This 1952 episode of The Big Picture (TV 199) “We Never Strop” depicts the continuous training of the U.S. Army following World War II to meet the potential military challenges of the future. The episode shows various military training in the U.S., Europe, Caribbean, Asia, and Arctic. This video begins already several minutes into the film, where soldiers practice clearing a mock town at a U.S. base. An instructor shows the men a model of a town and discusses proper procedures for taking the town (00:45). In Europe, soldiers dig trenches and fox holes (01:20). Men go through a stake course in snowy conditions. Men from a chemical battalion practice making smoke to screen moving troops. Soldiers infiltrate a German town (02:35). Men camouflage an 8-inch self-propelled howitzer (03:22); they fire the large gun. Men sit on a tank and hand out chocolate to several kids (04:03). A sniper sits on a small platform in a tree (04:31). Men train against an aggressive force (05:00). After they capture the “enemy,” they go through the procedures of looking for useful information on the captured men. A plane takes off and men throw out propaganda leaflets to simulate aspects of psychological warfare (06:12). Men work on repairing equipment at a small base (06:44); a soldier welds a part of a car. Soldiers work on building a bridge across a river in the dead of winter. U.S. Navy ships fire guns off the coast of Puerto Rico (07:44). Infantry units and tanks storm a beach and move across a field during the island training. Soldiers train for Arctic warfare in Alaska (08:37); they traverse snowy fields in white snow suits. They cross country ski and pull supplies on sleds. Men fire artillery and machine guns in the cold to test how long they’ll fire (09:24). The film then takes viewers to Hawaii, with shots of its sandy beaches and palm trees. At Schofield Barracks, men train going under barbed wire and practice their marksmanship at a rifle range. On the beaches of Okinawa (11:15), soldiers train for beach landings; they climb down a rope ladder into landing craft. A woman reads a script as part of the psychological warfare of the “aggressor force.” Other soldiers train on Honshu (12:45), marching across fields and down roads. Others go through the protocol of a gas attack by donning gas masks and going into a tent. Soldiers play baseball in Japan. At Camp Sendai, Japan, soldiers train in preparation for going to Korea (14:00) by participating in a simulated night attack. Several soldiers fire mortars (15:38). The film then takes viewers to the snow-covered island of Hokkaido (16:40), where troops practice winter operations. Men practice bayonetting, skiing (17:24), and snowshoeing. A Cat tractor pulls troops on skis. Men fire rifles using their snowshoes as a sturdy base for their rifles. Even in Korea, soldiers continue their training (18:50). Combat troops take a break from the front lines to learn new tactics. Men are trained in setting up communications lines (19:40). Footage shows tanks firing, troops climbing a mountainside, and using a flame thrower—either as part of training or during actual combat missions. The final destination of the episode is Yucca Flats, Nevada (20:50). Soldiers train for nuclear war; the troops climb into foxholes before the detonating of an atomic bomb. The bomb is detonated (21:37) and the troops observe the mushroom cloud. The soldiers move into ground zero and planes fly overhead to drop paratroopers over the blast zone. The episode concludes with Captain Carl Zimmerman addressing the camera from behind a desk, stressing the importance of continuous training for the U.S. military.

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