The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-08-28

he rose from the ranks to company
commander in the regulars. The ac-
tual life Of the enlisted man, there
fore, with its many problems which
are not faced by the officer, is known
to him by experience, and the fruit OF
that experience is beneficial to the
men of the LIST. Vermont.
Furthermore, Col. Reeves has seen
active service in tropical countries,
and here again he knows from eXper-
fence what should and what should
not be done. Many a colonel of the
war with Spain would be surprised
perhaps, to see the minute individual
attention paid by Col. Reeves to the
sanitary conditions of the camp
There is not day that its every nook
and corner is not visited by him, ac,
companied by the medical officers at
tached to the regiment under com
mand of Maj. Hagan, and this is a
duty that is not delegated to any sub
ordinate officer except in unusual
cases.
Col. Reeves first consideration is OF
the men, and of the men the first con
sideration naturally is their health
There is never any let UP in the Dc
mand for high standard of santa
ton, and the natural course will be
constant Improvement in conditions
! 1t is a safe prediction that il the men
of the regiment fall victims to dis
ease it will be through no fault OF
their own, but will be due to careless
ness in nearby camps, which seems
most unlikely, as all outfits are striv'
ing for a health record.
But OF course Col. Reeves could not
bring about satisfactory conditions
and maintain them unassisted. He
has in all his efforts the hearty co
operation of the officers and the men
of the regiment. The personnel OF
the 1st. Vermont is. indeed a high
one. To be modest, it is a regiment
at least little out of the ordinary
Colonel Reeves states that it has tht
best personnel of any regiment with
which he has ever served. either with,
in or without the regular service
Battalion and company commanders
I as rule Are as watchful as the colon
ell himself, and there is a unity of pur-
pose that accounts for the splendid
record the regiment is making. The
men are as proud of the outfit as the
officers themselves, and when this is
said one pays as high compliment
as is possible, both to the officers and
the men themselves.
The water supply at Eagle Pass
proper is good. The water is taken
from the regular city reservoir, and is
drawn from the Rio Grande and pas
sed through filtration plant. The
food is good and ample. Opportuni.
ties for maintaining bodily cleanli-
ness are excellent. The heat is terrific
in the mid hours of the day, but then
as many men as possible take it as
easy as possible. The daily schedule
of drills is laid out with this feature
| in mind
The Messenger believes this is a
faithful picture of physical conditions
at Eagle Pass. Given that a soldier
went out in good condition, blessed
with sound digestive apparatus
such one should experience mini
mum of difficulties. Some sickness Is
to be expected. So many men could
|not be brought together anywhere OF
under any conditions without there
being sickness. That some men went
out who were not physically fitted /:
beyond question true, due to the pre-
cipitated haste in which the regiment
was bundled off for the border, time
for adequate examination of the mel
not being given. But in brief, the
conditions at Eagle Pass are most 70
assuring and reflect credit on all con
cerned, from the lowest ranking pri
vate In the rear rank to the colone
in command.-St, Adams Messenger