South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1917-08-20

BrUmmel OF the army Gin his own
estimation), is every recruit the day
he dOns the khaki Proud OF ms
plumage' as the proverbial pea
cock is he.
Why need he worry over such Il
little matter as small breeches and
an diversified military blouse? Fits
and insists all look good 10 Mr..
Rookie the day he draws his first
clothing allowance. A khaki suit.
then. is a khaki suit regardless OF
size. Even the olive drab shirt may
permit OF undue chest expansion,
but the recruit cares not
AS he wends his burdensome way
from the issuing department TO his
tent carrying all of his first cloth
ing allowance with him, the soldier
matchmaking is the happiest Of
mortals. Two pairs of shoes, two
khaki breeches. two olive drab
half a dozen pairs Of socks, and o
much too large or a pitifuuy small
hat, constitute his new equipment.
Lest Francis y. Bushman CT
some Of the lesser movie lights fear
to lose their regulations for long
time dressing il might be advisd bic
70 keep certain knowledge about
some Of our South Bend soldiers ouk
of print Suffice il 10 say that il
took one South Bend high school
rookie three hours to switch from
civilian TO the army regulation
clothes. Few of the rockies are
able 10 effect a change for the first
time in less than an hour. and an
hour TO dress, be it known, is 50
minutes and some seconds too much
in the army.
Schaefer of Mishawaka, accord
Ing to tradition held the longtime
and long-distance dressing cham
pionship. He spent six full hours
preparing 10 present himself for
cameras keen observation. His pals
said that the first days experience
was but a mild forerunner TO Other
days at Fort Thomas, for, Schaefer
had 10 be awakened at midnight
that he might be dressed in time for
reveille at $3.50 a. m. Edgar TrOe-
ger of South Bend was a close sec
ond and held the "runner-up" po-
competition.
Uniform Doesn't Make" Him.
Though clothes often make the
man." they seldom make the sol
der. The commissioned officer
who took charge of the recruits for
the first day of military training
drove that fact home SO far that
scarcely any of US nave yet forgot
ten 1t.
Your new uniforms won't drive
the Germans back" the dril.master
told us What you need is plenty
O pep, lots CT drill and a whole lot
of effort if you want TO get any
where in this army. I've been sol
diering Is years or more and 1
know what I'm talking about" II
is worthy Of observation that one of
the failings, if failing 1t can be
called, of most experienced mon
CONS" is their tendency TO impress
upon the minds of the recruits their
long service. However, even old
soldiers are good administers. That
we learned from experience.
And the experience started at
once.
Attention" shouted the squad
commander. What that meant We
vaguely understood at the begin
ming of our first drill, but before the
day was over there was scarcely a
man in that raw rookie outfit who
did not know how TO stand until
rest" was ordered.
Sixty-fve rockies began their
drilling under a sergeant and a cor
poral and 65 green individuals were
they. Infantry, artillery. cavalry,
engineers, quartermasters,-
of all branches of the service joined
in common in getting the rudiments
of the drilling game. Among the 90
were easy-going Kentucky back
woodsmen, dashing big-city clerks.
and rattle headed collegians from
north, east and south,-truly cos
mopolitan group.
\ Tragedy of Stammering.
During the first hour of drill a
rookie got fustered occasionally.
one nervous bred American
lost his head completely that he
came near being promoted 10 the
guard house his very first morning
in uniform. 1t all happened thus:
The corporal assisting the ser
geant in drilling suffered an I'M
pedient In his speech. He could give
the general orders alright but when
IL came 10 direct discourse he slut
tered 70 beat the cars" After cor
recting the rural rookie several
times he became eXasperated. He
dashed TO the rockies side and
stammered
"D-d-d-d-don't you kn-kn-know
wh-what orders are? II you
d-d-d-d don't we'll I'll give you an eN