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

Page 47 text:

Exchange officers, left to right, seated: Major Robertson, Chief Special Services Branch: Capt. Cooper: Major Cobb, Chief Army Exchange Section. Standing: Lt. Manley, Lt. Siemenslu. Office employees at worlr SPECIAL SEHVIEES The MPX , as the Exchange is known, is the soldiers general store. Like such establishments back home, it serves as an informal club, a place where the soldier can relax a bit and discuss what he pleases with his friends while consuming a bottle of beer or a dish of ice cream. ln the EXE a soldier may obtain all items of ordinary use not supplied by the Army, be it a tube of tooth paste or a box of stationery. EE.-as Buying magazines at news stand , 4l4, Profits derived from Exchange Service Operations are divided into two equal parts. Fifty percent goes to the Army Exchange Fund in Washington and fifty percent goes to the Fort Bragg Central Post Fund. Through the latter are financed most of the recreational, athletic and publication activities of the Post. . of hange tnwll -to . oif- Q' May!! P l ' 4 43 1 l 44

Page 46 text:

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.

Page 48 text:

4-v ' .ff Office of I. 8: E. Branch. I FIIHMI-ITIII and EII IIATIII Not only the best trained and best equipped but also the best informed soldier in the world is the aim of the Information 81 Education Branch, which came into exist- ence as the Morale Services Branch early in February 1944. The most important function of this branch, headed by Major Francis M. Dwight, is to carry out the different phases of the Army Orientation and Education program. Weekly meetings for the Army Service Forces Orientation Officers are conducted where plans for improving the program are discussed. The material on which the dis- cussions are based is made available to units of all forces on the Post. Orientation Kits and publications, such as, Hjournal of Recognitioni' and What the Soldier Thinksf, are also made available to all units. The official Post newspaper, the '4Fort Bragg Postfi is published weekly by the Information and Education Branch. This particular activity is under the direction of Lieutenant Gerald J. Ford, former Public Relations Officer of Fort Bragg. The uFort Bragg Post,', in addition to containing news of the important and interesting events which take War rooms. MAJOR DWIGHT LT. FORD place on the Post or among the units stationed here, also contains a four page orientation supplement known as 4'The War Review, which deals with various aspects of the War. Every day except Sunday a mimeographed sheet con- taining in brief the latest war news, known as the MDaily News Digestf' is circulated. This is supplemented by a weekly mimeographed summary of the news. In the office of this Branch there is an elaborate War Room and in each of the six Service Clubs there is a miniature HWar Room containing war maps and exhibits whereby the daily changes in battle positions are accurately recorded for everyone to see and thereby keep informed. The broadcasting from its own studios of two daily programs, a special program on Wednesday nights, and the weekly summary of the news on Saturday nights, is among the activities of this Branch. The Information and Education Branch is the central agency for the dissemination of material and information regarding off-duty education. They see to it that the soldier becomes acquainted with the advantages of self and group instruction and the benefits of the educational program of the United States Armed Forces Institute, more popularly known as the USAFI. Foreign language classes are also conducted, as well as open forum discussions, in which the views of the soldiers of the Post are presented. I mast JW' A G 1 H 2 W A ll ... -we rf :asf W' A if dt, if 4 kibxtglw -by ,,..,m, 73.2-tx' 7 ' J ff - .,.,, ,,. M5 , .. W ,r