The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-11-12
Nv Nj. HARYIE

Camp Stephen A. Little, Nogales, Ariz.,
November ESPECIAL Correspondence
The Alabama brigade is rapidly becom-
Ing used to its new home and is begin
ming its harder training. That it is to
be a real training and one worth while
goes without saying.
From now on the boys are to get
touch of real field service. In Montgom-
cry they learned their A B Cs, close or
der drill, manual of arms and the like
but out here they are to go in for real
'highbrow stuff the kind of thing they
most need No troops can rightly be
called soldiers until they are ready to
take the field and to maintain them
selves there. The average regiment would
be decimated in few days of real cam
paigning under war conditions. The
work here on the border will take on
great many of the features of real serv-
ice There will be long hikes and prac-
tice marches. lasting for days and weeks,
with the same problems to solve that
would present themselves in actual war.
BY the time the boys see home again
they will be real soldiers and fit for any
service.
The boys have found it rather hard to
get used to the country, but they seem
to like 1t well enough, and If any have
felt the pangs Of inconsistencies they have
kept mighty quiet about it. The country
here is so unlike that back home that it
might as we'll be in another world. There
is nothing to compare it to, for it is so
unlike anything we have ever seen.
BEAUTIFUL AFTER ALL
In a strange, wild way the country may
be said to be beautiful. If one will for
get about trees and quit longing for the
sight of them, he can find much to ad-
mire in the scenery. There is none of
the dead monotony here that becomes so
irksome in the flat country. Here every
thing Is hills and rocks and distant
mountains. There is some vegetation,
but not much. Along the few little pitt
full streams that the natives proudly
call rivers and scattered in patches
along the hill sides are few small trees.
Wherever a settler has established irri-
cation there is an oasis.
The great towering hills--we would call
them mountains at home-with their
rocky sides and rounded SUBMITS, are
far from displeasing AS they stretch
out in every direction, and group them
selves into the most fantastic shapes,
one can always find something new to
wonder at. These hills are cut and
scanned by gullies and are dotted here
and there with little stunted bushes,
which look as though they had made a
mighty effort to grow but finally had to
give it up as a bad job.
DULL BROWN PREVAILS
The prevailing color scheme is a sort
of dull brown, into which the olive
drab uniforms of our soldiers blend
perfectly, proving the wisdom of those
who chose the present army color. In
this country our troops have almost
as low color visibility as has a
quail in our southern fields. 1t is a
mighty comforting thought-that we
would be hard to find in case of any
unpleasantness. Whenever any sniping
begins we are sure to raise our voices
in praise of the man who invented olive
drab.
The air here is as clear as crystal
and very dry, and distant objects stand
out with startling distinctness. There
has been some complaint because the
high altitude, about 1000 feet, has made
the boys short winded," but most of
them have become accustomed to it.
What is hardest to get used to is the
remarkable change in temperature dur
ing the "a hours.
While the sun is shining everything
is nice and warm and very much like
Indian summer back home" but just
as soon as the sun goes down the tenn
perature begins to fall. We are told
that there is a change of from 80 to so
degrees during the night; that the
mercury drops from 80 to almost the
freezing point. The days are really hot,