During World War II, the Army had a problem: Many troops weren’t reading the preventative maintenance manuals — long, boring instructions on keeping guns, tanks and other equipment clean and battle-ready.
Army officials turned to newly drafted Pvt. Will Eisner, who arrived at Aberdeen Proving Ground in 1942 as something of a celebrity because of his success as the comic artist who created “The Spirit,” a popular strip that ran in dozens of newspapers, including The Baltimore Sun.
Eisner transformed the manuals into comics, in which Sgt. Half-Mast and Connie Rodd would remind the hapless Joe Dope of the dangers of improperly oiling artillery, recklessly driving tanks and otherwise acting foolishly with equipment.
The comics, which were printed and distributed to all troops, remain the most widely circulated of all time, said Benjamin Herzberg, a former assistant to Eisner. “He had a monthly distribution of hundreds of thousands,” Herzberg said.
Under Eisner, the maintenance manuals were made into a monthly comic magazine that became known as The Preventative Maintenance Monthly, or PS Magazine, which is still published today. The Army dictates the subject matter by interviewing troops stationed around the world about their most frequent equipment hiccups and what tips they need.
In the early years, the comics were heavy with sexual innuendo to hold the troops’ attention. A 32-page booklet on M-16 maintenance distributed to every soldier in Vietnam was entitled “Treat Your Rifle Like a Lady.” Connie Rodd, a buxom blonde pin-up girl, was regularly depicted in various states of undress.
Many soldiers at the time barely had a high school education; some couldn’t read at a fifth-grade level, said 1st Sgt. Richard Bernard, a panel member.
“So what’s the best way for you to reach somebody who can’t read the technical manual itself or understand some of the words, but to make a comic strip that grabs their attention?” Bernard said.
The magazine’s supervisory editor, Jonathan Pierce, said the comics have become more politically correct, but no less necessary.
“It’s an interesting confluence of time right now, because with all the deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, so many of the maintenance soldiers were taken out of their maintenance responsibilities and put into infantry support roles so they could expand the number of combat patrols, and then maintenance was left to contractors,” Pierce said. “So now we have soldiers coming back to their maintenance duties that they haven’t done for the past 10 years. We’re in the same position we were in at the beginning of the Korean War.”
“Now we’re back with a group of soldiers who don’t know maintenance, and we’re having to reintroduce not only the idea of maintenance but the idea of the magazine itself,” he said.
The February 2017 edition of the magazine, its 771st issue, was the last in print. The Army has developed a PS Magazine app, which displays the cartoons on soldiers’ smartphones.
Command Sgt. Maj. Toese Tia Jr., said he remembered having to read the magazines when he was going through mechanics training. “As a mechanic coming up, I am a product of Mr. Will Eisner’s PS Magazine,” he said. “It has a legacy that will go well beyond my time.”
Information is from Military.com
Brilliant!
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We all need a laugh now and again!! Thanks for coming!
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The power off illustration and impactful storytelling. Through this means, young men received instructions on how to effectively fight for their country. A visual artist conveyed the information in a way that soldiers of the day could best digest it.
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Exactly. The cartoon images caught their attention and they absorbed the information. Taken from the idea for the G.I. instructional ‘movies’ of Private SNAFU.
Thanks for dropping in!!
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Love Will Eisner’s work and loved seeing this post on your blog! Bravo!
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When your subject is great at what he does, the article can’t fail! Thanks!
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Great military humor. and also an interesting story
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Thank you very much, Mary Lou. Sorry I haven’t commented on your site lately, I’ve been so backed up on research and additional books, but I do stop in to see and read about your next creature or plant!!!
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Dont worry.I know there are moment we have not enough time to do all things we want.
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Thank you for understanding.
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Great post GP and this was an ingenious strategy. Having taught adults in a community setting, I can attest to the fact that people are much more willing to read things that they can relate to—- and if they can get a laugh out of the deal then I’d call it a success!
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It is on the same train of thought that they developed Private SNAFU to teach the grunt soldier.
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Comic propaganda I like it 😀
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They had to get the guys’ attention before they could teach them – they found a way! Thanks for coming by.
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Great post, GP! I especially like the slide show of the various magazine covers.
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We need a light-hearted post now and again. I thought the covers was a good way to do this.
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Reblogged this on Citizen Tom and commented:
“Pacific Paratrooper” provides an opportunity to venture back into the past to experience eye-witness stories of World War II in the Pacific, Farewell Salutes, an occasional homeland episode and military humor. As I see it, the blog provides us an opportunity to understand the relevance of history to today. This post is an example.
