Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1917-10-24
Other Army Divisions Have
Been Going Through Reor-
organization Similar to Elk
!. periences Of Camp Hancock.
WHAT TT ALL MEANS;
DIVISION is A TEAM

In speaking of the necessary reorgani-
cation work which has been going on
in many army divigzons as result of
recent orders. one of the officials of the
29th Diyision-the blue and Gray Dir
vision, at Camp Mcclellan, Admission,
Ala-tells what the reorganization has
meant to the officers tand men and points
out that a division is a team.
A division must be trained as team.
1t must work as a team. 1t must fight
as team.
The hopes and ambitions of many men,
have been blasted; or, at least, the real
ization of the hopes has been deferred.
Colonels who have spent years of earn
est work in recruiting, equippiDg and
training their regiments, and who, hay
ing Just left their home towns escorted
to the depot by hundreds of their fellow
tewnsnen and well-wishers. have brought
their organizations into camp, with bands
playing and flags flying-flags given
them, no doubt. by the hands of the pa
triotic women of their home cities, the
handiwork, possibly, of these very wom-
en- Full of hopes for the future, and
dreaming of the new names to be craven
on the staffs of these flags telling OF
battles won-these men have been met
upon arrival at their camps, with the
news that they themselves were to be
assigned to other units, possibly to am
other branch of the service, that their
regiments were to be merged with other
regiments, that their very flags were to
become relics, or at least could only be
used by other organizations.
That these things should cause heart
aches and dfsappointments, and. even, re-
sentiment, was to be expected. Who of
us have ever tried to represent his school
or his college on the baseball or football
field and has not suffered heartaches
and disapp0intments when another was
picked for the place we sought and hoped
for! But, on the other hand, who of us
has failed to glory in the accomplishments
of the team and to cheerfully lead the yen
for the very man who had taken our
place, with the individual feeling Of dis
appointment completely lost in the pride
we have in our team
Just so the sorrow, the disappoint-
ments, ire travail of DISCRIMINATION has
brought forth reorganization. and then,
organization and the team idea has been
born!
This division is team. It must be
trained as a team, it must work as a
team, and, later, it must fight as a team.
The organization of the team has been
effected That there win be changes in
tutes, win show such class that they
viii be put in before the first half is
over. A strong string of substitutes
must mus, be trained to tafle the places Of
subs" must be so good that when the
first team is shotN to pieces the substitu-
ton Of the second team win bring with
1t no decrease in offensive power.
The training win, speaking broadly, be
divided into three phases:
THE incubation of discipline into the
minds and very beings of each individual
in the division.
2-The physical training of each indi-
yidual so that there will be gotten not
only the spirit to dare. but the strength
and win to do
3-The expert knowledge of the use of
the wapon with which the soldier is arm
ed-the rifle for instance-its use as
close combat weapon with bayonet fixed
aSif 10
from the development of skill and effic-
Iency in the use of the weapon, the Of
fensiye spirit must be developed-wars
are not won by defensive actionsl
While the soldier in the ranks is being
developed physically. and is being train
ed as an expert in the use of modern
weapons of warfare, the affairs of the
division must be administered, with the
least loss of motion. and with the least
time taken from active training, the
health and sanitation of the camp must
be looked after; the soldier must be
fed. clothed and armed, and he must be
taught things which the new DEVELOPMENT
of warfare has made necessary and
which his officers have not heretofore
had opportunity to study; for the aecornp-
lShment of all these ends divisional
schools have been organized and are be-
ing conducted daily, in every branch of
The courses in many of them are so
regulated that as new subject has to be
taken up IN the various companies, there
VIII Ut graduates Vi the various SCHOOLS
ready to act as instructors White the
private soldier in the ranks is being
trained the officers. too, are being in
structed in the intrieacies Of the new sci.
ence modern warfare The captain of
the team must not only play the game"
and play It as a leader. but when the
other members of the team are resting
after the labors of the day he must be
planning the work of the next day In
its final analysis the object of all of this
training is to so train the bodie sand so
educate the minds of the officers and
men OF this division that they will come
to loolS. upon the accomplishment of the
impossible as an every day matter-and
that win be brought about by discipline.
and that alone.
The American spirit is essentially a
spirit OF fair play. There are those who
are prone to think and are free to say
that discipline is repugnant to the AM
erican mind. That is not So. The forced
enforcement of discipline is repugnant
to the American mind, for discipline it,
self is far play ipersonified. To be real
discipline-and fair play-discipline must
be uniform; if uniform, it will rarely have
to be enforced, for it viii appeal to all
as fair play.
Take, for instance. the matter of sa-