Army Luxury

As every front-line soldier knows, there is a vast difference between the number of men in uniform and the number who actually see combat. Last week Defense Secretary Marshall told just how big the difference is. For every 100,000 men under arms, he said, the U.S. can muster only 23,000 on the firing line. Russia, on the other hand, gets 80,000 combat soldiers out of every 100,000 men.

Old Soldier Marshall had started an investigation of the problem 24 hours after he became Secretary of Defense, but he could not see any solution if U.S. troops were to continue to be the world's best supplied, best cared for and best fed. Said Marshall reminiscently: "Our services are too luxurious. I was raised on a 16-c- ration, no chicken, no turkey and no butter. If there was any, by the time I got it, it was melted."

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