S177: Psychoneurotic Study

  1. The usual line of evacuation for a combat NP is as follows: he goes, or is sent, to the battalion aid station. If judged to be an NP, he is sent to the division’s training rehabilitation center, which is the part of its clearing station reserved for NP’s. At the T & R center are a psychiatrist, a regular doctor, and an infantry officer to give light drill and exercise. Usually the NP is allowed to sleep when he arrives at the T & R center. It is after this sleep that he takes our questionnaire, usually in company with 3-4 or so others, and it is administered by the EM psychologist. Thus, usually the questionnaire is taken before the NP knows, or can guess, his disposition. Disposition is either back to his outfit, after 4-5 days rest and mild exercise, or to 5th Army’s 601st clearing company. The psychiatrists at the 601st may either return a man to his outfit after further rest and mild exercise, or send him to the 63rd convalescent hospital or the 114th station hospital for reclassification to limited assignment. (The 114th also has some cases directly from the 92nd division’s T & R center because the 601st is too far away from the 92nd). These 2 hospitals keep the NP’s for only 2-3 days while reclassifying them and shipping them to the 27th (formerly the 7th) replacement depot. Here they await reassignment to rear-echelon jobs. There are minor variations at all stages from this standard line of evacuation.
  2. The AWOLs are all those in white infantry division stockades during the time of the survey. All but about a half dozen were charged with violating the 58th (desertion), 61st (absence without leave) or 75th (misbehavior before the enemy) articles of war, and were sentenced for 6 months or less. From talking the matter over with the prisoners, guards, and officers-in-charge, it would seem that there was little or no real difference as to which of these 3 AWOL the men were charged with, and therefore they may all be called AWOL. Who gets sent to the division stockade is partly a matter of division practice, but it is supposed to be that the more serious cases tried by general courts- martial are sent to the theater disciplinary training centers rather than to division stockades. The 34th Division sends all its AWOLs back to their unit or to the DTC, and therefore could not be represented in this survey.
  3. The “normal” white infantrymen are from rifle companies and heavy weapons companies in the 4 white infantry divisions in the theater (34th, 85th, 88th, 91st). There is a higher proportion of heavy weapons men in the sample than in the universe; this was done to get enough men with a long time in combat. Many of the heavy weapons men were formerly riflemen. In every division, more than one battalion was represented, but only in the 85th was there opportunity to get more than one regiment represented.
  4. The normals were given the questionnaires during the first 2 weeks of April, just as the major offensive was beginning which was to knock the Germans out of the war in Italy. All the men knew about the approaching offensive, and it is believed that the general expectation was that a tough fight was ahead. The AWOLs were given the questionnaire during the last week in March, 1945. The NP’s, both in the T & R centers and in the replacement depots, filled out questionnaires between the last week in December 1944 and last week in April 1945. It is possible that in a small proportion of cases, the same NP’s filled out the questionnaires in both T & R center and replacement depots.
  5. The "normals" are a pretty good cross-section of white combat infantrymen in the theater. The AWOLs are ly [sic] a 100 percent sample of prisoners in white infantry division stockades at the time. The NPs at the replacement depots are practically a 100 percent sample of men reclassified for NP reasons at the 4 dates the replacement depots were visited. There is a bias, however, in the NPs at the division T & R centers: a.) The most severe cases and the illiterates were usually not given a questionnaire to fill out. B.) Most of the period during which the questionnaire was administered was one of holding action, except for the offensive at the end.
  6. For NP’s from the T & R centers only, we made up a "divisional data sheet", to be filled out by the ist [sic] or the EM psychologist as part of the regular routine of processing. On this sheet were put the man’s disposition and enough personal background questions to identify the man’s questionnaire. The purpose of this was to determine whether the NP was returned to duty or sent to the 601st. At the 601st, a copy of the regular "disposition" sheet used by the psychiatrist was sent to us so we could determine which men were returned to duty and which were to be reclassified (or ZI’ed).

Questionnaire

Date

Nov '44

Original Size

2,536

Location

Italy

Sample Description

a. Population Universe: Three Groups of Enlisted Men in Italy:

  1. Cross Section of White Combat Infantrymen
  2. All AWOL Men in White Infantry Division Stockades at the time
  3. Combat Np (Neurotic-Psychotic Men)

b. Sample Size: 2536 (2 Cards Per Respondent)

Sample Method

See Planning Survey II for standard operating procedure.

Field Personnel

Arnold M. Rose

Study Analysts

Samuel A. Stouffer

Reports

MTO-62 The Prediction of Neuropsychiatric Breakdown in Combat

Nara Catalog

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1
What is your Army rank or grade?
2
How old were you on your last birthday?
3
How far did you go in school?
4
Are you:
5
How long have you been in the Army? E. If you were in the National Guard, check the length of time since your outfit came into the Army on active duty.
6
How long have you been overseas? (Count from the time you left the States.)
7
What branch of the Army are you in now?
8
What is your present Army job? (for example, truck driver, clerk, rifleman, cook, radio operator, etc. If you are in a hospital, give the job you had in your last combat outfit)
9
Think of the average American soldier who does your kind of Army job. About how long would you say he can "carry on" at the front without relief before his efficiency begins to drop seriously?
10
Since you have been overseas, what is the total amount of time you have been on active combat duty? We mean by active combat duty, doing whatever your job is, within range of the enemy's artillery. (Do not count time spent in rest periods or in hospitals or any time you were not on active combat duty for some other reasons.)
11
Before you were relieved from duty at the front the last time, how long had you been on continuous active duty at the front? We mean by continuous, without any breaks like rest periods, being in the hospital, etc.
12
How long were you at the replacement depot before you joined the outfit you went into combat with the last time?
13
How long were you with your present outfit before you went into action? (If you are not with a combat outfit now, answer for your last combat outfit.)
14
The first time you saw action on the front lines, what sort of action was it?
15
How long have you been with your present division? (If you are in a hospital, answer this question and the next one for your last combat outfit.)
16A
How many months have you been in your present company or battery?
16B
How many of the men who were in your company or battery when you joined it have become battle casualties?
17
When you were last on active combat duty, about how many hours of sleep did you average each 24 hours?
18
When you were last on active combat duty, did you get as much to eat as you needed?
19
If you did not get as much to eat as you needed, what was the reason?