THE PROBLEM SOLDIER AND THE ARMY
JOHN M. CALDWELL JR. 1
1 Colonel, Medical Corps, Chief, Neuropsychiatry Consultants Division, Office of The Surgeon General.
1. During World War II, neuropsychiatric disorders were the cause of rejections of 12% of all men examined for military service, the basis for 6 to 7% of total admissions to army hospitals, and the reason for 49% of all separations for mental or physical defects.
2. Over 126,000 men and women were separated administratively, with honorable discharges for inaptness, lack of adaptability, or enuresis.
3. Over 40,000 were separated for undesirable habits and traits of character with other than honorable discharges, and 25,000 more received similar administrative discharges for various reasons.
4. Some 74,000 officers and men were sentenced by a general court-martial to confinement and dishonorable discharge.
5. A War Department Review Board is currently considering all discharges other than honorable or dishonorable, with a view to changing, correcting, or modifying improper or inequitable discharges or dismissals.
6. A War Department Clemency Board is functioning to correct injustices and inconsistencies resulting from courts-martial sentences, and to enable qualified and deserving prisoners to be returned to duty.
7. Army Regulations are being modified to permit a greater variety and ease of administrative discharges, and courts-martial procedures are being changed and improved in the light of modern thought.
