Published: December 4, 1967

Copyright The New York Times

A radio operator trainee being instructed in typ-
ing by TV. One-seventh of basic training is now
being done by means of closed-circuit television.
Ar.my Finds TV Teaches This Generation of Soldiers Best
The generation of Ding Dong School, Romper Room and
Captain Kangaroo would rather be shown than told.
Right, control room of TV operation at Fort Gordon,
Ga. Training costs less per man than a pair of boots.
By ROBERT E. DALLOS
Specl.t! to T!l! !'ew Yc:-it
FORT GORDON, Ga.-Les-
Iie Dub, an Army recruit, fell
out for reveille at 4:30 A.M.,
marched to chow, took an
hour of tough physical train-
ing, and then settled down
next to warm potbellied stove
to watch television.
Private Dubs, who 1s from
Laurelton, Queens, was not a
goof-off. He was staring at
the 21-inch black and white
picture in the line of duty.
The 23-year-old soldier and
his fellow recruits in Com-
pany A, Fourth Battalion,
Second Training Brigade saw
a 26-minute closed-circuit
program on how to adminis
ter mouth-to-mouth resuscita-
tion, how to apply a tourni-
quet and how to splint a
broken limb.
Before they complete their
eight weeks of basic training.
the young inductees will
watch some 50 hours of tele-
vision, which will make up
about a se\'enth of their total
training.
They will learn many of
the fundamentals for war in
Vietnam-hand-to-hand com-
bat, rifle assembly, use of
bayonet, camouflage, Com-
munist ideology, map reading
and counterinsurgency - in
front of the 1V set. After
basic, much of their advanced
training will be acquired the
same way.
The Army-short of expe-
rienced instructors because
of the Vietnam build-up-has
turned dramatically to TV.
Only 18 months ago, 1V in
basic combat training was
\"irtually unknown. Today, a;J
11 basic training centers and
23 service schools use it.
Military officials are so im-
pressed with television in-
struction that they plan to in-
crease it. They say today's
youth, raised on television,
learns and retains much from
it.
"This is the generation of
Ding Dong School, Romper
Room and Captain Kanga-
roo," says Thomas J. Dolan,
Jr., the United States Con-
tinental Army's educational
television coordinator.
TV Staff at 550
"Their parents used TV as
an electronic babysitter," he
said. "Play them a commer-
cial once or twice and they
can repeat it. The young re-
cruit says, show me, don't
tell me.' This can best be
done by TV."
Mr. Dolan, whose staff has
nearly doubled to 550, and
whose "network" has grown
from seYen to 24 military in-
stallations in the last two
years, says that $5-million
has been spent on military
instructional TV facilities
since 1965.
The cost, he says, based
on the half-million troops
trained annually in the last
two years, amounts to only
$5 a soldier. A pair of com-
bat boots costs about $6.50.
The Army cites many ad-
vantages for using TV in
combat training. For one, a
TV tape may be prepared at
one installation (or by one of
five roving mobile field units)
and then be shipped to
another base for use there.
Television has also allowed
the Army to get greater mile-
age from outstanding in-
structors, freeing others to
tum to combat duties.
Television has also per-
the Army to stand-
ardize much of its training
and to train recruits at
night and during inclement
weather.
The camera's ability to
magnify small parts, such as
those on helicopters and
weapons, has also given all
recruits a "front row" seat
during training sessions.
Often, returning Vietnam
veterans are interviewed on
TV. In addition, new tactics
learned in Vietnam can be re-
produced on TV much more
quickly, usually a matter of
only days, than if motion pic-
tures were made.
And, say Army officials,
TV usually holds a soldiers'
attention better and longer
than could the individual in-
structor.
The G.I.'s like TV, too.
"This is a nice change in
pace, it's relaxing," said Pri-
vate Dubs. "All of us came
into the Army with the idea
that basic is a 24-hour
harassment and grind. There
are so many things that TV
can show us that our drill
The New York 1'illllal(b7 Robert II. I>a.U0111
A television tape on teletype maintenance and repair
being made. Sgt. 1st Cl. William Matthai Instructs.
sergeant can only tell us.''
During a 30-minute TV
class on bayonet combat, re-
cruits of Company A were
shown all the required mo-
tions. ("The vulnerable areas
are the face, the stomach and
the groin. You must growl.
You must be aggressive to
kill.") They then marched out
into the field, where they
spent the rest of the day
getting practical instruction
on the bayonet from their
gravel-voiced drill sergeant,
Richard L. Pike.
At this giant military in-
stallation a few miles from
Augusta, there are TV sets in
view the bar-
racks, in the classrooms, in
theaters, in day rooms, and
even at the prison stockade.
Maj. Geri. Walter B. Rich-
ardson, the commander of
Fort Gordon greets a visi
tor, and then walks over to
a window, points to the near-
by TV facility and, after re-
ferring to it as "my brain
center," he says: "I don't
have all the sets I want. One
day I want to have this whole
installation wired for 1V.
This 1V way is the way to
run a railroad."