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Thank you, Tom, for bringing this to your reader’s attention. We can STILL learn so much from that generation!!
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Agreed!
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Reblogged this on Anna Cottage and commented:
One of the best blogs, always remembering all those that gave their Lives for the Countries.
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I thank you for helping me to keep these people in the minds of our readers.
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Thank you very much.
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Always a pleasure and privilege to read your blog, what touches me most of all is the fact you mention those that died, that served their Country. Reblogging you, more should see all you do. Take care.
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and I keep thinking there should be more that I should be doing.
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My goodness you are doing so much, who would remember those brave Men, and Women who have given their lives for their Countries if it was not for you. I always feel so sorry for all those Men who fought in the Korean War, the forgotten War it is said. You bring news you bring funny stories, your blog is such a tremendous tribute to all who have fought for Peace. You give so much.
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Such kind words, Anna. After all those troops did for us in every war and beyond, what i do is nothing, but thank you very much.
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Hilarious! Thanks for sharing.
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My pleasure. We need a break from the war stories now and again!!
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This is an interesting bit of history!
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Just as they did with creating Private SNAFU to grab the G.I.’s attention – if a solution works – don’t fix it! [wow – that’s an oldie, isn’t it?!]
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I could write an entire book on all the miscommunications and the meetings that execs simply don’t show up for — during just one week. But I don’t think they’d have a sense of humor about it.
Hugs 🙂
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They never do, but I could never keep my mouth shut!
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PS Magazine no longer available in print — what a sacrilege! There ought to be a law against discontinuing things that we old geezers are used to! Next thing you know, horseless carriages will be replacing the horse and buggy in the name of progress. All I can say is the government better not try to take away my trusty musket, or they will have to find a way to win the next war without my services!
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Good one, Muse – really good!! I’m one of those who resist change and progress myself, I don’t always see a step forward.
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What a fun, fabulous post, GP. If only executives would put half that much thought into how they communicate now… Hugs.
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You bring up a good point. Businesses would operate more smoothly, wouldn’t they?!!
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Hi GP,
Another interesting post!
No one else has commented on this: it took 10 years of outsourcing for our troops to “forget” how to do maintenance. This means we now have over half a generation of NCO’s without this critical knowledge / experience. Heaven help us if we ever have to fight a non-trivial enemy with fairly similar forces in a conflict which goes more than a few weeks. (Obviously, this means the Russians or the Chinese.)
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Good point.
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Reblogged this on KCJones and commented:
This is a fantastic article!!! Seen before and LOVE to see again.
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Glad you liked it Penny. This provides a break from the war-talk.
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What a great idea! I bet the rhymes were easier to remember too.
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It’s almost an associative learning technique.
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Yes GP. It’s always good to talk to people where they are at. You get ’em on side and you get ’em informed.
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Thanks.
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What a fascinating story.
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Thank you, Gwen.
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most interesting
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Thanks.
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Fascinating and entertaining, GP. My dad was once featured in a WWII comic strip he showed me when I was about 10 – pretty good likeness of him, btw – but he never mentioned that comics were “a thing.”
I have no idea what happened to it after my father died, but I’d love to have it framed and on my wall today. I can’t even recall the name of the strip, but I do recall that his plane was a major player and that there was a pinup painted on its side.
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
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If you send more info on him, perhaps one of us could locate the plane at least. [especially if he was in the 5th Air Force]
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Such a great way to spice up an otherwise boring, sleep inducing information.
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They needed a bit of humor just as we do, eh?
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Probable more than we do with the situations they face.
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Right!
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GP, every time I visit this blog, I know I am in for a rare treat – and this was one of your best.
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An easy-going, humorous post breaks up the monotony of war and death while reading history or it becomes too much like school where you merely learn the names of generals, dates and statistics. Glad you liked it.
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Excellent post, GP. Thanks.
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We do need a light-hearted one now and then, eh?
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And one that most of us never knew about.
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Maybe that’s the root of my father’s obsession with keeping tools clean. I could count on being woken-up and made to go back to the garage to clear and put away anything I left our – no cartoons necessary.
Love these stories.
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Mt father the same, I think the military discipline instilled that in them. Today’s kids could use some of that.
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True
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Informative and enjoyable. Eventually you have to find the right triggers for the audience you are trying to influence. That marketing managers in corporations get paid millions to do.
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I wonder if anyone managed to at least get a weekend pass out of this idea? haha Thank you for dropping in today.
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Never heard of this. What a great idea. Lots of soldiers enter right out of high school without the life experiences that would help them manage their equipment. Love this approach.
