Chapter 53
All that noise. All that Goddam noise. It's like the
whirr and clatter of a giant industrial plant busy filling
a big war contract. The battle starts at one end
of the assembly line and gets larger and larger as
it goes along. And the men who fight the battle
are the mechanical parts on the machinery that conveys it
forward, and they mesh and interconnect in response to
mmmmovements
of cams and gears and piston rods. But some of
them expose a wearing surface or become worn down through
friction or are burned out by constant use or develop
cracks from fatigue, and they are taken off and inspected
to see if they can possibly be repaired or salvaged.
And if they can't be put back in place, then
they are discarded and spares are requisitioned from the
mmmstockroom.
The battle goes on. It is picked up and set
down and something is added to it and it is
shifted over to one side and a complete new unit
is mounted on it and the bolts are fitted in
place and the screws are tightened. Right now you can't
recognize it because the whole framework has not been
mmmassembled
and there are lots of appliances and accessories that are
yet to come. But when it finally rolls off the
belts and conveying equipment and comes to a full stop,
you'll see the very latest model in high-powered meat-choppers.
Listen. Listen to the blades threshing and the wheels gnashing,
and the grinding that goes around and around and around.
It's battle. It's war. It's the Army. No, it's not
the Army of the parade ground or the drill field
or the barracks, with clean sheets every seven days and
three percent beer at the service club and weekend passes.
This is the meat-chopper army, where everything is reduced to
a fluid pulp and all of living is a mass
of oily stickiness that heaves and boils and drags its
clogged elements down into it. That other army taught men
to walk erect. In this one they learn to crawl.
That other army made men practice movements in group
mmmformation.
In this one they are alone and they move singly.
That other army demanded straight lines and the smoothest
mmmground.
In this one, traversing an open area is sure suicide.
That other army insisted on polished brass. In this one
the glint of metal will cost a man his life.
That other army taught men that a pair of shined
shoes at inspection was more important than all humanitarian
mmmideals
put together, that a dust-free footlocker carried more weight with
the company commander than three college degrees and that a
short-order cook with a bar on his shoulder was more
to be respected than the wisest man in the world.
In this army, men learn how to be friendly and
tolerant and how to master the science of getting along
and working together. Discipline expresses itself in freedom,
mmmand leadership
comes from a source within themselves and understanding is the
result of experiences shared. They know what is just and
sincere and they hate sham and fraud and broken promises.
They know their own weaknesses and they know that nothing
lasts and events are unpredictable. And best of all, they
are beginning to realize that they have weight and mass
and power and strength enough to enforce the basic integrity
they need and admire, so that the leaders they trust
are in the long run accountable to those who follow.
They stumble over truth but
continue as if nothing happened.
* * *
