popular lake for boating. Small watercraft are made available by special services to American soldiers for recreational purposes here. The lake is divided across the center by floating buoys. And the MP patrols prevent the boats from straying over the line out of the American sector. The days of the horse cavalry are supposedly gone. But don't tell that to the Berlin MPs. The MP horse platoon was organized in September 1945. It is especially trained for riot control work in the event of an outbreak in West Berlin. Though very proficient in riot control tactics, happily, there has never been occasion to demonstrate them. Not so, however, in Soviet-controlled East Berlin, where riot control tactics have been displayed on more than one occasion, only there they didn't use horses. They used Russian tanks. The horse platoon also serves as an honor guard. The men in the platoon are all volunteers out of the MP battalions. They are experienced riders who will often participate in allied military horse shows. Meanwhile, on the streets of the city, the MP jeep is a familiar sight. And on the One Sea Lake, West Berliners are accustomed to the chugging of the patrol boat as it carefully moves along the boundary line. Yes, West Berliners are accustomed to and comforted by the MP patrols. Well, Free Berlin is hemmed in on all sides by a hostile force that would like nothing better than to take it over. Our MPs represent our going-on record that nobody will take over Free Berlin. That is why every day, day after day, on land and on water, the MP patrols continue on their watchful, wary way. Free Berlin, free because Germans and British and French and Americans aim to keep it that way. We move a bit westward for our next picture story. Our locale is the Rhine Engineer Depot, most modern of its kind in Europe, located on the outskirts of Kaiserslautern, Germany. The first thing that strikes you about the Rhine Engineer Depot is its size. Ride slowly down the center lane of the maintenance shop or follow a truck into the 821 acre area and you get a sense of the hugeness of the many operations summed up in the title Rhine Engineer Depot. The depot was designed from the planning stage specifically for its mission to receive, store, maintain and ship engineer supplies and equipment for the United States Army in Europe. Every day at the railroad siding north of the installation, you can see the crates coming in, one after another. The depot receives not only supplies from the United States, but it also serves as a collection point for excess engineer material held by Army units in Europe. From all directions, the supplies are received here. Receiving all this material is one thing. Storing it properly is another story. The spare parts division alone holds 93,000 different types of items. A large special purpose truck may seem difficult in this place, but when there is a field full of them, the necessity for a careful check and double check system of control is evident. Receiving, storing and now maintaining another important mission of the Rhine Engineer Depot. Most of the work is done in the vast maintenance shop and it consists of jobs like repairing tractors which have seen their best days. No easy trade-ins for new models here. The idea is to take the tractors and generators, the air compressors and graders and extend their usability so the Army can realize maximum returns on its investment. Sometimes the work is in the nature of minor repairs, but with such bulky equipment, it takes experienced men who know what they're doing. Sometimes a complete rebuilding job is necessary and the shop resounds with the noise of the many leads. The men are soon busy at the drill presses. The milling machines operate at full speed. A job you often see performed in the maintenance shop is testing of an engine for horsepower. If it doesn't meet the depot specifications, the engine will be rebuilt. Not all the jobs at the Rhine Engineer Depot involve ponderous heavy equipment. For precision work too of the most delicate type is done when repairing damaged technical instruments needed by the Army. The operating staff of the depot is composed of soldiers working along with German and American civilian personnel in an integrated closely knit group. The employees are constantly indoctrinated in safety measures through on-the-job training and classroom lectures. As a result, there is an extremely low accident rate despite the hazardous nature of some of the work. Once the material stored at the depot is made acceptable by Army standards, it is ready for shipment. The depot in effect may be considered as a wholesaler shipping needed supplies in large quantities to retail outlets. The 7th Army supply bases in Europe. These supply bases in turn ship to the small units which are the ultimate consumers. In so vast an undertaking, it is important that you know where everything is at every stage of the game. The removal of a carburetor, say from a shelf, sets off a sequence of activity designed to maintain inventory control on the object until it leaves the depot. The carburetor is securely tagged with all necessary details before it is started on its way. The bookkeeping for the transaction is done by the machine records office. The entire procedure is carried through by machine with no delays. The result is a perpetual inventory with only relatively few items closed off from shipment at any one time. It is a system that allows a close watch on what goes in, what goes out of the Ryan Engineer depot. But the real story of the Ryan Engineer depot cannot be told in terms of punched cards. It must be seen in terms of men and work and results. The men of the Ryan Engineer depot are doing their job so that American soldiers will have the most rugged, most efficient tools to accomplish the important tasks that lie ahead. Just as in the Korean War when it performed many key jobs, the light plane still plays an important role today. For our last story, we take you to an 8th Army airstrip in Korea where we will see the light plane in operation. There's our pride and joy, being polished nice and shiny. She's an L-20, one of the Army fixed wing planes we pilot for the 8th Army. Yes, we're the fellows who take those fragile looking things up into the air over Korea. We have a lot of different jobs to do and will all do