New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-08-25
TO CREATE, AN OFFICERS RESERVE"
Military Highly Technical Vocation Which Needs Conan
Brushing Up.

had military drill as often as four after
moons week during the fall and spring
However the whole matter was taken very
much as a joke by the great majority OF
the students and discipline was almost zero
We had better discipline by far in the Boys
Brigade to which | had formerly belonged
This was partly due to the commandant OF
cadets, retired army officer who had seen
active service in the Indian campaigns but
hadn't the art of getting the men interested
have heard of a former officer there who
had this quality of enlisting the mems in
terest but it is an uphill job at the best, for
the students are there for another pur-
pose and consider a military drill and the
study of tactics as a necessary evil. This
was a condition not only where | attended
but | heard directly from students at at
least two other such colleges that it pre-
vailed there.
It is unfortunate that this is so, for there
is no question that here is the very material
that, with the proper incentive, could be
welded into the needed military officer after
service with troops. 1t is a question whether
by offering a bonus or subsidy 70 students
specializing in military studies. the needed
interest could be brought about. The idea
is not entirely worthy and the best results
can no doubt only be obtained where there is
true esprit de corps, such as at strictly
military school There are such schools, and
no doubt some of them are very efficient
The writer has no personal knowledge of
them, however.
The postgraduate summer camp, being OF
such short duration, has the same objections
that apply to the business mems camp at
Plattsburg. Therefore, unless the students
course there can be extended and in addi-
tion graduated to be progressive during sue
ceeding seasons and unless the necessary
incentive can be found for students OF land
grant colleges, such as a separate and self
contained military school, our reliance, as
you advocate, must be placed in an enlarged
West Point and perhaps its duplicate in the
West.
Comment on an officers reserve should not
close without reference to the opportunities
presented in the National Guard. It is not
the lot of all of us to be college students
nor TO have time to attend summer camps
such as at Plattsburg, but any able-bodied
young man or even middle aged man of good
habits can obtain excellent training in the
Guard, and get more or less enjoyment out
of it at that The writer speaks from an
experience of almost eight years, and hopes
he may be able to remain years longer.
1t is, in fact, the duty of young men to
join the Guard A singular case in point
was recounted to me by an officer of the
Guard in high command. He was struck by
the intelligence and conciseness of statement
of an operator on a military telephone IN
delivering a message to him in the recent
summer tour of duty. Good operators are
the exception, so he took time to look up the
man, and found him to be a professor in a
we'll known educational institution, thirty
five years of age who had decided that he
owed something to his country that he hadn't
paid as yet, and had therefore recently en-
listed. There is opportunity for men of the
proper type to advance to be non-coms
and later to be commissioned officers
It will not be accomplished in a week OF
in four weeks; but the training will be
thorough if the state legislature is liberal
enough to provide suitable field practice
and he will have much enjoyment and pleas
ant associations on the road. Further, he
will be discharging duty to his country and
to himself. CAVALRY.
Brooklyn, Aug 81, 1918.