The Robesonian., 1918-08-26
! Next in order is feld punishmso,

Next In ORDER ID held punishment
No. 2.
This Is confinement In the "c,,nkn
without blankets. getting water, bulIv
beef and biscuits for ratiOns and do,n,
all the dirty work that can be found
This may be for twenty-four hours o,
twenty days. according to the gravity
of the Offense.
Then comes "pack drill" or defanl,-
ers' parade. This consists of driIIIn,
mostly at the double, for two hours
with full equipment. Tommy hates
this, because it is hard work. Soma.
times he fills his pack with straw n
tighten 1t, and sometimes he gets
caught. If he gets caught, he grouses
at everything in general for twenty.
one days, from the vantage point Of
timber wheel.
Next comes &C. B." meaning "con.
fined to barracks" This consists ..
staying In billets or barracks for twen.
ty-four hours to seven days. You also
get an occasional defaulters' par,da
and dirty jobs around the quarters
The sergeant major keeps what ia
known as the crime sheet. When
man commits an OffenSe, he is
'crimed," that is, his name numbor
and offense is entered on the crime
sheet. Next day at a. m. he goes to
the "orderly room" before the captatn
who either Furnishes him with sc. r"
or sends him before the O. C. (officer
commanding battalion). The captair
of the company can only award &C. b.
Tommy many time has thanked
the king for making that provision in
his regulations.
To gain the title Of "smart soldier"
Tommy has to keep clear of the crime
sheet, and you have to be darned smart
to do 1t.
have been on 1t a few times, most.
ly for yankee impudence."
During our stay Of two weeks In
rest billets our captain put US through
q course Of machine-gun drills, trying
out new stunts and theories.
! After parades were over, our gups'
crews got together and also tried out
some theories Of their own in reference
to handling guns. These courses had
nothing to do with the advancement Of
the war, consisted mostly Of causing
tricky Jams In the gun, and then the
rest Of the crew would endeavor to 10.
cate as quickly as possible the cause
Of the stoppage. This amused them
for a few days and then things came to
q standstill.
One of the boys on my gun claimed
that he could play q tune while the
gun was actually firing, and demon
strated this fact one day on the target
range We were very enthusiastic and
, decided to become musicians
After constant practice I became
quite expert in the tune entitled "AI
Conductors Have Big Feet"
t When I had mastered this tune, our
I two weeks rest came to an end, and
once again we went up the line and
, took over the sector in front of G.
wood.
? At this point the German trenches
ran around the base Of hill, on the
: top of which was dense wood. This
!. wood was infested with machine guns,
E which used to traverse our lines at
!. will, and sweep the streets Of little
! village, where we were bllleted while
: In reserve.
e There was one gun In particular
9 which used to get our goats, 1t had the
e exact range Of our elephant" d0g0ut
f entrance, and every morning, about the
e time rations were being brought up, Its
n bullets would knock up the dust on the
road; more than one Tommy went
a West or to Blighty by running Into
them.
l. This gun got our nerves on edge,
n and Fritz seemed to know 1t, because
J. he never gave US an hours rest. Our
q reputation as machine gunners was at
=. stake; we tried various ruses to locate
n and put this gun out of action, bur
n each one proved to be failure, and
Fritz became q worse nuisance tnah
a ever. He was getting fresher and more
o careless every day, took all kinds OF
liberties with us-thought he was IN
# vincible.
J. Then one Of our crew got br1liian'
II idea and we were all enthusiastic "
le put 1t to the test.
N Here was his scheme:
When firing my gun, was to play
e. my tune. and Fritz, no doubt, "ou'u
,e fall for 1t, try to initiate me as an
U. added insult. This gunner and t~o
others would try. BY the sound, 10 10.
cate Fritz and his gun. After naV'ns
got the location, they would noun
two machine guns in trees. In HUE
). clump Of woods to the left OF our cehe
ln terry, and while Fritz was In the miodle
ID Of his lesson. would open up and tru,,
is to luck. By our calculations, II "ou'.
q. take at least q week to pull Oh 'n'
th stunt. "
Ito be continued.)