modesty. We think the Army plane does them about as well as they can be done. If you gather from this that we are proud of these little jack rabbits, well, you're not far wrong. We think they're mighty fine. And come to think of it, that may be the understatement of the year. Why do we like the fixed wing plane? First of all, there's no fuss, no bother about getting her into the air. It's no big deal to climb into the plane and strap on gear. Then call the tower for an OK. A raja here, and a raja there, and away we go. You hear a lot these days about super planes that whizz through the air faster than sound. You can be sure nobody's referring to the Army plane in that connection. We poke along at an average speed of 95 miles an hour. Sound is way ahead of us. We don't mind a bit. Speed isn't everything, after all. These planes are maneuverable. They can move up or down, right or left, in a hurry. They can descend to a few hundred feet and follow the rise and fall of terrain at treetop level. That's what makes them so valuable for observation purposes. Despite its frail appearance, the Army plane is relatively rugged, too, and it has another plus. It can land on a short airstrip, or, when necessary, a road. Another advantage of the Army plane is the relatively low cost of maintenance. We have a highly trained group of soldier technicians. Assisted by Korean mechanics, they maintain the planes in A-1 condition, ready to go into the air at any notice. At 8th Army headquarters in Korea, the fixed wing planes are counted on for various missions. To accomplish these missions, Army planes are made available at airstrips throughout South Korea. One of the jobs for 8th Army aviation pilots is to transport ground force commanders and other personnel who must travel between units located in different sectors. Another basic use of the fixed wing plane in Korea is to serve as a rapid delivery service for important messages, documents, and records. Subject only to the limitations of weight and space, high priority official mail is allocated for transportation by plane. Loaded into sacks, the mail is carried by Jeep Korea to the operations office at the airstrip. At the operations office, the Korea mail is logged into a flight. Then it is hurried out to the strip where we have a plane waiting for it. When we're loaded up, we contact the tower. Once flight clearance is secured, we're on our way. In a matter of hours and sometimes less, the mail will be at its destination. If surface transportation were relied on, considering the bad roads and rugged terrain of Korea, days might pass before mail could be delivered. We've even worked out systems where, in an emergency, we can pick up important documents without coming into land. It all adds up to high-speed Korea mail service in Korea. Observation is another type of mission we fly in Korea. This is done either by trained observers or by means of aerial photography. In wartime, the Army fixed wing plane did an important job in this work. Nowadays, aerial photographs are still very useful. Take the case of some officers who want to check on the camouflage of their defensive position. A low-level aerial photograph of their position would be valuable. Through channels, a request is made of higher headquarters for a photographic mission. A photographer is assigned, and after a briefing, works out the calculations for the assignment. It is no simple task to figure out how best to shoot a target with a camera from a moving plane. But that's part of the job a photographer is trained to do. By the time the photographer finishes his preparation and leaves for the airstrip, the photo mission has been set up at 8th Army headquarters. The flight request is relayed to the duty officer who records all the necessary details and sees that the flight is scheduled as promptly as possible. Things are moving quickly now. As the flight manifest sheet is made out, the plane is made ready on the adjacent airstrip. The flight is logged in on the acetate record board while the pilot and photographer board the plane. The tower gives him clearance and the plane starts moving across the airstrip. A few minutes later, it makes the photographic run. The plane moves straight over the target, taking a series of pictures at short intervals. Pictures taken, the plane heads for the developing station. Where, to save time, the packet of exposed negatives is airdropped. The negatives are developed as quickly as possible, at the same time doing a careful job, because details in the finished photograph are what will be looked for. When the prints are ready, aerial photo experts go to work on them. The low-level photograph reveals far more than the eye can see from a moving airplane and far more accurately. The photographs can be used individually, in strips, or as stereo pairs with the added third dimension to give greater detail. The photo specialists mark the prints and a set is quickly dispatched to the requesting unit. In a matter of a few hours after the request has been put in, the photographs are received. The officers now have a clear sense of the actual terrain they are interested in and can do a better job planning for its defense. Flying of key personnel from place to place, running the courier mail, observation and aerial photography, those are some of our main jobs in present-day Korea. So you can see why we're busy, one flight after another. It seems every moment the tower is giving us the word and we're heading off on a job again. Sure, we may not travel at the speed of sound, but we do the job whatever it is. We like to think that those rugged Korean mountains down below don't bother the army as much as they used to. Thanks to the army planes and the men who fly them. Yes, the light plane is doing heavy duty for the 8th Army in Korea. Now this is Sergeant Stuart Queen inviting you to be with us again next week when we will present another look at the big picture. The big picture is a weekly television report to the nation on the activities of the army at home and overseas, produced by the Signal Corps Pictorial Center, presented by the U.S. Army in cooperation with this station. You can be an important part of the big picture. You can proudly serve with the best equipped, the best trained, the best fighting team in the world today, the United States Army.