From: jtem01@gmail.com   
      
    Eric Stevens wrote:   
      
   > Certainly in the Napoleonic wars and even up to WW1 there were many   
   > examples of illiterate soldiers and sailors who required the   
   > assistance of other people to both leasrn the contents of letters   
   > written to them or to reply. It is not essential that all soldiers be   
   > able to read and write.   
      
   It's not essential for any grunt to know how to read or write.   
      
   An officer?  Sure.   
      
   A non-com? Probably? But I've read Civil War accounts where even the   
   non-coms among the confederates were embarrassingly uneducated.   
   One story came from a federal solider who was captured, and how the   
   rebels spent hours trying to count them!   
      
   A grunt?  Absolutely not. No grunt in the military needs to know anything   
   but the chain of command.   
      
   It's a waste of resources.   
      
      
      
      
      
      
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   https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/629165608057159680   
      
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