"THE RED TRIANGLE."

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 193, 21 July 1916, Page 4 (Supplement)

"THE RED TRIANGLE."

A NEW MILITARY ADJUNCT

THE MORAL GRIP OF THE ARMY. (Written for the Melbourne "Argus" by its special correspondent *n Cairo, (A. Glanville Hicks.) When the complete story of the world's greatest war u written tne record of the work carried out nndei the sign of the "Red Triangle," bv which symbol the Y.M.C.A. is now recognised in all spheres of our nuitaiy operations, w'U be found to stand out as though written with letters of gold. I am in a position to speak with accuracy, and therefore with some authority* of the results achieved by tno Y.M.C.A. in Egypt, for not only have I been right in the thick of tho military life of Ca'ro and the Canal zone for the past four months, but I have been closely associated with those military officials who have been most immediately concerned with the social _ well-being of the thousands of our men in khaki Tn Egyi>i. The war is never done with teaching us new le&ons, and perhaps one of t.ie most important of the lessons which have been impressed upon military leaders in Egypt during the mcnths which have followed the evacuation of Galupoli" has been the absolute need of an entirely new system of treatment ot the men when not actually engaged 111 field operations of one kind or another. If you read the historical records of the wars in which our armies, or, for that matter, the armies ot any nations, have been engaged, you will find that during the whole period ot tho war there was singularly little relaxation from actual fighting, and that such relaxation as did come in .he way of the soldiers took tho form uf marching. How different are the conditons of the present warfare! After tho troops were withdrawn from Galnpoli and transported to Egypt, they had'what can only be called months A idleness Not a man among them but would have been infinitely more arduously employed at home in peace times than were most of the troops in the iinfinity of Cairo, a city whose iniquity and 'vices offered such mischievousoccupation for these idle hours, and 'n many instances led to such disastrous results among the troops. There were our troops in the very perfection ot physical fitness, well fed Mid stout of limb, the very pick of manhood of our young countries. We had no better to offer tho Empire, <ind the Empire desired no better of us—and these men were allowed, through an utter lack of adaptation of new means to a new military system, to be led into mischievous and corrupting avenues of life which phvsically unfitted them for the work to which the Empire had called then;. Some day the whole history of these months ot military life in Egypt will be written up, and the nation will have on opportunity of forming an opinion upon the losses it sustained there during tho days preceding and the dftys which followed the, Dardanelles campaign. The Delence Departments ot the Commonwealth f.nd the Dominion of New Zealand may find it advisable, in the best interests of the people, to furnish to the public returns of venereal cases which were created in Cairo during those months when, while waiting for the threatened attack upon the Canal, our men found no outlet for their energies, or at any rate, an insufficient out et, and came to grief by the hundreds. But, through the whole sad story, ■*nid throughout the whole long period of the sojourn of our troops in Egypt, ran, like'a thread of gold in a sombre pattern, tile splendid work of the \ .M.C.A.. the sign of the Red Triangle became the rallying point for the young men who had a grip upon themselves and would not let go; i.nd these men rallying to tl>c Y.M.C.A., became, with that organisation, a power which kept the necessary moral grip upon the army. To-day m Egypt we have an entirely different condition oi »u----fairs. The opening of the Anzac Hostel as a house of accommodation and a place of wholesome entertainment for the men of our armies, has quite transformed the situation. Ihe pity is that the change came so late in the campaign, but it has set the standard for future operations in this direction, and from this point of excellence there can bo no retrogression. Even before *ho coming of the Hostel, however. it should be said that the \.M.C.A. carried on a wonderful work among the troops in Egypt, which is being daily extended and now reaches out to the most distant camps from Solium oil the extreme western border to tho de ert trench camps fifteen miles east of the Cana'; and the highest military officials there are never weary of commending the work ot this organisation.

And the secret of the success which the Red Triangle has achieved, not, only m Egypt, but throughout all the various ileitis of operation in tis war, has been tiie recognition of the necessity of preserving to the men away from home, some of the elements of the home life, the need of the home atmosphere even in a foreign land. Not hundreds but hundreds of thousands of the men who to-cliy are still engaged in fighting for the world's freedom, thank the Y.M.C.A. for the facility under difficult conditions, ior writing regular letters home, and for a hundred little social services which in foreign lands have been clear t'es with the homo-life of their \outh and early manhood. Side by side with the Red Cross in Egypt 1 have seen the Red Triangle ct. tent and booth, or floating in the breeze, and I have been led to examine the value of both institutions, side by side. It came with all the force of

ji revolution to me to recognise that in modern waifaro the Keel Triangle was just as important a syniliol, anil that undor its folds « cjual'v important, it' not even more important results were achieved than under the noble l?ed Crors. lamin no wise lielittiinj,' the work of the Army .Medical in the iield. I have served -with the corps, not, as sonic have gloriou-ly done, on llie battlefield, hut hi the humbler Fpliere of the headquarters staff, and having seen and known of its glorious record through the war, 1 could not seek in any degree to minimise "!«; nohlo achievements. Vet I have learned that whi'e the Kal organisation onlv deals with tlie soldier when he is sick, or after he has lieen wounded—in either case when he is off the fighting strength oi' h : s unit—the I?• 1 Triangle institution seeks to ensure that the soldier shall he kept lit For hi.-; duty, thai li s country shull not he rohhed of hi> s: rvices alt"]' ii lias

been to the e>:p use of training. equip, ping, an] tran-peiiim; lain to ih( field of operations thoasands. of nnle<iverse:is. Ii is in thin avenue of effective usefulness that the Y.M.C.A. 'has a natural advantage over :ill the various organi'-atious in the field in present-day mi'itarv operations, am! the officials of the \ ..M.C.A who happened to hj" in Iv/ypi having recngni-ei] lii's impoitant fact, h;>t no time in making the very be-t p-0.-.-ible use :.! the knowledge gam-vl by local conditions.