MY FIRST JOB when I come into this Army was workin' under a Division QM -- the old square division. I didn't work there very long before I got a pretty good idea what sort of a man a good Quartermaster had to be.
TO GET his job done right, the QM had to have the tact of an ambassador, the dignity of a bishop, the cheek of an income tax collector, the hope of a company loan shark, and the gab of a D.A. To top it off, he had to say "No!" to the same people more times than any man I ever met. That was the old QM.
BUT SOMETHIN' NEW has been added. Today there are air Quartermasters, amphibious Quartermasters, mountain Quartermasters, and just Quartermasters. They deliver supplies by parachutes, float 'em in on the tide, haul 'em over mountains, or plain get 'em there. They drive trucks, run bath units, handle gasoline, launder clothes, drive DUKW's, carry packboards, lead mules, roast coffee, train war dogs, or do any of the many special jobs which put the ball-carriers into scoring position.
THE QM's JOB is so big it's hard to fix in your mind. Think of the thousands of shiploads of supplies needed to supply the invasion of France. Think of the clothes the men there wear, the equipment they carry, the food they eat, the gasoline they use, the coal they need, and all the other services they require to keep them top-notch fightin' men.
QM's WERE in on that job. They were in on the invasion of Africa, Sicily, Italy, and the Pacific islands, too. You can't have a fightin' front until the QM's are all set with the supplies to back it. QM's not only deliver the stuff, they think it up for science labs to work on, have it made by factories, and figure out what should be where and when.
ALL ALONG the line somethin' is done by QM specialists. That's what today's QM is -- a soldier with a technical job to do. He's got to have the honesty of a judge, the knowledge of a professor, the warm heart of a close friend, the skin of a rhino, and the patience of Job. And through all his ups and downs, he's got to be able to say "Yes!" to more seemingly impossible jobs than any man I ever met.
Quartermaster Training Service Journal 15 September 1944