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Sort of like getting the foot soldier’s attention with Private SNAFU cartoons, eh? I guess it worked on the same principle.
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Very clever response to the RTFM problem. 🙂
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It sure seemed to work out!!
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GP, this post touched me in a personal way. I was a friend of Will Eisner’s son in high school, and his parents bought our house when we sold it in 1975. My father, an architect, had great respect for Eisner’s work and was happy to turn over the house (which my father designed) to someone like Will. Thank you for this post. Although I am not in regular touch with his son, I will see if I can share it with him through Facebook.
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Wouldn’t that be something!! Such a small world, Amy – it surprises me every day! Just this morning I had a comment on an older post from the son of a soldier who served with Smitty! Just like in the janitor post, you never know who you might be talking to!!
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Exactly. I did post it on his son’s Facebook page, but haven’t heard back. I don’t think he checks Facebook too often.
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Someone just might see it one day and let him know. Thank you for trying.
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I will let you know if I ever get a response.
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Thank you very much, I’m sure you will.
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I well remember these comics from my time as a maintenance officer in the 1980s. Great way to get the troops interest. Thanks for the memory.
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My pleasure! Do you have any stories to add in here during your tour of duty? Did any of the information in the PS mag come in handy in later years?
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This was new to me, too, who would have thought guys would look forward to their next copy of something called “Preventative Maintenance Monthly”. Some good down-to-earth thinking by the army.
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I was just telling Draliman, it seems no matter what a person’s talent might be – the army will find a use for it!! Thanks for coming by today, Robert.
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A great idea, well executed
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Thank you, Derrick – hope you got a smile or two from it.
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Certainly. Great methods of catching the attention
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That’s pretty cool 🙂
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Thanks.
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Fascinating. I’ve always been an Eisner fan but knew nothing about any of this. Good piece.
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It seems, no matter what a person’s talent – the army will find a use for it!! 🙂 Glad you found the article interesting!
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That is probably true.
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What a great idea it was and still is! Today readers of the Tintin comics struggle with similar politically uncorrected story lines though 😉 One has always to keep in mind the time and circumstances these comics were created in. Thanks for sharing GP Cox!
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I am always reminding people that this was all going on in a completely different world than we have today, but when I think of it, being politically correct today is not easy. No matter what we say lately – there is somebody, somewhere that’s going to make a big stink about it. Thanks for commenting, it was a refreshing remark.
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You´re very welcome! And I agree, being politically correct these days is not an easy thing, there are just too many toes to accidentally tread on!
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It’s literally like “Tip-toeing Through the Tulips”!!!
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Which paradoxically is an awesome song 😉
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Ah – so you remember Tiny Tim?!
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Not so much remember but I know of him of course – he was brilliant!
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I have seen some of the posters before, but never realised about the comic-style manuals. A very enjoyable post, GP.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Thanks, Pete. I think we need these light-hearted posts once in a while to balance things out.
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Thank you very much for your help in sharing these stories.
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In the last Comic,I catch the nice Cartoon!
It’s Banzai Baloon corps,バンザイ we Japanese love Words^_^
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Thank you for adding in that information, Nasuko. I appreciate your help.
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I don’t think that Bruce Forsyth was in the RAF during WWII, he was born in 1928. His brother John was in the RAF, and was killed in a training exercise in 1943.
In 1948 he would have, in all probability, registered to do his National Service for 2 years , but there doesn’t seem to be any record of him serving in any of the armed services.
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I do not have him down as serving in WWII, he was drafted and served and then went back to his career. If he did not serve, then Wiki is wrong….
“Post-war work
After the war, with the goal of joining Moss Empires theatres, he spent years on stage with little success and travelled the UK working seven days a week, doing summer seasons, pantomimes and circuses, where he became renowned for his strong-man act.[12] His act was interrupted by call-up papers for National Service when he was drafted into the Royal Air Force.[13]”
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Sorry GP thought you had him down as being in WWII, getting old methinks 😥
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No, I know how it is. So many posts to read – the eyes get tired – happens to the best of us!
[they say us old folks shouldn’t worry about our eye sight fading with age – it’s Nature’s way of protecting us every time we walk past a mirror!! YIKES!!]
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hadn’t thought of it in that light before, but very true:)
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hahaha
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Yup! Comics or cartoons always the best medium of education 👍😉
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It makes learning fun. Thanks for coming by.
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My pleasure as your posts are always great reads😃
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Thank you for that compliment!!
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I have learned something new GP.
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Do you think your erks might read any of these?
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Thank you for sharing this story with your readers.
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Thank you.
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