Men of 1942: What Can I Do?
An Outline of Answers to Personal Questions About Opportunities and Requirements for War Service
WHAT CAN i DO?". ... "Should I volunteer for the armed forces? Are physical standards more lenient now?" .... "Should I offer my training and experience to Washington?" .... "What openings are there for me in the Civil Service?" (Estimates are that OPA alone will require 100,000 employees throughout the country.) "Should I get a job in a war industry?" .... "Or is it my duty to stick to my job and family until the Government tells me what to do?"
These are the questions which are harassing millions of sincere men and women. They feel a sense of frustration as they see the military situation growing daily more ominous, the length of the war stretching further into the future, and red tape unwinding no faster.
Thanks largely to the kind help of alumni who are in positions of responsibility in the war effort the answers to some of these troubled questions can be given here to the 14,500 Dartmouth men and their families who receive the ALUMNIMAGAZINE.
We all know now that more accurate answers, from this moment on, are absolutely required for those compelling questions: "What can I do?. .. .What should I do?"
It is clear from our correspondence and conferences with many sources of information that the first step in usefulness of any individual in the war effort is a mental adjustment that victory for this country is far from inevitable, and that it can only be gained by very real sacrifice. In other words, people want to do something but they may not be able to choose what they do, and they will probably not better their present situation—usually far from it.
In these pages this month are listed the names of Dartmouth men (See "War Directory," page 22) who are now making the sacrifices that must be made in solving the nation's man power problem. These men are in uniform or full-time war work. They will be joined by many more fellowalumni. Others, in civilian life, are doing their full share in a multitude of community war activities. All of us can dosomething! Here's the story as we havegathered it for Dartmouth people:
