New Britain herald., 1917-08-24
SECONDP[ATTSBURG
 CAMP IS OPENED
New Candidates Take Clothes
 Cast Off by Predecessors

,Plattsburg, N. Y., Aug. 24.-Sixteen hundred young and middle aged men, who, until yesterday morning, were self sufficient, independent citizens of this republic, muttered as they fell asleep last night.
 "One o. D. khaki uniform, two blankets one pair of leggins. one can- teen, one mess kit," and so on, until slumber overlook them.
 For in the hours which elapsed from the time they clambered from the train here to enter the second officers training camp, a vast change had come over these erstWhile sov- ereign citizens. Their self-suff1ciency crumbled away first.
 Caustic-tongued and marvellously wise regular army non-coms de- stroyed this It took these glib vet erans, many of them younger than their charges only a few minutes to impress upon the minds of the stu dent officers that, whatever their in- tellectual achievements had been in civil life. they were as babes unborn. when 1t came to modern warfare.
 After self -suff1ciency, followed in- dependence. The khaki uniforms in which the candidates shortly ap- peared banished this entirely. For when they assumed the mud-colored cloth and gun metal buttons of the United States Army they became merely cogwheels in vast machine, wheels which might speed up the mechanism, or, on the other hand, might retard it until they were scrapped.
 Yes, despite the privations and oth- CT minor misfortunes, it was a happy 1900 who muttered items of equip ment as they slept last night.
 To be sure, the equipment left something to be desired, but one great lesson had already been pressed home upon them. A soldier who loses his life obtains thereby glory and honor. but the soldier, who loses his equipment will presently wish fervently that he was dead. There fore, between tattoo and taps the can- didates told over their quartermaster and ordnance stores rosary fashion, and went to sleep still calling the roll.
 The entire 1,60O were ou+atted in two hours. The quartermaster's con- tributions consisted of ponchos, blan- kets, comforter and uniforms.
 On this last word the men base the only tale of woe that twelve hours of soldering has brought forth.
 Men Wear 'sHand-Me-Downs."
 Uniforms" one disgusted private said last evening. They're not uni- forms, they're hand-me-doWns."
 And that is exactly what they are. They are the worn, stained and some times altered clothes on which the first officers training camp was ham, mered into shape. Judging by the appearance of some of the uniforms, it took good deal of hammering. i. I've got a perfectly foreign set of initials on the seat of my pants,' the complaining private continued, land there's ink, all over the front of my jacket. All they did was to launder and fumigate the stuff and hand it out to us again. Swell chance I have in a camp where officers are to judge by appearances"
 The fact that the candidates have to begin their work here in the out fits left by their brethren who have gone before Is in no way the fault of the Plattsburg quartermaster. Six weeks ago he ordered new uniforms from Washington. They never came. There was only one thing to do, and he did it. Eventually the candidates, by the grace of the quartermaster general, may appear in clean, new khaki. Until then, however, they must appear in the uniforms they brought with them, until these be- > come less presentable than those "hand-me- downs bestowed upon them. When this occurs they will have to appear in scarecrow habili- ments.
 An even unhappier lot awaits the Z -second 1,600, who will arrive here on Saturday. The quartermaster can give no uniforms at all. When those they bring to camp with them get dirty they will have to be worn until they become dirtfer, unless, in the meantime, the long-delayed shipment arrives.
 Gathering Their Equipment.
 After the men reported to their company officers and were assigned to the long, ,hot-house appearing bar racks, in which a former crop of candidates ripened into officers, they began the -fve-hour long pursuit of equipment From building to build ing they went by companies, collect ing equipment on the way like so many snowballs. Again and again. men staggered back to their barra cks, bearing armfuls of ponchos. blankets and the gaudiest of gaudy comforters, as well as other things.
 The second officers training camp will swing into hard, efficient work sooner than did the first. There is to be mo general infantry drill before the men select the arms of the serv- ice in which they wish to specialize
 Within 8 few days every candidate will choose one of the three branches that still remain open to him-infan. try, field artillery and coast artillery No commissions will be received ir