New Britain herald., 1916-08-07
MEN WELL FED AT
 CAMPS ON BORDER
Returned Soldiers Make No Con-
 plaints Regarding the Food EXAMINATIONS CRITICIZED

Hard Work But Good Experience,
 They Say.
 Between thirty and forty bronzed New Britain boys who have seen ser vice on the Mexican border and who were rejected for some minor physical defects have arrived home. All of the boys are in good condition and do not hesitate to voice their disapprOVal of the way the government rejected them. As far as sickness and disease are concerned, all of the rejects are in perfect health and the only reason they were sent home was because of eyesight, lack of weight, maybe a sore foot, or poor teeth. A few of the men left the special train at New Orleans and are coming to New York by boat. Among these are Sergeant Lowell Pickup, Corporal Bement Hubbard and Private Cook of Company l. They should arrive in New Britain on Thurs day or on Sunday according to the weather encountered by the vessel.
 Terrible Trip to Nogales.
 Private Henry Briere of Company I, in a lengthy interview this morning, gave a comprehensive account of the experiences encountered by the New Britain soldiers since they left home a couple of months ago. Beginning at Mantle, Private Briere asid that the state troops had to leave such a hur- ry that no preparations could be made for their comfort enroute. During the whole six and one-half days trip to Nogales, he said, the men rode in hot stuffy day coaches and at night slept as best they could in the narrow seats. Sleepers were not provided, he said, and the men suffered a lot from lack of proper sleep.
 Sleep in the Open.
 Arriving at Nogales at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Private Briere states that the men had to pile out of the coaches into the glaring hot sun ana then march two miles to their camp site The camp proved to be a sandy waste covered with a thick growth or mesquite. cactus and weeds and De- fore tents could be pitched the men had to get busy with shovels, picks and , hatchets and clear away a space for the company street. By the time they | had finished this work 1t was pitch dark, too dark to see to pitch their
 
 Owing to the fact that all eatables were on the train and there were not sufficient transportation wagons to bring the food to camp, it was i o'clock the next morning before the men had their supper. They went from noon to 1 o'clock the following morn
 ing, after walking two miles and doing hard work, before eating. It was no fault of anyone except army men who had charge of the transportation and they could do nothing because they were not furnished with trucks.
 During the first couple of weeks at camp the men stood a lot of hard work Everything was new and strange and they also suffered some from the unusual heat and the change of food and water. Private Br1ere states that aside from sore arms and droWsy feeling, none of the New Britain men suffered from the typhoid vaccination. If 1t made any i'll, it was their own fault, he stated. They had instructions thirty hours after being vaccinated and most obeyed. Those who didn't were rather sick.
 Tells of Big Rains.
 After a few days at camp the rainy season set in, Private Briere said, and every day saw a deluge of wter The old camp was situated In valley so every time 1t rained the camp was washed out. To give an idea of just how severe an Arizona shower Is, Pri- vate Briere stated that the rain falls in greater quantities than 1t did during { the two hard showers here yesterday. He states that it ran two and three feet deep through the company streets and everything that was not weighed down 1oated along with it. It was nothing unusual, he said to find part of a soldiers belongings a mile from camp where it had been carried by the raging torrent. The present camp, Camp Little, is about three miles from the first site and is high enough to be secure against any more floods. The two New Britain companies are about half mile apart so the Hardware city bows don't see very much of each other.
 Claim Raw Deal.
 The mention of examinations, how ever, arOuses a feeling of revolt in the minds of all of the "rejeCts.' They argue that they passed two rigid phys ical examinations here in New Britain, another at Mantle ana then altef they arrived at Nogales were sent home. The reason that the last examinations were necessary, Private Briere states, was because the surgeons lost the first examin atiOn paper, or at least they said they did.
 Private Briere points out that the result of the last examinations, in view of the fact that all the men had 1 passed the first three, was unfair. The | long trip down to Nogales, the change l of diet and water and the work under | the hot sun, together with the fact 1 that the men Tad not become fully ac-