The History of MWR

Since that rainy cold World War I day on the front lines in France when a Salvation Army soldier cooked up the first batch of doughnuts to go with a homesick Arkansas soldier's hot coffee, civilians have served with the Army, providing essential morale boosting services.

Combat is a succession of brief bursts of intense activity, followed by a period of waiting.  During those periods of waiting, a commander's worst enemies in the ranks are boredom, homesickness, depression, fear and fatigue. To keep their edge and stave off those unseen enemies, soldiers do everything from reading to playing video games, from sports and weight training to karaoke. More often than not, there are recreation specialists to organize and conduct those programs, depending on the situation and the commander's needs.

It is a matter of historical record as far back as the Revolutionary War that soldiers sang, gambled, raced horses, presented skits, and played practical jokes while in camp. During the Civil War, soldiers carved pipes from brierroot, and chessmen from pine. They played baseball, boxed, held foot races, and enjoyed performances by minstrels and comedians.

During World War 1, President Woodrow Wilson recognized the need for troop morale services. In 1918, presidential appointee Dr. Raymond Fosdick reported on the low morale and poor conditions plaguing the American Expeditionary Forces. Reporting to Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, Fosdick wrote "...the Army of America is an Army of independent young Americans full of initiative and imagination, who joined the service not because of any predilection for soldiering, but because they believed enough in the ideal for which we entered the war to fight for it." Later that year, Fosdick wrote, "Morale is as important as ammunition and is just as legitimate a charge against the public treasury.

Thus, the Morale Branch was established in 1919 with Fosdick named as director of the Commission on Training Camp Activities.  The Commission's purpose was to provide facilities and means for entertainment, recreation and education of the thousands of citizen soldiers undergoing training in camps across the United States. Private organizations such as the Salvation Army, the Knights of Columbus, the Young Women's Christian Association, and the American Red Cross rushed in to fill the need.  Music played an important role in keeping up the spirits of the troops, starting with the fife and drum corps in the 1700s. Two hundred years later, an Army infantry sergeant named Israel Baline, stationed at New York's Camp Upton, Yaphank, Long Island, organized a soldier show he called Yip, Yip Yaphank. That soldier would become famous as Irving Berlin, a composer who left the Army and the nation a musical legacy and tradition still in place today.

On the World War I battlefields and behind the lines, Salvation Army sisters and Red Cross volunteers ministered to the needs of soldiers as the forerunners of today's morale, welfare, and recreation specialists.  After the war was over, funding stopped and morale programs were mothballed.

It wasn't until July 1940 that the Morale Division later named Special Services was established within the adjutant general's office. In 1941, President Roosevelt instructed the War Department to employ 100 Army hostesses; some for duty in the Caribbean and Europe, to staff allied leave centers. Between 1946 and 1955, the core recreation programs were established and staffed by a combination of active duty military and civilians: service clubs (recreation centers), arts and crafts, music and theater, libraries, and sports.

When U.S. troops went into action in Korea, Army service clubs staffed by young women were authorized to operate in a combat zone for the first time, taking over the Red Cross coffee and donut operations. Soldiers and civilians assigned to Army Entertainment worked with the USO to produce numerous celebrity touring shows.

When America became involved with the Vietnam conflict during the 1960s, Special Services hired several hundred college graduates - men and women - to staff recreational facilities and programs. There were 52 service clubs in Vietnam; there were also libraries, crafts shops, and gymnasiums. Due the logistics of the war, many recreation staff traveled by helicopter, delivering programs to areas of large troop concentration. Mobile services and programs were conducted on a large scale. In isolated areas, Army Special Services sent in thousands of book, game, and crafts kits.

Until the mid 1980s, active duty enlisted soldiers and officers held military occupational specialties in Special Services and were assigned at every level of command. As those occupational specialties were discontinued, civilians continued to operate MWR programs with military oversight. Special Services underwent much reorganization and had many names before coming to its present configuration as morale, welfare, and recreation.

Each branch of service has its own MWR operations, and we copy freely from each other. More and more, we look for ways to operate more efficiently by partnering and consolidating our efforts.

Department of Defense officials and members of Congress recognize the importance of these programs as contributing to the quality of life of our armed forces and as a necessary element of stability and retention.  It is interesting to note in the prisoner of-war stories from the Vietnam era, survivors recount how they played chess, created imaginary baseball teams, recited Shakespeare, and called up memories of camping or other family recreation activities to keep them going while in solitary confinement.  The mission of MWR is to help create those memories that keep men's hopes alive.  Regardless of the technology, the advanced weaponry, the sophisticated computers or the real-time communications, individual soldiers' minds and hearts are at the controls; collectively making decisions that could affect the future of mankind.

We who work in morale, welfare and recreation are proud to say our programs touch the minds and hearts of America's Army daily in so many positive ways as they go about the business of national defense.

Article courtesy of the U.S. Army Community and
Family Support Center Public Affairs Office

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