The Washington herald., 1917-05-30
Army and Navy News
Beat Service CoIumn In City.

!
rules at all the camps throughout the
country where the rest OF the 10000
I Would-be young American army officers
| are being beaten into shape.
| Perhaps there isn't a young business
man, social idler or college undergradu-
ate at any of the camps who has ever
worked harder in his life than he Is
oolng Just now. Anyway, such one
would be hard to fnd-and he certainly
must have ruptured the labor laws to
do It.
] FROM $50 a. m. to 10 p. m It is sweat
| and bone. When a student officer isn't
Juggling musket he's wrestling with
text book. Time is grudged to eat When
something isn't down on the regular
schedule the boys Just hike back to
the rough barracks or lie down under
the trees and absorb book-learning in a
way that would make a veteran college
| proCtor's eyes stick out
| And they're cheerful about II. Com
| plants are unknown. All any one lam
ents is the inability of the human body
! and brain to take on education at more
| IMAM certain rate. That maximum rate
every last rookie approximates. for this
Is giant competition with a definite
| prize held out to the lucky one in four.
| That spur which urges on this remark
| able exhibition of application is the ten
! thousand or so commissions to be handed
! out August l. No man came to this
camp without a soul-gripping resolve to
| honor his alma mater, or his corporation
| or whatever he came from by annexing
one OF the coveted bits Of paper from
! Washington which will make him a sub
/ altern in Americas. first real army Of
! i've hundred thousand meen. recruited
on the business principle of selective con-
| scription.
All GreHsy GrIpds
! The laboring student officer NAV have
enough stick-tO-it-ivencss to continue on
! IN a second camp II ne should fail in the
hrst-but he isn't going to lnger for the
second course If he can help it.
30 they're all greasy grinds as the
girls say at Nassar. and proud Of it,
Heat and cold have no effect The
nights were bitter and blankets were
inadequate when they arrived; and now
a broiIinE sun makes ii mcomf Portable
to carry that Springfield and that fifty
three-pound pack in the middle of the
DAY. But those are minor matters Work
Is the all-overshadowing thing that alb
I serbs the mind almost to the extent Of
not finding time 10 write homo and tell
the folks all about st.
| One man who had seen service in
France with the Canadians left camp
TO go hack 10 tho trenches and get a
rest" But the cutters, II he was one
/ are mighty few.
| Tho camp instructors are getting lots
! Of pointers in their work from visits
/ 10 he Canadian training camp al St
| Johns, Quebec, forty-six miles from
/ here. tn" normal school method IS
/ being followed. that IS, each man gets
IA chance 10 teach tho others for the
camp graduates will spend many months
/ teaching the privatos Of Uncle Sans
new army. The primary object Of this
camp Is not to produce weIl-drilled COM
/ panies." said Mai Stewart the senior
instructor. recently. The main object
J is to train nen to train others"
| The work is hard and the rules strict
| but the democratic spirit prevailing
makes things slide along easily Com
missIoned officers for the nonce are on
the same footing with the greenest re-
cruit.
Thriving Despite Labor.
The men are blooming des7ite their
! hard labor The food Is good. much bet
ter since the War Department author
lied Capt. J. NJ. WaIling. the mess off,
Ger, to increase the mess charge for
reserve officers from 30 to u cents The
uncommissioned candidates who eat
free, profit equally by the change
An added spur to action Is the fact
the camp curriculum has been arranged
at the end Of two months instead Of
three. The star men will leave about
July / for active duty at the mohilIza-
! ton camps where the first draft Of
ConsCriDts will be turned into soldiers.
There is much converse ton these davs
about the new organization to go into
erect soon, when cavalry. infantry. ar
tillery and engineering regiments will he
formed. No one may pick his own arm
OF the service-each man has promised
to do the duty Uncle Sam finds him most
fitted for.
Sunday, which Is supposed to he a day
Of rest. is devoted 10 study by practi-
cally every man in camp. They spend
little time in the city n PIattsburE. a
picturesque summer boarding place
The few student officers who have
brought their families 10 live in Platts-
burg and be near the camp now wish
thov had left them at hone-at least that
is the well-defned Impression here
ahous
Here is the daily routine NJ tho camp
There may be some changes later. when
the hours for drill are lengthened):