The Great Ordeal

"For some the end of the war in Europe will mean joyous reunion, but for many more it will mean a new period of sacrifice and anxiety." With that warning last week the War Department opened its top secret files and told what it intends to do with its gigantic Army of 8,300,000 men.

The Army will be reduced. To provide "all the strength we believe we can deploy effectively against Japan," and to maintain training and supply in the U.S., the War Department plans to get down to a strength of 7,000,000 by year's end. Some 400,000 of these will be employed as occupation troops, serving in the newly activated Fifteenth Army of Lieut. Gen eral Leonard T. Gerow.

The Lucky Ones. Counting on replacements from Selective Service, the Army was able to make this estimate: after V-E day it will be able to discharge 2,000,000 men.

These--the lucky ones marked for "joyous reunions"--will be: 1) the physically unfit, 2) a handful of 40,000 fathers who have never been overseas but have been in "a long time," and 3) some 1,300,000 troops now overseas who have had "extended and arduous service."

But even for these men, reunion may be a long way off. Reason: ships will be needed to move other men and supplies to the Pacific. It takes 15 Liberty ships to move the equipment of one armored division. There are 70 divisions in Europe, not to speak of hundreds of thousands of corps troops, supply and medical troops, etc. After World War I, when the Army & Navy both could concentrate on the job, it took a year to bring back 2,000,000 men.

All the Army could promise was that it would do its best. Converted cargo and grain ships will be pressed into a shuttle service; passenger ships and transports will be used; 800 transport planes, capable of flying back 50,000 men a month, have also been set aside for the job. But it will be a year, said the Army, before the last lucky 1,300,000 is home.

Who Will They Be? Nevertheless, millions of wives and sweethearts could dream and hope. Who would be the chosen 1,300,000?

In picking them the Army will embark on a ticklish and complex business. About half will come from the European Theater, a third from the Pacific. Most of the others--luckiest of all--are already in the U.S., home on rotation.

A point system (TIME, Sept. 18) will be the basis for release. Soldiers will get credits for length of service, records in combat, decorations, wounds, etc., children or other dependents. Point values had not been announced at week's end. When they are announced, soldiers can figure up their scores. In general, those with top scores will get priority, although the Army is going to hang on to some--points notwithstanding--because of their special skills.

SNAFU & FIFO. The War Department knew full well that the system would provoke plenty of G.I. gripes, home-front anguish and trouble for the Army. Congressmen's mail is already heavy with letters from kin demanding to know why Joe can't come home. Congressmen themselves, breathing the air of victory, are causing the Army anxiety with their new eagerness to move in on things.

Colorado's Senator Ed Johnson, convinced that the Army's system would only result in snafu, thought he had a better one cooked up. His was a simple-sounding formula with an even simpler-sounding name: FIFO (first-in-first-out--"the only fair and equitable method"). Johnson would like to make FIFO a law, which would upset the Army's applecart. (Actually FIFO is neither fair nor equitable, since it takes into consideration neither service overseas nor combat service.)

The Army stuck to its guns. It indicated that more than half the men who will be shifted to the Pacific will be staged through the U.S. Most of the combat troops will be moved that way, and they will get brief furloughs at home. For them there will be temporary reunions before the new (and last) period of anxiety and sacrifice.

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