17. The CCC began to take on a military nature in 1940
Although the CCC had from the outset shared many characteristics with military organizations, it had avoided being considered militaristic in reputation due to the voluntary nature of its enrollees and the direction of its projects being in the hands of civilian organizations of the government. In 1940 that began to change. In anticipation of the expansion of the army following the 1940 peacetime draft, the CCC began to build camps and training facilities for the military. Some of its own camps were converted for military uses. In the late 1930s the CCC was no longer being used solely as a relief organization, and the life in the camps began to take on a more regimented routine, including mandatory daily physical fitness activities.
Conscription and the growing American economy, which was benefiting from the American programs to support Great Britain (and later the USSR) reduced the number of men eligible for the CCC, and the shift of focus towards national defense limited the budget for internal conservation projects. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor all CCC work was shifted to support of the military, expanding existing bases and facilities. Men serving in the CCC were eligible for Selective Service. Some CCC camps were disbanded, with the CCC units transferring to the military bases where their work was performed, and by then both the work and their living situation was under military control.