Mexico weekly ledger., 1916-07-13
HOUSTON LELVES
With TROOPS FOR BORDER

( Cololei - camp CL2rk Is slowly
I dwindling away and tomorrow
the Second Regiment and the
Ambulance Company (my CON-
pany) VIII leave. The First and
Fourth, the three batteries and
the Signal Corps have already
gone. The Third VIII remain
here until It Is recognized as a
! regiment By the War Depart
ment, unless it Is decided to send
/ il in battsliOns-
Just whcre We VIII 90 no one
knows but il is generally beliy-
ed Laredo viii find Us. | woun
prefer Brownsville. as il is on
the Gulf, but soldiers cannot be
choossEs. Every member Of our
company Is anxious to 90 and all
Of them would ike to see some
service, so they say. | guess
they'll be disappointed. howev-
er. as all reports say the militia
viii do only patrol duty for at
least four months.
We ila.G Ss5eai at Camp Clark
almost two weeks. getting equip
ped and aiding in the physical
sTc- - examination for the L.. s.
Army. This work viii be CON-
pleted today as VIII the vsccina-
ton for smallpox which most
every man is undergoing. No
one gets by without shot Of
typhoid vaccination, which viii
be repeated twice in ten day in
tervals. a small percentage of
the men have been rejected by
the L. S. officers and have been
sent home as fast as their units
leave. Thirteen of the ambu-
lance company. including three
sergeants, left yesterday We
have Sixty-three enlisted men
and FIVE officers. Our Captain,
". L. Gist, one Of the best off
GERS IN the medical corps, is as
sistant health director of Kan
sas City and Lieutenant George
P. Pipkin is superintendent OF
the General Hospital there. AL
Of our officers are physicians.
This company viii be required
to look after the sick and the
wounded Of the fourteenth mill
tary division, including the
states of Missouri, Kansas, Ne
braska, Wyoming and Colorado,
and afford transportation for
them to the field hospital. We
have twelve mule-drawn ambU-
lances and three motor vehicles.
All of our officers, non-coms, and
orderlies are mounted and the
Hen ride on the ambulances.
! am company clerk and look
after all clerical work, such as
pay-rolls, muster-rolls, reports,
etc. AS a result ! am relieved
from all drill and guard duty,
reporting only at reveiIle and re.
treat.
Before many of the Mexicoans
have turned over for their last
nap in the morning we soldiers
are out of bed and going thru
the setting-up exercises. Re-
veille blows at $50; mess at s
sick call and fatigue 6:40: drill
$40; recall, 11:30; mess 1900
noon; drill 1870; recall 400;
guard mount 500; mess 500;
retreat 7:10; tattoo 9:10; call to
quarters 10:45; taps II 100. That
is our daily routine; that of the
infantry companies is a little
different as the dough" boys
drill more. A great deal of our
work is instruction in first aid
and bandaging.
We have an excellent mess
sergeant and have been eating
three square meals a day, includ-
ing chicken dinner( furnished
by the officers) Sunday. The
rartions chiefly consist of bacon,
beans, potatoes, beef, prunes,
syrup, bread and coffee, and we
have plenty. No man in Ambu-
lance Compony No. l has gone
hungry so far, although they
may when we entrain. The train
rations issued are not very good
and in this hot weather are like
ly to spoil before we reach the
border. If they do, Wen make
up down there.
The boys who enlisted for a
pleasure outing have been very
greatly disappointed and many
of them tried to "stall" out in
their physical re-examination.
Major Shockley, of the "regu.
lars" sized them up pretty
well, however, and the majority
Of them will go with us. The
other class, they are in the large
majority, are working hard to
perfect themselves in the event
they are needed, and most of
them are anxious to get into ac.
ton. A majority of the fellows
rejected were greatly disap-
pointed and all Of them asked for
further examinations. While
these boys are doing their best
to get into service, despite ply
sical disabilities, others who
are we'll fitted are remaining at
home. The Missouri boys have
responded only fairly well,
whereas there should have been
enough applications for enlist
ment to form two or three bri.
gades. Perhaps the stay-at-
homes viii respond better when