Word: carsons
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Removing Burrs at Carson...
Nowhere is that philosophy already more evident than at Fort Carson, which services the 25,000 men of the 4th Infantry Division on its vast post west of Colorado Springs. There, Major General Rogers is urging all of his subordinates to help heal "our self-inflicted wounds" and remove "the harassing burrs under the saddles of our soldiers." Today's youth, contends Rogers, "want to participate in decisions; they are curious. They want to know why, and they are not satisfied with answers based on faith or 'because we've always done it that way'?and I respect them...
There are no Saturday morning inspections at Carson, no reveille or retreat formations. At the Inscape Coffee House, black light illuminates slogans proclaiming that "Life is a Big Happening," and a peace symbol adorns a beam. Here officers drop in to rap with the troops. "At coffeehouses off base they scream about the Establishment," notes one colonel. "Here they can scream at the Establishment." Five enlisted men's clubs serve up beer, whisky and go-go girls. In an experiment, the G.I.s have fashioned their quarters into semiprivate cubicles, brightening them with colorful rugs, curtains, posters and pinups...
...Carson has shifted from what Colonel David R. Hughes, the division's chief of staff, describes as "an authoritarian to a participatory approach?because then a man feels that he has a stake in what he is doing." A 19-man group of enlisted men meets regularly with Rogers and has had 70% of its suggestions accepted...
Does Rogers' approach work? It is too early to tell, but there are positive signs. Re-enlistments have increased 45% at Carson, the retention rate of junior officers has doubled, and two-thirds of the noncareer G.I.s rate their own morale as fair to excellent. AWOLs have declined, and incidents requiring investigation by the provost marshal have dropped...