The Alaska daily empire., 1918-08-15

Robertson from A. H. Mann, former he Aviation Service written under late of Aug. 3rd from Camp Dick Dallas, Texas. in which he gives ar account of his activities since enter ng the Service. Part of the letter follows:
 ITO begin with, reported tc Ground School at Austin. Texas, or December 11th last, after a wait of l couple of months for my call This ,ourse was eight weeks-finished )n February 9th. And I am here O tell to the world that it was fal rom a soft job
 From Austin I was sent to Dalla Camp Dick-the aviation concen ration camp) where we cadets were worked about 26 out of every "A { was, however. a sort of vacation for the mind inasmuch as our du ,ies were more of a physical nature irill and various forms of fatigue 'uty prevailed. Stayed at Camp Dick )nly about ten days, after which vas sent to Kelly Field San Anton 0, Texas, for my first flying.
 During my first three weeks al Kelly field I really flew less than en days; weather conditions and 'llness of my instructor caused the loss of the rest of my time Due o change in instructors and hold ng an order which held bunch oi IS in the Duel instruction stage, lid not do any sole flying at Sar tntonio. At the end of about three weeks l was transferred to a new field at Arcadia, Florida-Carlstron Field by name. For some three weeks at the beginning of our careei here we worked live slaves. The field was not ready for flying, and ve were put to all kinds of labor. But he flying started eventually, and fl vas not long before I finished the curse. My last tests for an R. NJ \. (Reserve Military Aviator) were completed on May 14th From tha'
 dtC uHlli Juuc lJtH ttuc udlc Ol ny commission) I was doing prac ically nothing but an hours flying laily. It was a lazy mans life md more than unsatisfactory-es ,ecially as I did not get in any
 hing but stunt formation work and
 hat really is more detrimental than ,elpful is good. steady flying Stunt
 ng occasionally is all right; 1t gives man a bit more confidence and ,ase in piloting. but too much of it makes one incline toward careless less. And these circus formations certainly are the limit Imagine ! wild bunch-anywhere from dog ,n to twenty one ships (which is the argest number I have ever flown il 'ormation) all trying to do the same 'tunt at the same time, on sigma
 rom the leader, when flying in V ormatiOn. about three hundred feet
 part. It was really funny at times It see about half of the bunch come 'ut of loop 'cock-eyed' and then ,omplete the funny work by falling If into a tail spin. On the other land, it was far from comical Il aid bird happened to pilot his curse so as to cross your own, just 's you were coming out and resum ng your place in the formation Three hundred feet isn't very fal when travelling in ship that makes approximately seventy miles per 1our
 "On June 29th I left Arcadia on orders to report back to the concen ration camp here. Arrived here or
 he 3rd ultimo, and have been here sver since, with the exception of ter lays I spent in and enroute to and rom St. Louis. on leave. My triI vas most naturally most pleasant me, as no one up there had seen ne since I first entered service md. of course, they were somewhat interested. still look human, suppose. but wings aren't the most common thing one sees these days md believe me, they are not the pest things to be worn by a fellow who is inclined to have stage fright Never felt so conspicuous in my fife as I did for the first few weeks liter donning the insignia. Am en