Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-06-16

gardirg the personal r1sE the mem
bers Of motor truck companies must
take. Let il be said roundly that any
reader who is looking for a safe Job
had better not join the motor truck
| company. A motor truck cannot crawl
| into a trench and hide. 1t cannot
climb 4 tree, i clnnot hide behind
tree and Il cannot run away. And
when an enemy battery gets the range
| on a good road there are many better
and few worse places TO be than on
the front seat of e motor truck In the
| Q. VI. c. service
There ts no lodging shells or issues
in war. Those trucks have TO NOV
and they must he kept moving, and
one or two or a dozen blown into
bloody fragments will not halt the
! procession. The men in the trenches
must eat and must have ammunition
and that is all that matters.
A commissioned officer in the Q. II.
c. is invested with the same standing,
dignity. prestige end authority as in
any other branch OF the service. The
enlisted man, private or first sergeant
has, If anything a greater dignity
than invests the private or sergeant
of many other branches Of the service
Because this WORK requires picked
men, and the best CT picked men are
chosen for motor truck work.
A no1-commiss'oneG officer must
know all the things necessary to CTR
ing for himself that any other sOldicc
is supposed 10 know; and in addition
to that, he must know how to take
care Of his truck. |: IS infinitely more
important that 5000 pounds Of food
OF ammunition or arms get to its dc6
ttnation unframed nd on time than
that Jones, or Harms, or johnson, driv-
ing, arrive with 1t pnsCathed. A loaded
truck is infinitely more valuable than
man. So the chauffeur who actually
drives, as we'll as those who are hated
as machinists and helpers, must know
not only how to guide a motor trans
port over a road Without upsetting il
or humping something else off the
highway, but how to take care Of it.
repair it, protect it and rescue 1t, If it
is within mortal power to do so.
OF course, the quartermaster Off
GERS do not expect the motor. transport
driver to be able to carry his truck to
its destination on his back after a
forty-two centimeter shell has rOinpeJ
through its engine and run off with
the transmission. All that is expected
Of him Is that he be a better driver
and a better mechanician on the road
in time Of war than he ever was while
delivering coal or beefsteak or hot. |
house plants to fault-finding citizens
in time Of peace, and that he obe.'
orders instantly, no matter what the
orders are.
MachInIsts Play important Part
AS to the machinists, a machiniSt in
a truck company in active service !
isn't expected to do anything outside
of the routine Of duty but eat and
sleep, and not much of that. And no |
man has any more real responsibility |
than this same machinist, not even ex
cepting the truckmaster, who has
charge of the forty men and the
twenty-seven trucks of the company |
Trucks do not last very long in war |
service. They would not last a day if
it we're not for the care they receive. |
While the chauffeur is responsible for
much of the care CT his machine, it is
the machinist WHO must have strength !
and nerve and ability enough to take
care Of all twenty-seven trucks at
once, when they need attention.
The United States army has no rela-
lives and plays no tavorites in the
matter of promotions. You can entsr
rands at the start; as a sergeant and
be truckmaster and Rave charge OF
forty men and twenty seven trucks;
as a sergeant and be assistant truck
master in charge Of nine trucks, or as
a captain and have charge Of a whole
flock Of them-the step ahead is the
step you can take only because Of the
way you handle your job! No service
in the whole I'm offers a greater
chance for the man who has initiative
and brains, Drawn and courage.
The chap who drives a transport
can't carry heavy truck and wander
over the country like the infantryma1
who, on account of sore foot or a
yellow streak, falls behind his com.
pany and gets lost. or captured, or
killed. The transport driver has to be
for himself and the valua-
BILE property in his care, which means
so much to those up ahead. Hence
the need OF motor truck soldiers who
are qualified to assume responsibility;
who can act under orders as we'll as
any other soldier but who have the
initiative and the pluck to face I'M
usual situations with grit and re.
enough to carry them
off. 1t is for these reasons that the
service wants PICKED men, and
wants them to demonstrate that they
are picked men by going ahead. The
job is yours just so long as you can
hold It, The best way to keep the
fellow below you from serambling into
your place and crowding you off into1
oblivion is for you u get a strangle
hold on the job of the man just above
you. He'll get promoted-CrS killed
and you'll get his place,
And for all this what do you get?
Aiding Your Country
is Best Reward
Well, first Of all you get the salts
faction of being an important factor