"What It Takes"

Colonel Charles P. Summerall Jr. and Colonel Stephen E. Stancisko, commanding officers of the R.O.T.C. at Harvard and Yale respectively, are both seasoned soldiers who would never make it a habit to disregard suggestions from topside. But when it came to the latest Army Department gimmick for luring college men into R.O.T.C., Colonels Summerall and Stancisko drew the line. The gimmick: a stickily written little comic book which R.O.T.C. commanders were authorized to distribute to incoming freshmen.

The book, Time of Decision, tells the story of blond, blue-eyed Ted Wright, a shy, tongue-tied freshman at "State." Poor Ted was very unhappy as the fall term began. He knew no one, and "he didn't have what it takes to step up and introduce himself." Then he joined the R.O.T.C.

After that, according to Time of Decision, Ted's whole life changed. He began to learn about first aid ("teaches self-reliance and self-preservation"), teamwork ("a help in football"), and how to shoot ("trains the eye and steadies the nerves"). His uniform added glamour ("Boy, will I ever knock 'em dead in this!"), and by the time he was a senior, Ted was so popular that he was "one of the men chosen to escort the campus queen!"

Though the book does not say what Ted learned from his other courses (or whether he studied at all), he apparently developed mightily in R.O.T.C. With that training behind him, says the book, he could "face the future with confidence that he has learned what it takes to lead . . ."

By last week, some 250.000 freshmen at colleges all over the U.S. had had a chance to read the saga of Ted; most campus COs apparently were convinced that Ted's primer-simple story was just what their freshmen would go for.* Without consulting with each other, Colonels Summerall and Stancisko had come to a contrary conclusion, left their stocks of Ted undistributed. Explained West Pointer Summerall last week: "You've got to consider the type of institution you're in."

* Among them: Colonel Summerall's father, General Charles P. Summerall, 83, retired World War I commander of the 1st Division, Army Chief of Staff from 1926-30, now president of The Citadel.

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