The Garden Island. [volume] (Lihue, Kauai, H.T.) 1902-current, 1917-12-04
Training Camp Activities

Lieut.. Inlllp hlcp. nome 1Of q
few days on a brief furlougb, in
terviewed bv the Garden Island
gave substantially the following ac.
count of the life and activities at
the Officers Training Camp at Scho-
field.
! | was there for three months and
it was, as you say, a very strenuous
and eventful three months. There
were one hundred of us, and we ot
cupied ono large two story building,
the upper story of which was given
over to the dormitory; the lower to
kitchen, dining room, store rooms,
offices, etc. Every day was filled
to overhowing with a round Ct un-
broken activity.
The first call was at 5:15a. m i,
roll call at $50. Breakfast at 6.
Clean up at $50, and so on all
through the long day till 8 o'clock
at night, when lights out" was
the most welcome sound that could
fall on human ears
The days activities were pretty
severe, even for those of us who
were fairly well used to athletics
and an active life, so you can imagine
what it was for those who had led
a sedentary life in offices or stores.
These activities included a setting
up drill of one and a half to two
hours, three hours or so of military
drill and manual at arms in the
forenoon, which included the sharp
est attention to the problems invol-
we'd; and another two hours and a
half of military drill in the after
noon with two hours of study in the
evening.
The very best spirit was display
ed by the men throughout. no one
showed the least disposition to shirk
or lay down." there was the
most cheerful recognition of the
camp discipline; every plan was
there to do his best and he did for
all that was in HIM. though.it was
pretty hard on some of us to do it,
and it took the starch out of some
us nightly.
The Commissariat was alright;
the fare was good simple, but
wholesome, and well cooked. Of
course working like that, you know
"a man can cat almost ANYTHING,
but | guess it was good any how.
One of the strange things was the
inordinate desire for candy--no-
thing went to the right spot quite
as well as pound of candy-home
made candy in particular.
We were allowed, by way of wag-
es during this training period, 500
a month. AS Commissioned Off
GERS we will get more, sl41 for
Second Lieutenant, and $50 for
First Lieutenant. =
In regard 10 the Trenches: -
Well they were supposed to be as
closely as possible an exact dupli-
cate of those to be found in the war
zones at the Front.
They were Z # deep and Just
wide enough to get along in, pass
the supplies etc. And me had to
dig them, and some of it was nigh
ty hard digging.
At first the effort was made to
keep the men digging continuous
~ Dut tiCy SUM- iOullu lIiuJ llOTt
headway was made by doing it in
relays of 10 minutes each. Very
few people who haven't tried it
know how hard pick and shovel
work can be, especially for a steady
diet day after day. The first day OF
two were simply killing-but after
that we got down to bearing and
it went alright. OF course you un-
derstand that it is no fun to pitch
the dirt out OF a narrow grave Z #.
deep, even if you do know how to
! do it.
The Trenches were arranged as,
in the war zones, with a front time.
and back line and with connecting
short trenches. In CONNECTION with
back line were the supply quarters,
the commissariat, the relay quarters
etc. these being caves or chambers