Trench and camp. [volume] (Augusta, Ga.) 1917-1919, 1917-10-31
THE ORDNANCE DEPTHS
WORK AT The CAMP
Supplies 28th Division With All
Material Not Included in
Quartermaster's Issue. Men
from Civil Life Admitted For
First Time.

Il ~ - n 44AA&s
The Ordnance Department. supplies
the Twenty Eighth Division with all
material not included in the quarter
masters issue. Under the general
head OF ordnance comes all small
arms, cannon and arSiIIery caIssons,
saddles and horse equipment. target
materials, and the repairing of all
firearms. Such articles as are issued
by this department do not belong TO
the soldier to whom they are issued,
but remain government property
which, in effect, is borrowed for the
enlistment, or until it wears out, when
it is replaced.
The present is the first time in the
history of the country when men are
taken into the ordnance department di-
rect from civil life. Heretofore the pri-
Yates of that organization had served two
or more enlistments prior to transfer
but owing to the pressing needs of the
new overnight armies universities and
colleges have instituted what is known as
the Ordinance Stores Training Course, =
in which men are fitted for the non-com-
islIsslOned ranks of the department. The
University of Pennsylvania was one of the
first schools nthe country to foresee the
necessity of such q course, and the first
to open such a school.
Pennsylvania Classes in Augusta.
After six weeks of the study of che
theoretical side of ordnafce storekeeping
the Pennsylvania classes are sent to the
arsenal here in Augusta, where they re-
ceive an additional course and receive the
practical training. There are now eighty
u. r. graduates stationed at the arsenal,
and another class will arrive within the
next two or three weeks, after the pres
ent one Is sent out
The student pays for the university
course, at the end of which he enlists in
the army and receives the governmental
instruction at the expense of the nation.
All enlisted men in the ordinance depart
ment now at Camp Hancock are gradu-
ates of the U. p. he department is in
the able hands of Captain Vernon Barcas,
u. S. A.. who will have charge of the re-
organization. The new army organiza-
bred men and five officers. At present
the work is being done by five enlisted
men and two officers.
Many College Graduates.
A greater portion of the new personnel
of the ordinance department win be taken
from the graduates of the u. P. training
course and the remainder will be trans
ferred from the various regiments of the
wenty- Eighth Division There is need
for skilled mechanicians and saddlers, and
an effort will be made to obtain these
within a short time.
After the formation Of the new company
the unit will become part of the division
here. Under the old regime
It is the camp ordnance depot" and al
IL WOThS WIFI the
it is not part of it.
An ordnance repair shop has been erect
ed, where the guns and small arms will
be kept in order. When the division
moves to Europe, probably in the spring,
q mobile field repair shop will follow
their movements on the battlefield in or
der that no time may be lost through
broken parts, especially Of the artillery's
Three huge powder magazines have re-
Gently been completed, in which will be
stored all kinds of ammunition, from the
four point-seven and three-inch shrapnel
to the 80 U. S. Springfield shells for the
Heavy guards with loaded rifles
and automatic pistols viii protect this war
from meddling hands, and any
0ne found within the limits of the dan |
ger zone" of the magazine will be COM
oelled to give satisfactory account of
himself, in lieu of which, he may expect |
trouble.
Within short time the artillery COM
hands of the division will move out to |
he range, where they will engage in pc |
'iodical target practice. At this time /
hey will use great amount of powder |
md shells, and constant stream of |
arge calibre ammunition will be main |
amp storehouse.
The men of the Ordnance Depot are |
,usy making room and accommodations |
or the coming hundred, who will find |
heir camp entirely prepared for them. |
Under Captain Barcas the new members |
# the command will be quickly whipped |
nto shape and receive training previous /
o their departure for the front.
None of the state officers of the ord
It Hancock. 1