 For more than 100 years, this ferry landing on Long Island Sound near New York City has served an Army post on nearby David's Island. Today, those using the ferry include not only officers and enlisted men of the Army and its sister services, but also of the armed forces of allied nations. For years spanning a century, David's Island successively has been the site of a general hospital for civil war wounded, a part of New York's Harbor defenses, a recruit reception depot, and an overseas staging area. But none of these invaluable services was more important than today's activity at Fort Slocum. Highly specialized training for a modern, highly specialized Army. An official report produced for the armed forces. Training centers at Fort Slocum are the Army Information School and the Chaplains School. These two service schools, located side by side in a campus-like setting, are examples in contrast of the range and scope of the Army's educational systems. Officers reporting to the Chaplains School have already received theological training as ordained ministers, priests, and rabbis. They will not be taught theology, but will be given an orientation course covering basic military science. This will help them to understand how their new role fits into the Army's framework of command. Some of the Chaplains have been through the orientation course previously and have completed tours of duty in the field. Now they are returning for advanced training in the career course to qualify as staff chaplains. Students reporting to the Information School have of course completed their basic training. They have been selected for further training as Army Information Specialists on the basis of aptitude and prior education or experience. No time is lost in getting the materials for study into the hands of the Information School student. The courses which lie ahead are rigorous and challenging, and time is of the essence in assimilating their contents. A separate handbook is issued for each of the five departments of the Information School. Policy and plans. Military, U.S. and World Affairs. Oral communications. Applied journalism. Radio television. The student soon finds that the time allotted to absorb this instruction is short. All five courses are compressed into a period of only eight weeks. Classes are conducted in high gear to take advantage of every moment of time. Among the students are members of other services and representatives of the armed forces of allied nations. Testimonial to the quality of Army instruction in the information field. Regardless of his background, each student will learn the basic facts of the Army's information function in a democratic nation. Evening study is mandatory for all students during the first three weeks. The information specialist will require a basic background in history, citizenship, government. He will have needful knowledge of the aims of the United Nations and its member nations, of our foreign and domestic policy, the code of conduct, the origin and menace of international communism. After the third week, students with passing grades in all classes are permitted more latitude in the use of their free time. A day room provides a place to relax. Enlisted men are granted membership in the Post Non-Commissioned Officers Club, providing school grades are maintained at a satisfactory level. Officer students have similar privileges at the Post Officers Club. In contrast to the academic life on the other side of the campus, the chaplain candidates assemble for their initial instruction in military drill. Maneuvers familiar to the old soldier do not come easy at first, but the situation is not a new one to the drill instructor. A chaplain himself, he has ready-made remedies for such problems. An honest effort, competent instruction, a bit of patience and plenty of practice are part of the learning process. Practice may not make perfect, it helps. There is time for recreation and fellowship at the Chaplain School too, with a special emphasis on fellowship. On this busy little island, clergymen of all faiths meet. Often the meeting is the first intimate association with a representative of another faith. But here at Fort Slocum, they learn to understand each other better, and in the process, learn something more about this army to which they are joined in a common effort. In addition to the intellectual fair offered on this GI campus, the inner man is served with generous portions of hearty army chow. Chaplains and offices students of the Information School share this section of the mess. Enlisted men are served from the same kitchen in a larger dining hall. In class again, Information School students are exposed to the fundamentals of successful public speaking. The oral communications textbook embraces much more than good speaking techniques. It outlines precise methods of gaining attention, organizing ideas and illustrating them with catchy visual devices. A civilian instructor, expert in the technique, demonstrates the effective use of visual aids. The students find that visual aids can be entertaining as well as instructive. The demonstration includes a variety of graphic devices requiring different kinds of props and backgrounds, some are self-explanatory. While the students make mental notes, the instructor unpacks a bag of tricks, all designed to focus attention on his message. These items seemingly defying the law of gravity are held in place by a small hook and loop device. Showmanship plays a large part in public speaking, as demonstrated by this planned accident. But doing it yourself is at least half of the learning process as the students discover. The first step is research in a subject selected from a list of 500 suggested topics. The post library is an excellent source of material. Then comes