Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-08-07
GUARDS TRAINED
In PREPAREDNESS
WITH FRYING PAN
Second Pennsylvania's First
Battalion Learns to Cook
on the March
BUT ONE FINGER BURNED
BY CARL l.. ZEISBERG
Ry star Corrsspondent

BV a Stod Correspondent
Ell PASO, Tex, Aug. THE first
semhlance Of real warfare for the Pennsyl-
vaniA troops came today, when the first bat
TALON OF the Second Regiment pierced the
''enemy's country" and retired successful to
Camp Stewart without anything more seri-
Gus than empty canteens.
II was battalion maneuver engineer
ed by Major X. K V. Casey, TO adapt the
tnfantrymen to the formations required
when the march leads through hostile ter
ritory. with full equipment including
rifles and one-thlrd of days ratons, the
four companies marched beyond Tobn.
distance of three miles pitched their shelter
tents and cooked a meal while outpost de-
tachments guarded the temporary camp.
Advance and rear guards were deployed
during the march.
i COOKING REAL TEST.
l The real test came not while the boys In
khaki were marching through the dusty
mesquite, not while they erected their half
eheiters," not while they we're detailed on
outpost duty, but when the time came for
the cooking OF the meal Every man his
own cook be he lawyer or laborer In private
life, was the order. Presently the blue
smoke Of more than hundred fires
ascended like ribbons from the plain, and
out OF each haversack came three slivers
OF bacon. one potato, a slice of onion, three
pieces Of hardtack, a painful OF coffee, a
little sugar, salt and pepper, a regular meal
In the making for regular soldiers in the
making. One burned finger and two burned
potatoes were the only casualties Today,
being battalion commanders' day, the bat
talions went through close-formation drill
only.
General Clement inspected the Third
Regiment this morning in his regiment-a-
day sweep through the division. Canvas
was furled 70 the squad tent poles, Colonel
Kemp lined his bronzed soldiers on the
parade ground and both materials and men
underwent a close scrutiny.
EXAMINE EOTrTpMENT
Major Taggart, division inspector, began
his examination of equipment. All un-
serviceable articles will be condemned.
Tonight there will be a harmony" ban
quet at division headquarters. with General
Clement host to the brigade generals,
colonels and other unit commanders of the
division. Seventeen plates will be laid in
addition to those for the division stan.
Philadelphians who are invited to the
''love feast" are Brigade General Price, of
the First Brigade; Colonel Allen, of the
First Regiment; Colonel Turner, Of the
Second; Colonel Kemp. of the Third; Colo
mel Ellis, of the Sixth; Colonel Wood, of
the First Cavalry: Major Keiser. of the
Sanitary Train, and Major Arnold. surgeon
OF the division.
MEN GAIN KNOWLEDGE.
Camp Stewart has resolved itself into n
huge war school, n Plattsburg and prac-
tical West Point for officer and private
alike, and every day added to the days
under canvas here is a link In the chain
that will keep turbulent, stricken Mexico
within its bounds, for with every passing
day there Is added another days knowledge
of warfare, another sinew in the arm that
Uncle Sam holds raised to strike across
the Rio Grande.
Major General Clement has built the
course Of training upon the principle that
the instruction of the company includes the
instruction of the individual soldier and |
instruction higher n
wolves the proper grouping and leadership |
of the smaller included units. That is the |
reason one sees an earnest corporal eter- /
nally drilling. drilling, drilling his squad |
of seven.
But the war school does not stop with
the man In the ranks. The efficiency of
the higher organizations made up OF
trained soldiers. depends mainly on the
training and efficiency of their officers the
battalion, the regiment, the brigade would
be like an army truck without driver.
ship without captain, II the officers were
not abreast OF the men in training and adj
vanced in tactics. That is the reason one
sees officer teacher and pupil, as In
large university, where instructors teach
and at the same time add to their store of
knowledge
The division is being trained for field
service and with all the equipment that |
goes with field service. That differs vastly
from armory drills. where a guardsman be-
gins only to scrape the surface of soldier
ing. Here he iB confronted with actual
conditions OF field service. as nearly as II
is possible to accomplish that without the
presence of an enemy and the "zung' OF
bullet and the detonation OF shell. In this
warlike atmosphere, with which he has been
surrounded. the soldier is having ground
into his being the minutiae that make up a
trained soldier
MUCH REAL WORK.
The curriculum OF this war university
4. txyIth ar{ll hat /
pretty on Broad street, and that also are
inspiring to watch here on the mesa, with
a stretch OF parched yellow plain, a purple
range of ragged mountains and blue sky
as a background. 1t includes and is mostly
made up of work, spelled with a capital
w, that is near to warfare as many
OF the guardsmen dreamed they would ever
be when they enlisted. The schedule does
not stop at recruit drills and care or arms
and equipment. II begins there. After
that come personal sanitation and first aid |
position and aiming drills. range practice
and individual cooking. Nor does IL end
here. After the private has learned all
there Is 10 be learned as an individual, he
becomes cog in the machine OF his COM
pany, which win be trained in exercises
that look more like warfare. These include
faeld firing with service ammunition. the
Reconnaissance and selection OF field forti-
fications under various conditions and the |
actual construction of intrenchments.
AS time goes on and the scholars ad-
vance, as in grades in the schooroom, the
maneuvers will grow from company to bat
TALON drills, then TO regimental and bri-
aade maneuvers There will be spying and
picket duty, marches and conveys in all
the fun regalia OF war, training in the
care OF men and animals, fire control and
direction, and the maintenance Of COM
by signal and by messenger.
1t is a great school, making soldiers and
men Pennsylvania will have cause to be
proud OF her graduates when these SOL
diers march from the open-air schoolrooms
here. Her only regret will be that more OF
her. sons did not enrol in this military uni
versity