The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-10-14

glory--the American private soldiers pays scant heed. But when an unknown genius makes the statement, in writing, that for him it is case of Berlin or Bust" he says something that the American private soldier can understand and appreciate. He volunteered for the duration of the war, and always In his subconscious mind has been the thought that some day he would go swinging down the roads of France on his way to the frontier and Berlin. He joined the army for the prime purpose of going to Berlin.
 The Texan spoke the sentiments Of the entire division. With us 'Rainbows" 1t Is case of Berlin or Bust"
 ALABAMIANS ARE WELL
 The Alabama regiment, which, be 1t
 understood, is representative of the en-
 tire state, being made up of men from every portion, is getting along nicely.
 There have been a few chilly mornings
 and rainy day or two, but in the main
 the weather for the past month has been
 ideal for soldering. The fine weather,
 hard work and regular routine of duty has done wonders for some of our re- cruits. Hardly a man in the regiment has failed to gain weight. and some have added as much as 30 pounds. In the main. our regiment consists of veterans of many months service, with
 a sprinkling of recruits gained last slum- mer. The One Hundred and Sixty-sev-
 enth infantry was built upon the old Fourth Alabama as 8 framework, but the present personnel came from all the Alabama regiments The old Fourth took over bodily hundreds of men from the First and Second Alabama infan- try and the First Alabama cavalry The strength of each company was increased at once from about 150 men to 25O. And these transferred men were scattered in
 the regiment in such way that no one city or town could claim any particular company. It was a question of the regi- ment being representative of the state of Alabama, not any particular portion of 1t. To the Birmingham company Of the Fourth, for instance, were added y4 men from a Mobile company of the First, thus making the company as much
 a south Alabama affair as 1t is a north Alabama one. And so 1t is that our present regiment is made up of men from practically every city and town in Alabama. It Is no longer the Fourth Alabama regiment-it Is the Alabama regiment of the Rainbow divisioy BEST AND WORST MIXED There were among the men trans ferred from the other regiments some who could hardly be described as first
 class soldiers. For the most part, they
 were hale and hearty men but in some cases they were the offscourings of their
 former commands. This pleasant custom
 of mixing in the worst with the best,
 the bad with the good, seems to have
 obtained all over the country. In each of the units making up the division there
 has gone up the same howl. In each of the 27 states furnishing units, there seems to have been some or this friendly
 unloading of unservic-able material And
 loud and long has been the denuncia- ton of it.
 We were highly pleased when we reached Camp Mills to note that we were rot the only sufferers. for the joke was on others as well as on ourselves. So we settled down to the task of making soi- l diers out of what had been given us. The older men from all the regiments who had seen border service were almost without exception well trained and dis ctplined, and among the recruits there were very few who had not had the fun- damental training. As for the ne'er-do- wells, the ''trifling" and sorry ones and the tough guys''-a little real disci- pline will suffice. And let me remark right here. that no man ever soldiered any harder or had better discipline than those of the Rainbow division. When 8 regiment is preparing for overseas serv- ice 1t wastes mighty little time fooling around trying to make village cut-up behave. There is too much else to do for that.
 At present We must modestiy admit that we have about as fine a bunch of infantry as any in the army. And to say l that man Is a good infantryman means | much. To be an infantryman calls for qualities above those of almost any other branch of service. There must be physi- cal strength and endurance, for an in- ] fantryman must march lon his own hind 1 legs' and take his arms and equipment with him. He must possess fortitude. 1 for to him falls the honor of holding the line. He must have courage to the Nth degree, for he must face not only the fire and bayonets of the enemy in front, but the fire of his friends in the rear. So, W hen old soldiers tell me that we have a fine bunch of infantry, I realize that it means a great deal.
 PROPERLY EQUIPPED There is one great consoiatlon for our division. Wherever we go We will be property equipped. The men have been issued the regulation two winter uni- forms, two woolen shirts. two pairs or shoes, four pairs of woolen socks. three
 suits of underwear, and . pair of heavy woolen gloves. In addition to hts rifle and slde arms, each man nas some form of entrenching tool. either spade, 2 pick, bolo or wire cutter.
 l For bedding, each man has . cot, bed sack and three woolen blankets. The bed sack when filled with straw makes . very desirable mattress. The blankets
 can be folded into Q sleeping bag. and on especially cold nights the soldier calls into service his shelter tent half and his overcoat. The latter. for warmth. is bet
 ter than blanket as we learned on the border last winter.
 There has been no complaint about the