The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1917-11-08

some of the activities here before
leaving for the usual duty of rife
practice.
"This latter duty is the bugbear Of
the soldier. 1t seems that the ele-
ments take a special delight in devel-
oping a spot of dirt or rust in the bore
Of the piece overnight. 1t is with fear
and trembling that we take them down
In the morning and throw them up to
the flight in search of elusive spots.
If the inspecting officers find it before
we do, II means until 8 p. m. to clean
it or waiver Of two weeks and leave of
absence. have been fortunate gen.
orally, but last week some guy kicked
a little dust on one of the screwheads
as we were coming to attention in
company front for inspection, and ac.
cording to the officers decision, it
took me until 2o'clock in the after
noon to remove that dust. The fellow
who kicked that dust should be re.
duced to the ranks or sent to the front
line of trenches in France.
Fort Leavenworth is lovely camp,
extensive in area. We know its boun-
daries, it is hilly in spots, we have
found all of the hills. All the buildings
are substantial in character and do
credit to the service. | think the
army schools here are second only to
West Point. We come in contact with
many of the we'll known military ex-
perts of the country, and from this
post many of the best known military
works have been written.
Our regiment of engineer officers is
composed of two battalions of three
companies each. Each company has a
strength of 1870 to $50 men. Among
them are some of the foremost engi-
neers of the country, men who have
left incomes ranging from $1,000 to
$40, 900 a year. They are enthusiastic,
they are patriotic. They have given
up the pleasures and comforts Of home
life, have left families and active oc-
cupations or businesses to aid their
country. The $4,000 man carries his
gun, digs his share Of the trench,
sleeps in a. bunk, eats his meals, all
alongside the 1900 man. We have
men in the regiment ranging in age
from 20 to 55.
Our work has been intensive from
the first day. Every man was pre-
sumed to know something about mill
tary drill, and If he did not-like my
self for instance-it was up to him to
work nights or at odd times to make
himself proficient. We begin at 5.45
in the morning and cease at 10 at
night. Following is an illustration of
our work at present. Friday the en-
tire Post engaged in a maneuver be-
tween the Arkansas Whites and the
Missouri Reds. They are at war. We
of the Whites marched out early in the
morning and assumed a position of
defense on ridge some two miles
long. We were attacked by the Reds.
We defended and counter-attacked.
had command of an outpost company
on the extreme left flank. My enemy
front ran away so fast that we could
not catch him, SO ours was a hollow
victory, but we carried out the move
ment nevertheless and covered our
part of the territory. We were back
in Post at IL M. after an s mile hike.
In the after ool / took my company
on another IL mile jaunt and in its
course examined three bridges, apply
ing the so-called military thumb rule
formula for determining their carrying
capacities. We were allowed 20 min.
utes at each bridge to make sketch,
measure the members and determine
the computations. The men were com.
PEELED to hand in their sketches IN.
mediately upon return to Post. / take
particular pride in saying that my
company came in singing, which proved
that they were in good shape after the
days work.
Every man is, or will be, given the
opportunity to command a platoon,
company or battalion while here, and
on his ability so to handle his unit, OF
units, will depend largely his probabil.
ity of holding his grade or of being
promoted. | feel that l have been
given a special opportunity to com.
mand during the past week. The in
structor has at various times had me
act as barracks orderly, top sergeant,
platoon, company and battalion COM
mander, and also as adjutant at bat.
talon parade. Competition is keen.
Another very important feature of the
work is physical drill where we are
called upon to take position of direc.
tor before the entire company and put
them through exercises. At this
have had my trial. Anything along
the athletic line. you can well imagine
appeals to me. had but to combine
some of the army movements with
those we had in the old college days in
the gym to make combination Of ex.
ercises long to be remembered by the
men. Since then, when the other men
are bit slow with their exercises and
when the men are getting cold, the
senior instructor takes a delight in
calling on me to give them some Jump.
ing or hopping exercises, but he gener.
ally says about the time am getting
well warmed up, to ."give them a
breathing exercise" or 'better give
them a rest" And so it goes, work,
work all the time. At first the work
was hard for me, both mental and
physical. Now the physical part Is
easy, but some of the theory, such as
French for instance, still has me
bluffed.
Where we will be tomorrow no one
knows. Men are leaving daily under
sealed orders, generally toward the
east, and from there probably to
France to report for special duty.
believe that SO far, men with no de.
pendents have been picked. Conjec.
lures and rumors are many in army
circles; we must try to turn deaf ear
to most of them, and drive along with
our work. We are constantly i'm.
pressed with our responsibility as q
branch of the service. We know that
the engineers have an important part