Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1916-06-30
GUARD ORDERED
TO SAN ANTONIO
Word to Move Comes From
Headquarters in Chicago.
TROOPS GET REAL TRAINING
"Rookes" Whipped Into Shape for
Hard Campaign While Awaiting
Orders to Move to the
Front.

Madison.-All the units of the Wis
consin National Guard which were mo-
bilized at Camp Douglas have been
ordered to move to San Antonio, Tex.
She orders TO start for the front were
issued by Major General Barry, in
command of the central department
at Chicago, General Barry's orders
to the commanders of the Wisconsin
Guard were to entrain all units as
soon as they were mustered in, ex-
amined and reasonably ready.
In anticipation of the receipt of the
orders to entrain Camp Douglas had
been the scene of tremendous activity
for several days. The mastering of
the soldiers into the federal service
had been rushed as rapidly as possible
and one unit after another had been
formally incorporated into the United
States army.
At the same time that the men were
being thoroughly equipped for war,
they were being given the most rigid
training In order to make an effective
fighting force of Wisconsin's provi-
Sional brigade. Rifle practice from
morning till night, machine gun prac-
tice, artillery and cavalry drills and
rigid examination of the men by
United States army officers were
among the steps taken up to whip
the militiamen into shape for a pos
sible grilling campaign.
The riff practice proved a surprise
even to Maj. Robert b. Mccoy, Capt.
Il Martin ID. Imhoff and other officers in
charge. The first three shots fired by
the rockies" were tull's-eves, and
through the practice excellent scores
were made, although many of the men
had never fired an army rifle before.
Rookie Has Perfect Score.
Out of a possible %. one recruit
made 25 by hitting the bull's-eye five
n times in five shots. Many others
made scores of % and "a. Close at
tentiOn to instructions and determina-
ton to become good soldiers on the
part Of the recruits were the factors
largely responsible for the excellent
showing. Another important factor
was the assignment of one expert
rifeman to each target, so that every
recruit who came up to fire had per-
sonal coaching from the start in just
how to hold his rife, load, pull the
trigger and many other little tricks
which all tend to make a man good
marksman.
The machine guns were all working
perfectly, and the members of the COM
panies are well drilled and thoroughly
familiar with their work.
General Holway has decided that
when the batteries of Racine and
Green Bay are combined with Battery
A to make battalion, Capt. Phillip
Z. Westfahl of Battery A will be ma
Jor, First Lieut.. J. G. Reed will be
captain and battalion adjutant, Lieut..
Alonzo j. Comstock. will be captain
OF Battery A, Second Lieuts. William
Friederich and Alvin Kuechenmeister
viii be made first lieutenants, and two
Battery A sergeants will be designat-
ed by Captain Westfahl to take an ex-
animation for lieutenantcy.
Recruiting Is Pushed.
While the work of equipping the
men in camp went on. recruiting was
also being pushed and it was an
nounced that the provisional brigade
had been recruited to full strength.
Recruiting was continued even after
full war strength had been reached
oy the organizations in camp for it
was realized that new units would
have to be formed and the new re-
cruits could be used to advantage in
this way. From Milwaukee came the
report that that city's new cavalry
troop was being recruited rapidly and
mat the city might organize still an
other troop or even a whole regiment
of LOO men.
The 1000 men who comprised the
troops which first assembled at Camp
douglas in response TO the presidents
eali' have been steadily augmented by
me arrival of fresh recruits. The
TASK before the commanding officers
mas oeen to add 500 men to each regf-
meht- This means the recruiting of
-'VVo additional men, bringing the to-
ai strength of the units assembled
az a. camp Douglas up to more than g.
00V men. The rush to the recruiting
ouices of the various companies. how
e'er' early showed that this would be
aeconplished without difficulty.
All the old members of the guard
we're Iully equipped upon their arrival
camp and the new recruits have
zen Zen supplied with equipment soon
@1ter their arrival.