Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Pentagoa Editorial Note: This new column is designed to give University students an insight to what is going on out side of campus life. It will be filled with events and tips on today's modern financial, social and leasure events.- Readers are invited to comment by writ ing in care of the Editorial Pages, The Gamecock, Drawer A, USC, Columbia, SC, 29208. Letters To The Editor policies must be followed. BY GEORGE GEIGER SR. The publishing of the Pen tagon Papers -was the news scoop of last year, but this scoop deals with an other side-of the Pentagon - the assignment of an officer to work there. The principle actor in this drama was a recently returned Letters Welcome Letters to the editor on topics are welcome but subject to editing and condensation to meet style and spae require ments. All letters must be typed and must be signed with the full name, address and phone number of the author. Unsigned letters or those with pseudonyms will not be printed. The letters should be addressed to Letters To the Editor, The Gamecock, Drawer A, USC, Columbia, S. C., 29208. YOUTH MOVEMENT TO TJHE EDITOR: I've just read a letter written to you by Tim Beall. I'm ashamed to say that it took such a letter to inspire me to write, because I've become so dishear tened with the youth movement. Have the youth of America become blinded with the glory of the coming of the corpora tion? It seems that the move ment of the sixties has all but slowed to a standstill for many possible reasons, but I might say that lack of issues could not be one of them. Have the youth leaders become so intimidated by cor porations and government offi cials that they believe they are fighting alone? I hope not. While the war in Vietnam is temporarily postponed, there is still no assurance that any coun try the United States is bullying will not retaliate. 7 Assignmei Vietnam veteran - rank: Lieute nant Colonel, United States Army. After I fought in Vietnam for the cause of democracy, I as many others looked forward to a rest tour in the States, and true to life, I was assigned to plush duty at the Pentagon. So I reported for duty at the Officer Personnel Directorate. "I'm sorry," said the Colonel in the front office, "but DCSPER (Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel) had an urgent need for an officer with your particular background, so they levied us. Now you're assigned to the Department of the Army Staff. Well the day was just about shot anyway, so I thought I'd report there tomorrow. When I reported in, neither the execu tive officer nor any of the people in his office knew who I was or what I was doing there. The XO gaVe me some papers to read, went into another room and got on the phone. I overheard some snatches of his conversation: "Where the hell are we going to put this guy?" Fifteen minutes later, he' gave me . one of those famous alphabetical azimuths (in an alien language understood only by those in the military) like DCSPER-DDT-MPP-2C714, and once again I moved out to report to duty. This was a recap of the first two attempts, when I reported to DCSPER-DDT-MPP (or what ever), they had never heard of me. Somebody goofed, because the very next week (after several more unsuccessful office visits to get an assign ment), I was assigned to another branch in the same office. At last, a chance to utilize my talents in the service of my country again. But first I had to solve a few minor problems. The first hurdle (as in all gov ernment offices) was to get a desk. Since no one knew I was coming, the regular requisition had not been submitted three months in advance as was required. But that was solved by allowing me to use the spec. five's desk while he was on leave. My musical-desks routine lasted three weeks, And how can people sit back when there are such arbitrary devices as marijuana laws? Or how can people say this is a fair and just country when they have no idea of what is on the other side of prison walls. The corporations and the politicians are slowly joining together to turn to this country from a police state into a fac tory where there is no room for original ideas, except they hap pen to conform to morals and principles set by the large organizations. We must realize the danger of our freedom and fight for It by uniting and being unafraid to let people know that we don't like what they are doing to our coun try. NAME WITHHELD QUALITY MUSIC . TO THE EDITOR: Do the people of this area know what quality music really it Vague while three other persons went on leave. So I decided to use the initia tive the Army taught me with some choice words learned in the field. I finally got the supply officer to give in to my request by saying "I did see a salvaged desk in corridor 7C that you can have, if you want it." The salvaged desk was some how wedged into our adminis trative ghetto, right next to the table that held the coffee pot, cups, sugar,stirring sticks and Sweet-10 bottle. Two months after I got the desk, I got a phone. In the interim, as a Pentagon action officer, I did my tele phone business by walking around looking for cubicles where a phone was not in use. I was also given the bottom drawer of the office safe at the back of the room for classified documents. So here I was trying to work with a salvaged desk, borrowed telephones, displaced files, and an overall atmosphere that intimated, that no one really gave a damn about you or what you were doing. Finally I was given the policy files to read, and got a general slant on what I was supposed to do. Then I read the job descrip tions, which were neatly typed, in the right form, properly signed, correctly titled -- but, didn't have a damn thing to do with the policy files. I asked around to see if the job descrip tions fitted generally the duties actually performed. "Hell, no!" one major said. "Those are just to satisfy the manpower people." "Well how do you know what you're supposed to do?" I asked. "Don't worry. You'll get the hang of it after a while. It'll take you about a year before you really learn the ropes as an action officer." And, all this after I had been an action officer in combat in Vietnam for two tours. Some way to run a railroad, I thought. Well, this example of how the world outside operates is only one of many. And could be applied to many types of busi ness, industry and maybe even to our own University administ ration. ~rs To The Ed I am referring to the "Santana" concert that was held on March 8 at the Coliseum which had a "overflowing crowd" of just a little over six thousand people. "Santana''gaveaperformance which one might describe as precise and professional as one might expect from groups equal in ranking such as "Jethro Tull" or "Grand Funk Railroad." I have three questions to pose to people who are seriously interested in successful con certs that are presented in Columbia: 1.) Why is that the attendance for concerts such as "Santana" and "Yes" (which was only half full also) so poor compared to that of "Jethro Tull" or "GrandFunk"? 2.) Why, that out of the six thousand that did attend "Santana", was there very little response from the majorityonf hell we're tol to do w-thiats what we do!" GAM ECOCK Although The Gamecock is a publication of the students of the University of South Carolina, it is not an official publication of the university. The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily rep resent those of the university, the student body or all the staff members of The Gamecock. Editor ....................... Jerelyn Eddings Managing Editor .............. Sybil Norwood Editorial Page Editor ........ Linda C. Owens News Editor ................... Patrick Tyler Copy Desk Chief .................. Bill Grant Sports Editor ................... Steve Parker Asst. Sports Editor ............... Jim Hersh Advertising Manager .............. Art Frank Copy Editors ................... Val McDonald Mary Myers Photo Editor ...................... Tom Price the people? ln ihteetbiheto Last Question: If this campus sm e ooiiso aps pretends to have a "hip" outlook Intiarcl,tsidhtte on life, then why do they pre-nelesaihdDltSgm tend to have a primitive outlookTht,wrtoelteApa on quality "hip" music?KapAlh,iajonprec PAT WILSON frteCnrlCretoa SUBTITLE QUESTION Inttto.Tiwaonpg TO THE EDITOR: treo orpbiain n The myth of objective jour- Ia esnlyitrse nalism was once again evi-innwgjuthatispo denced in the subtitle to your jc osse f n fi spe article on the fascist organiza-setyudrahrette tion. The term socialism cannotCetaCorcinlnst with impunity be convolutedtin into the description of an arch- I o ol eaeteifr reactionary aberration of fas- mto om htIrqet cist racism. te ol iet a hn Language is relative and not yu fnt a hn o o well-defined, but its use in thisyortmineanghslte. instance must be corrected.TERISNC TIM BEALL Eio' oe nomto CCI PROJECT sno edMngmr r t TO THE EDITOR:USVouteSrvcsr In your February 26 issue of BtyHri,peieto et ths ea, radanariceIna hig te t i ha h