The Pop-Off

Since the Roman legions began murdering their commanders in moments of pique, soldiers everywhere have considered it their basic right to gripe--even if not to take more forcible action. And the U.S. Army reservists and National Guardsmen called up last fall as a symbol of the Kennedy Administration's intent to stand fast in Berlin have certainly availed themselves of their squawking privileges. Yet last week a gangling G.I.

learned that complaint can become insubordination: at Fort Polk, La., Pfc.

Bernis Owen, 23, was sentenced to six months at hard labor for having popped off once too often and too loudly.

From Seed to Shambles. Last October, when his Texas 49th Armored Division was called up, Owen was just two months past his discharge after two years of active Army duty, much of it spent in Germany. Sent to Fort Polk, Owen and his fellow reservists found it a dismal place.

As many a veteran of World War II can recall, Fort Polk is halfway to nowhere.

When the 49th arrived last fall, the base had just been reactivated after two years of falling from seed into a shambles. The barracks were decrepit. Stray cows and pigs roamed the premises. The food was like nothing mother ever cooked. At first, there were not enough blankets, boots or underwear to go around. Worst of all to the men of the 49th, after the Berlin crisis seemed to ease, there appeared little reason for their being in uniform. Major General Harley B. West, the division commander, recognized the problem. Said he: "Fort Polk, La., is a hell of a long way from Berlin or Viet Nam or Laos. If there was a shooting war, shots being fired, there'd be no problem." Plucked from his pre-law studies at the University of Texas, Pfc. Owen soon proved himself an outspoken guardhouse lawyer. Early last month. Owen and some equally unhappy cohorts passed the word that there would be an indignation meeting. About 200 soldiers turned up for the wailing session. At a second rally, attendance jumped to 300, and at a third there were some 700 (even so. about 19,000 of Fort Folk's soldier population were still having no part of the protests).

Also, mimeographed questionnaires, to be mailed to Congressmen, were surreptitiously passed around Fort Polk. Sample questions: "Is the real reason for the National Guard and reservists being held on active duty the fact that Kennedy's plans to cut down on unemployment have failed?" and "Are you conscientiously representing the people who elected you to office, or are you merely appeasing all the 'too liberal' party majority in order to feather your own nest?" Finally, the 49th's General West had had enough. "Each meeting they had was a little bolder," he recalls. "I finally came to the conclusion that it was going beyond a free discussion. So I handed down an order banning any further meetings." Speaking of Rights. That order led to Owen's downfall. Having heard of Owen as a ringleader of the protesting G.I.s, Sidney W. Cook, New Orleans bureau chief for United Press International, called Owen and asked him his opinion about the ban on the meetings. Listening on an extension with Owen's knowledge was the young man's company commander. Capt. Gerald R. MacManus.

During the conversation, MacManus interrupted to warn Owen that he was talking his way into trouble. But Owen kept right on talking. General West's order, he said, was "a hilarious climax to a chain of injustices." Concluded he: "The rights of individuals have been suppressed." For such talk, Owen was brought before a court martial board on charges of violating Article 89 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice--disrespect toward superior officers. It took the board only 27 minutes to order him put away until late September--just about the time his division has been scheduled for release.

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