Mexico weekly ledger., 1918-01-10

Aviation School at Austin, TeN., writes
the following interesting letter to Ray
Miller, of this city. Mr.. Miller has
enlisted in the Aviation Service, but
has not been called. The letter fol-
lows:
Time is sure short here. Seems
like | arrived only yesterday and am
now on my second week. Weeks in
school are lettered First week, IA"
Second, 3D." and on down to gradual
ing class III" The classes are divid-
ed into flights" now, for conven-
fence. Each class has 2 or 3 flights"
or divisions" because they are grow
ing larger each week. $50 new men in
today. Nearly 500 in the last two
weeks. Quarters are becoming more
crowded each week and double deck
cots are going into all the rooms now,
replacing single ones. l am lucky
enough to still hold a single, but ex-
pect to loose it any day. We have
classes in first of week as follows:
Signals (~wireless); guns, Lewis Ma
chine CUM; Army Dicipline, Hygiene,
Calesthentics and Drill. Lots of drill
is given thru the entire course. Said
to be most intensive drill in any
branch of service. Have to learn to
drill well within such a short time.
Several Infantry Sergeants are sta
toned here for that purpose. Grading
here is strict. About $50 were "list-
ed" or "flunked," this week. A man
is given one bust. If he ''busts"
twice, he is kicked out permanently
and sent back to his previous stand
ing. A Dust" as it is called here, is a
failure in a single subject for one
weeks work. A "bust" in the Gum
Tor Wing" (first A weeks) is serious,
because scarcely a man goes thru
the "Senior Wing" without busting"
once. l came so near busting" the
first week l nearly tainted. To tell
the truth, l did bust, but it does not
count. / busted in machine guns, but
made the highest grade in the class of
$50 on wireless, so they excused me,
being a "new man," on the strength
Of my ~. g." in wireless, so l go
ahead with my class, and have to take
l hour per day extra work on gums"
My trouble was this: When l came,
| knew absolutely nothing about
what cours of study I should pursue.
Most of the fellows, four-fifths of
whom have had military training be-
fore coming here-mostly at Kelly
Field-knew what they started with
up here and had learned the Morse
International Wireless Code and had
fooled with machine guns some. /
knew nothing about wireless and
hardly knew the trigger from the bar
rel of a machine gun. We have to
know the name and function Of ev-
cry single grove, screw and pin on a
Lewis Machine Gun by end of week
and be able to take 8 words per minute
in wireless. Boy, it sure kept me
busy. | worked ALL the time-from
5:15 a. m. until lights out" at 1890,
every chance l had when not at class
or drilling.
Military regulations are strict as
thunder here. Have to wear neckties
to class, meals, and every where ex-
cept calesthentics, Drill and Reveille.
Take off and put on your tie all day.
Shoes and leather quits" always
shined; and every mar is given a but
ton with a number on it, which he
must always wear on duty. If you do
anything wrong, such as failing to
salute an officer, your number is TAX
en- and you are "stuck" dement's.
Have not been stuck yet, but fear l
shall be soon. They are awful strict,
and unless your bunk is perfectly
made, swept under, shoes properly
placed, etc, 20 uare "stuck."
We have lots to eat, but 40c per day
is taken out of your pay to pay for it.
Two months pay is taken out of first
pay. They do not give you a uniform.
They "loan" you one, if they have it,
but they are and have been out Of ev-
erything since l have been here. In
that event, you are compelled to buy
your own uniform, which | had to do;
ket, because you will be lucky if you
$50. They ROB you here. Army kha-
XII or wool army uniform is permitted,
including leather puts, which all men
practically wear. Bring al extra blan-
ket, because 20 twill be lucky if you
get enough bedding issued to you to
keep warm. l nearly froze for A days.
Now have 8 blankets and manage
to keep fairly warm. Bring all the
coat sweaters, etc, you can get. l
wear a sweater under my shirt and
a coat sweater and nearly freeze all
the time. Wind cuts like a knife!
Fellows sure cuss this climate. Never
was this cold in Missouri.
Dandy bunch of fellows here. This
is the largest ground school in the
world and also the hardest. Only one
man that has graduated from here
"flunked" after reaching Flying
School. Very few casualties among
American flyers because the ground
training is so thorough.
The Royal Flying Corps at Fort
| Worth, kill 3 or Amen a week, because