The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1917-06-28
'''MAKE BELIEVE"
GAME PLAYED BY
LAND MEN-O-WAR
Recruits At Great Lakes Sta
ton 60 Through Customs
of Shipboard.

GREAT LAKES. ILL.,, June 28.-It's
q great game they play out here at the
United States Naval Training Station.
q slorified sort OF lets make believe
OF childhood days, with the difference
that in this case the entire proceeding
is deadly earnest aud fraught with ire
mendous possibilities to nation.
For players there are 5000 men and
for toys they have all the devices Of
modern sea-warfare-guns, boats, q
radio station. The hundreds OF acres
in the reservation are the ship and
reveille 10 at two bells instead OF five
o'clock
Not many Of the men are around
today. all Of them have gone ashore"
said an officer recently to visitor In
spectiug the station.
Nothing But Prairie.
'Ashore?" was the gasping reply.
For miles around there was nothing In
sight but prairie.
ION leave, that u.s." was the expla-
nation. When they leave the station,
they 60 ashore. for we are living under
the same conditions as II we were ct
sea"
Life In the station provides the re-
cruit everything he would get at sea
except sea.sickness. He scrubs his
barracks or tehtfloor instead Of deck.
but he calls 1t "scrubbing deck" And
the time.honored salt water custom
which DEGREES that the bluejacket must
be his own laundress prevails on this
gigantic inland warship.
Every day II a busy day. but the men
thrive on 1t. One OF them outlined a
typical "a hours Of routine a. follows:
Schedule for Day.
5a. m.--Reveille.
SIS a. m.-Fall in for setting up
exercises and bath.
$50 a. m.-Tidy up quarters, scrub
decks" roll up tent to let in sun and
air and place cot on outside after roll
ing up bedding.
$50 a. m.-Mess. which Is navy"
for any meal.
500 q. m-Drill until II a. m.
Noon--Mess.
100 p. m.-Driu until p. m.
800 D. m.-Tnree hours Of recrea.
ton, study and washing clothes.
500 p. Yn.-Mess.
$50 p. m.-Muster In for inspection,
after which there is two hours for
recreation or study.
$3.50 p. m.-Signal for all to be In
tents.
s:45 p. m.-Final gun. all quiet on
board.
900 p. m.-Taps.
Such an arbitrary outline. however,
fails to include many Of the most in
teresting features of the life Of re-
cruit In between the various duties
ioh ysonst he nArfnruood he sot1nr
manages to sandwich minutes that
keep his dunnage bag in ship.shape.
enable him to write real yarns to the
quiet commitment. He IL . miser of
ing under naval routine he must needs
find for himself opportunity for per-
sonal devices.
infantry Drill on Bill.
In varying the days work, drill may
ton with gun and bayonet, for the sail
seamanship. while the next day boats
dipping over Lake Michigan as If pre-
Buildings Of the station provide
uCdA0 tI6AuA46 SAC A004 III CNcA y
work which they may be called upon to
perform. In the big arched drill hall,
large enough to house q regiment. plat.
forms across either end are equipped
with signalling OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES,
wig.wag. Ordois-found on the bridge
OF war vessel. On the drill floor are
5-inch field guns.
In the gymnasium, spars are swung
from the balconies and depending rope
ladders give land.lubbsrs from Kansas
and Indiana and other inland states
new thrills in climbing their snsky
lengths. In the instruction building,
examples Of all varieties OF knots
double carricks, Turks heads. luff
tackles and Mathew Walkers-show
what the recruit has to learn to do with
bit Of rope. A swinging platform on
wheels, on which 10 mounted q com.
pass and steering wheel. offers all the
sensations Of q rolling boat as the
landsman tries to keep her headed
nor'west by nor"
"hides Treacherous Foe"
OF all branches Of work however, It
is the boat drills that most Of the re.