composition of the talk and the development of ideas for visual aids to accompany the speech. These ideas are translated into physical form in the school's visual aid shop. Technicians explain the use of equipment and make it available to the students. But production of the visual aids is strictly up to the individual student himself. And only the student gives his speech, complete with the visual material he has devised and created to illustrate it. Classmates critique the speech and point out possible ways to improve it. Each student in oral communications is expected to give from four to six such talks during the course. But all is not academic grind at Fort Slocum. Sports facilities are enjoyed by the chaplains as well as the information school students. The post tennis courts offer an opportunity for friendly competition among the students of both schools. The post exchange also offers inducements to the personnel on both sides of the island. Chaplains may be called on to administer physical as well as spiritual healing arts. This class in first aid is one of several conducted in the field. Because of limited facilities at the school, the chaplains journey to Fort Dix, New Jersey for this phase of their training. The first aid course, like others given here, is designed to acquaint the chaplains with military operations. Again, to help them understand their role in the team effort. Other field instruction includes the use of gas masks, signal communications and standard field equipment. This outdoor activity complements the classroom work at Fort Slocum in such subjects as military tactics and logistics. Here is a typical class in which the chaplains students act out roles as staff officers. We are a division, infantry division in the defense. We have our staff here, G-staff and chief of staff. I'm going to pose a few problems to them and let them take over to see what they do about them. Chief of staff, we got a possibility we are on defense. We have a problem of a counter-attack. What are some of the things you might look into in reference to your counter-attack plan? As you can see from the map, the division area is defined by these black lines. We may expect a attack from our front. I'm going to ask the G-1 or the G-2, the G-3, G-1 and G-4 respectively to give their part of the order. Gentlemen, we have not received an order yet. You are planning. So I want to know what you are going to recommend to the general, and that's myself when I get arrived. Sir, we are making plans with the idea that the enemy will use this area as their avenue of approach. Although the chaplain's normal duties do not call for him to fight physically, he must be with the fighting troops on the battlefield. Therefore, he needs a thorough knowledge and understanding of military tactics. The division chaplain has told me that he will send out the chaplains on more periodic visits to the troops. We have recommended to the division chaplain that the amount of services, both formal and informal, services be stepped up in isolated areas of course, dispersed areas. Also, in regard to morale, we have a request to fill 325 spaces at the Paris R&R Center. And, sir, I recommend that we send 325 men from the division to fill these spaces at the R&R Center. Another classroom exercise is one which gives the chaplain's students valuable practice in counseling troops. Here, one student improvises as the counselor, while another acts the part of a soldier with a problem. Well, as I could call her, but like I say, if I don't get this passed today, I'm going tonight. This is a Friday and I'm taking off. I'm not going to stay around the chaplain. So, I don't know if you can help me out. Appreciate it. If you could do something for me, maybe you could call up the first sergeant and explain the situation. Tell him I'm going. And I know the company doesn't want any more AWOLs than they can help, but I'm going. Well, I'd like to make a recommendation to you. Before you go, suppose you and I get together and we call your girlfriend. If you'll come down here to the office, I'll let you use my phone. You say it's 186 miles away. That isn't too much expense. And let us talk. We have two phones here and I can be in on the conversation if you wish. Talk with her as well as listen on your conversation. And then let us go from there after having talked with both of you. If it still is absolutely necessary in your mind that you go, then I'll get in touch with your company commander. You will try to give me a pass, right? Thanks a lot, gentlemen. That's fine. One other thing I want you to do, though, is to trade places. And you'll be Private Roy Johnson now, and you're the chaplain. You've had enough cases like this. You can do it. Go ahead and change. Well, about this conversation on the telephone, time is the essence. And if we don't get... While practicing counseling and learning military science, however, the chaplains are ever mindful of their mission to bring God to men and men to God. Spiritual needs of the post personnel and their families are served by the chaplain students, although this is not a part of the school instruction. Students, as well as staff members of the school, conduct regular services in the chapel center. Attendance by the faculty and students of both schools is welcomed at Catholic Mass, at the Jewish services, and the various Protestant services. The Master Schedule Board in the Information School shows that one section is just getting underway in the applied journalism course. Here again, the students learn by doing. Using data sheets supplied by the instructor, they organize the information and practice writing news stories. The instructor and experienced newsman is available for advice on style and content. Newswriting skill, like any other, is sharpened by