The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1917-05-31
BOY
ON LIFE AT
PRESIDE

The Lewiston Tribune is In receipt
of the following communication from
Second Lieutenant James Il. West,
now stationed at the Presidio, San
Francisco, with the officers reserve
corps of the United States army:
'Those who are interested In one
of the largest undertakings Uncle Sam
now has at hand must know that 1t is
great army that is now In course of
being raised and trained for active
work in the very near future. The
work which we are being trained to-
do is something that will require
months to perfect, but the belief is
that there must be an army In the
field within a short time. but three
months will be given to training Off
GERS, who will then be sent to mobil-
ization camps to train the men to fol-
low.
"Of course most people believe there
win not be war waged with all its
horror and bloodiness; others do not
think CONSUMPTION will necessarily
have to be enforced, but unless peace
is declared very soon, all young men
fit for service Will be wearing the
olive-drab uniform like myself. And
there Is no certain style nor any like
lieve, and the men In camp are wag
ering, that many of us will spend
Christmas somewhere in France. OF
course, this might sound rather fun
ny to persons not conversant with the
facts but 1t does not to the men who
are putting in Is hours daily to learn
to kill.
II must say that everyone In the
game here likes it, some want to 90
to France, others to Russia, and as
for myself, Ii does not make any diff
ference. I win also state there Is lots
OF amusement attached to army life,
just as much as one encounters as
civilian. The main source Of fun is
hearing some fellow relate how he
slept, or how he couldn't sleep; in
dulging in q boxing match or other
sports, but the big laugh comes when
the command rest is given after
we have walked about three miles.
have found out that 1t is not the
army coats that causes soldier TO
appear square shouldered but the
pack we carry on our backs. This
varies In weight from 20 to 30 pounds
and we carry 1t most of the day.
Therefore 1t viii he seen that from
this one fact alone the young man
IUallIik Int army tut the lutFr dltdNttu
to the life will find that he has mis-
led himself after once he gets to going.
sin our drill work we start with
parade at 8 80 In the morning and
we are doing something until o 80 In
the evening, when study hour closes.
and the only time we have for rest
is from ) 80 to :15 p. IN. Our com
pany has 10 squads and the officers
are changed each week In order to
give each chance to show his ability
as commander.
"Now, about the food in camp
will say IL is army chow but il Is
now very good, or either / am used
to IL, or perhaps we work so hard that
anything would taste good. But the
food we are being served IL really very
good Some days we miss butter
sugar and milk, ana when such Is the
case we find that we can get alonl
very well without any of these.
EVERY afternoon we take a Ions
hike with our packs. At first these
walks were tiresome, but now they
come around as a matter of fact ant
we do not mind them. The walk 1:
about as far as from Lewiston L
Asotin
"As to my personal welfare. every
thing Is fine. would join the arm,
over again; 1t is fine life I'm the grea
outdoors. successfully passed tn,
examination for second lieutenancy
infantry. officers reserve corps. ant
next week will take my oath befor'
the officials at the Preside. Ny com
mission win be for term of fiv'
years expect to be ordered int
active duty some time next month
but this win require very strict phys
ical examination for me to pass"
-
Farm Loans-H. Rothwell