US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort Bragg, NC)

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SERVICES his favorite recording. Weekly programs are made up for his enjoyment and each night of the Week the entertain- ment differs. There are dances, amateur shows, impromptu musicals, variety shows,i quiz programs and other activities. Five large Arnphitheaters throughout the Post provide facilities for showing U. S. 0. Camp Showsg for giving public addresses, or for any occasion in which there may be large gatherings. The soldier plays as hard as he works and at Fort Bragg he is given the opportunity to participate in almost every indoor and outdoor athletic game. Under the super- vision of Captain Robert P. Armstrong, the athletic pro- gram embraces all major sports from baseball in summer to basketball in winter. League competition provides an opportunity for spirited and friendly rivalry between units. ln the winter of l943-44 more than 400 'basketball games were played in the Fort Bragg league. The large Field House is the center for basketball and all other indoor sports and for individual and group physical conditioning programs. For outdoor activities Fort Bragg has fifteen baseball diamonds, fifty tennis courts, three golf courses and nine swimming ponds, to mention only a few of the facilities. Soldiers enjoying activities of special services

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Top, right: Officers Special Services Branch, left to right, seated: Major Cobb, Major Robertson, Major Crowell, Capt. Armstrong: standing: Lt. Howard, Lt. Bernschweig, Lt. Ward .... Top, left: Hostesses, Service Club .... Center: Cafeteria, Service Club .... Bottom: Entrance to Service Club. SPEIII Through the Special Services Branch, Post Authorities have gone all out to provide recreational facilities for the off-duty hours of personnel stationed at Fort Bragg. Due to the efforts of the Special Services Branch, under the leadership of Major Victor M. Robertson, every type of recreational activity is provided for making it unnecessary for personnel to leave the Post in search of recreation. Among the facilities offered are: theaters, service clubs, libraries, exchanges, and a well organized athletic program. The eleven Post theaters, conveniently located, are the most popular of the various recreational facilities. Approxi- mately 70,000 patrons weekly, is the record of the Post theaters, whose receipts, derived from a small admission charge, total Sl5500,000.00 annually. For the past two years Fort Bragg has led all installations in the United States in dividends received from the United States Army Motion Picture Service, a record of which Major Albert ,l. Crowell, Post Theater Officer. and his helpers may he proud. The six Service Clubs of the Post function as centers for the social activities of the soldier. All Service Clulms are equipped with a library, a cafeteria, a soda fountain and a guest house. Here the soldier may enjoy a meal, or a sandwich, he may read the latest magazine, or write a letter home, he may play a tune on the piano, or listen to

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Views of recreational and athletic events. ln addition to tlie activities mentioned, the Special Serv- ices Branch is charged with the supervision of the Fort Bragg Councils of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, the Sergeant's Cluli and the Post Grade School. The Fort Bragg Army Exchange Service, part of the Special Services Branch, operates or supervises all the revenue producing agencies on the Post. Included among these agencies are dry cleaning and tailoring estalmlisli- ments, a meat market and a grocery store. photo studios, barber shops, beauty parlors, the bus service, a shoe repair shop, a watch repair shop. and a dairy. Those agencies just mentioned are operated as conccssionsg other agencies. such as, the 'cafeterias and guest houses ol' the Service Clubs. are operated directly by the Exchange. A few statistics will widely illustrate the tremendous scope ol' the Exchange Service Operations. The total volume of sales ranges lmetween 5:Sl0,000,000.00 and 35l2,000,000.00 annually. All average ol 230,000 liottles ol' soft drinks and an equal nuinlier of bottles of licer are sold daily. Seventy- live thousand liars of candy are sold eacli niontli. wliile smokers buy 500,000 packs of cigarettes in time same tmeriod. This tremendous task requires a force of 96,11 civilian eni- plovecs. operating sivtv lwranclies. under the direction of four oflicers, headed lvy Major Farrar M. Colmlm. Major Colili. in Scplcnilier IUI-1, took over the direction ol' the Exchange from Major C. li. Triruble, who was the Fx- change Officer during most of 1912. 43 and bl-l.