practice. Information specialists in this field must also be prepared to edit still photos for both news and feature story value. This class is another where instruction comes by the ounce and practice by the pound. The emphasis is on writing captions for the pictures after they are put into the proper sequence to tell a story. The student photojournalists also work in the field with students from the Army Photographic School at Fort Monmouth. Originating photo feature stories on the Fort's locom grounds is valuable practical experience for both the journalists and the photographers. Guest speakers, all outstanding experts in their fields, are an important part of the curriculum. These lectures give the Information School students the benefit of a wide range of experience in the mass communications media. The chaplains, meanwhile, are approaching the end of their basic training. In the field at Fort Dix again, they participate in an infiltration course exercise as part of their instruction in standard military operations. This strenuous phase of their education is the same as that given in regular infantry training. From such experience comes knowledge and finally the wise counsel of the man of peace to the man of war. And the exercise involved does no harm at all to the clergyman's appetites. In this case, the field kitchen is serving the same good G.I. Chow that the chaplains were beginning back at school, making the lunch break doubly welcome. The chaplains also learn to set up field altars in preparation for the time when they will accompany their units to places where the only cathedral is a lofty forest, the only temple, the arch of the sky above. Among the tasks the chaplain is called upon to perform is one which closely follows an important part of his duties as a civilian. Mock funeral ceremonies give a thorough indoctrination in the military form. The Information School students also are nearing the climax of their training. Perhaps the most interesting and possibly the most challenging courses given at Fort Slocum are to be found in the Information Schools Radio Television Department. Students learn the technical operation of equipment as well as the art of preparing material and presenting it in a broadcast. Recorded interview techniques practiced in the classroom will be put to use in one of the many armed forces radio networks abroad. Announcing requires special talents, most of which can be developed. Except for the very gifted ones, good announcers are made, not born. Radio instruction provides a basic working knowledge of the subject necessary to evaluate and prepare material for both troop and public broadcast. The student with exceptional aptitude is trained to operate studio equipment which is the same as that used by the armed forces networks overseas. This is also true of the more complex equipment in the television studios at Fort Slocum. The multiplex arrangement of motion picture projectors, slide projectors and television cameras used by the students is the same kind that brings the Saturday night movies to our troops around the world. The students become familiar with these facilities before making use of them. The Information School television training facilities compare favorably with those of any efficient commercial station. Students who learn to operate this equipment will be familiar with facilities of any modern civilian telecast studio. Students selected for this advanced training are given a thorough background in every phase of television production. Techniques of camera work and the use of flip-flop still photos are only two of the many areas of instruction. The students are trained to fill any position in the studio. Once assigned to an armed forces network station, they may be called on to direct, operate cameras, light sets, conduct interviews, handle the microphone boom or write scripts for studio productions. The preparation and writing of scripts receives particular attention. These exercises in using motion picture news clips emphasize the difference in requirements as well as the similarities in news writing for printed media. The final test of the television course is a four hour exercise in programming. Students are in charge of the entire program. They play all the parts, operate all the equipment, supply their own direction and take turns at each specialty. This class program is transmitted only to the monitor screens on the post. The results are watched carefully by the school faculty. Since this test is the measure of the student's ability to take their places among those striving to keep our troops informed. As the training at Fort Slocum may be, it is but a small sample of the wide range of instruction offered by the many Army service schools. This vast school system provides Army personnel with a vocational education second to none. For the graduating students, the training is only the beginning of their education. When they leave for new assignments, their horizons will continue to widen with practical experience in the jobs for which they have been trained. The complex equipment of a modern Army needs personnel with advanced and specialized training to understand and operate it. Today, as never before in history, our Army and the free world are faced with the need for soldiers of greater skill and intelligence. Less apparent, but equally important, it is essential that the American soldier gain an understanding of his country's purpose, its aims in the prolonged struggle ahead, and its great need for his allegiance of mine. For these and many other reasons, the Army provides its men and women with the opportunity to gather the power of knowledge in the service of their country. However they may be called to serve, they will find this unparalleled and golden opportunity to learn.