Comic Book Praises Army Uniform; Says ROTC Is Key to Social Success

Colonel Charles P. Summerall, professor of Military Science and Tactics, said last night that he "saw fit not to distribute" among members of the incoming freshman class a comic book urging enlistment in the R.O.T.C.

The booklet bears the title, "Time of Decision"; and on the cover is a caption reading: "No man wants to be without friends on the college campus . . . Read how TED WRIGHT found himself standing on the sidelines alone . . . And how he found something else--Something that changed his whole life . . ."

Uniform Means Social Success

Relating the story of a freshman misfit, the book suggests that the "secret to social success" is to be found in an R.O.T.C. uniform--friends are easier to win, girls are easier to date, and the summer training maneuvers make of "the shy freshman a regular he-man."

One picture depicts "The Annual Military Hall--Tops in the List of Social Activities." Ted, handsome with his yellow hair and smart khaki uniform, dances with the perennial blond of comic book fame. Their dialogue reads:

She: "I wouldn't have missed this for anything."

Ted: "Yes you would, if you weren't going steady with an R.O.T.C. man."

To Be Sent to Freshmen

The comic book was made available to all commanding officers of college R.O.T.C. units, to be mailed, together with other material, to incoming members of the freshman class. The book stresses that those who fail to enlist during their first college year are no longer eligible for the program--and the attractive benefits illustrated therein.

Dean Alter of the Graduate School of Boston University, whose R.O.T.C. unit did distribute the book, said yesterday that "though the intention of the pamphlet is honorable, the insult to the intelligence of college freshmen is unforgivable."