Warren sheaf., 1917-11-07
Letters From Our Soldier Bows

4 First call is at 5 80 a. M, when the
sergeant In charge hollers "Hit the
ldeck", then you dress and go to the
bath house and wash and shave. A
fellow has to keep shaved up all the
time. Then you come back and line up
4 for chaw at Z a. M, and after chaw
sIyOu make up your bunk. Every
blanket has to be folded just so, IL 1t
isn't the sergeant tears 1t all up and
you have to do 1t over again until 1t is
right. We have clothes inspection
every other day and hunks and bed
blankets are carried outside and aired
every other morning. Each man has a
trunk Of his own to put his clothes In,
with a paddock and key for it. Every
key is different, so you can't unlock
Ianybody else's trunk. The bunk house
is swept clean every morning after
breakfast, and if the sergeant ever
finds a cigarette butt under anyones
bunk it means 10 buckets Of oyster
shells for him.
Our company is filling up fast. We
only need 10 more men to make the "a.
The 44th and 45th companies went
over to the new barracks last night.
That means that their preparatory
training is all over and they can go
anywhere. on the island> We will go
there too in about II days from now,
then we can take in the shows and
canteens and all the amusements on the
island.N We have to wait and go with
the 49th company, but they are coming
on the island every day so it won't take
them long to form the 10th company
and get it drilled up in good shape. I
lpity any fellow in this outfit who is
NATURALLY awkward and can't learn to
drill They picked four big boobs"
out of our company yesterday that
couldn't learn the steps and they drill
ed them around alone. Three sergeants
walked around right behind them and
if any one Of them got out Of step he
would stick his cane under their feet
and trip them up. If they still kept it
up and. couldn't learn, he would grab
them by the nape Of the neck and shake
them up and call them all the names he
could think of, most of which wouldn't
look well in print. / came down here
with the intention of soldering, so I
am getting along fine so far. There is
no such thing as can't learn down here
you have to learn. There is one big
"boob" in our company from Big Hill,
Texas, and it is awful hard for him to
learn the steps because he is just
NATURALLY awkward When these COM
panies here in this preparatory train
ing camp go to the new barracks after
thrilling only two weeks, they can drill
just as well as any national guard
regiment that was on the border last
winter after six or eight months
training. These drill masters sure
know their business and pity any
fellow who talks back to one Of them.
When we are drilling and fly lights
on your nose, better to leave it there
or else get an awful .bawling OUT or
POSSIBLY a rap in the jaw, if the drill
master sees you. No one is allowed to
lget shaved by the barber, because each
lone is issued razor to shave himself
with. He can get his hair cut by the
DafDef ior o-cents montn.
This outfit IS as far ahead of the
l.Natlonal Guard as daylight ahead of
darkness. They sure don't think much
of the militia around here. If a new
recruit has anything the matter with
him that the doctors here can fix up
they hold him over here at 'sick bay
and doctor him up before swearing him
in. About half of them are held over
for few days because they have to be
in perfect physical condition before
they will accept them. If they can't
[cure him he is given transports ton
the he y 1sz 1ssy,z saT s,1s snasse
pany. We have fellows in onr COM
|pany from New York city. Chicago.
.lPhiladelphia. Bnffalo. cleveland Gin