The New Yorker, November 7, 1983 P. 55
REPORTER AT LARGE about the Swiss Army. It is a militia composed mainly of soldiers who spend a few weeks a year in uniform and otherwise pursue civilian occupations while their assault rifles repose under beds and in closets at home. Writer spent time walking about with soldiers from the Tenth Mountain Division during an exercise near Brig. They were gathering information about landscapes, infrastructure, native people, and lurking enemies. While not with the soldiers writer was in the company of officersNnow and again flying in a helicopter from Alp to Alp and unit to unit. Writer tells about the Swiss civil-defense system and bomb shelters designed to guard against the effects of nuclear weapons. Tells about Switzerland's actions in World War II. They were pressured by both sides and their neutrality was endangered, but it's felt that Germany didn't come into the country because of the Swiss Army. Quotes remarks by Winston Churchill about Switzerland in World War II. He thought that in the long run Switzerland had been a democratic state, standing for freedom in self-defense and largely on the Allied side. Tells about the Swiss air force. Describes the military exercises by the soldiers which writer witnessed; actual war conditions were simulated.