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Sunday, July 23, 2023

Vintage Military - Part 44

 U.S. Recruiting 1918-1940

The draft ended with the end of World War I.  Between the World Wars, recruiting into the U.S. armed forces was voluntary.  Today we have eight photos of recruits being examined in 1936 at the Pacific Fleet San Diego Naval Training School.

Each recruit is examined by a doctor.

The doctor is painting "pneu" on this recruit's chest, presumably indicating a lung problem.

Something else is being painted on this recruit's chest ...

and this recruit's chest.

The second-from-left recruit above looks a lot like my dad, but he isn't.  My dad served in the Army during World War II, not the Navy, and in 1936 he was much too young to enlist.

 

The naval recruits in the showers.

More recruits in the showers.

We end with a video of recruits between the wars, produced by the Ford Motor Company.  The video dates from 1923 and shows recruits being taught how to swim.  Note that all the recruits in the pool are naked.

7 comments:

SickoRicko said...

I always like your military stuff.

Sean said...

Same here

Xersex said...

interesting

Anonymous said...

Was writing on the recruit's nude body something peculiar to WWI, or did this practice continue in later years (WWII, Korean War, Viet Nam, and later).

Oldfella said...

Good to see the recruits being taught to swim as nature intended. Back in the day there were no women around in the military so no need for shorts

Unashamed Male said...

@Anon - The photos of writing on the recruits bodies are from 1936, well after WWI, but I don't know if the practice persisted into WWII and later.

Anonymous said...

pneu guy have the prettiest dick. My grandpa said they sleep naked too