The Cordova daily times. [volume] (Cordova, Alaska) 1914-1947, 1918-05-16
WORK
IN TRAINING MEN
At COAT ISLAND

Harsh punishment for ''incorrigibles'
is a thing of the past in the navy.
According to Captain E. H. Duren,
commandant at Goat Island the naval
training station in San Francisco bay,
punishment will not help any condi-
ton which kindness cannot cure.
Hundreds of fine outstanding young
Americans are turned out here every
few weeks to man the ships of the
United States navy.
Captain Durell takes keen interest
in the boys rated as 'incOrrigibles,"
and turns many of them out to be
first class fighting men.
The question of morale is always
uppermost. After inspection on Sat
urdays, the men are lined up in a
great square, with the band standing
little to one side. A song master
takes his place in the squars and
leads the men in popular melodies,
with the band playing a subdued ac
compartment. This tends to keep
the boys in good spirits at all times
Hard work is always accompanied
by music. If the men are heaving
coal or engaged in other trying la
Dor, the band is close by, playing con-
stantly 1T makes them work twice
as hard and twice as effectively"
Captain Durell said.
In addition the life of the island is
so adjusted that every just complaint
is traced to it's source and corrected.
Justice is meted out by the small
group of officers on the island, and
acute cases of wrong doing are few
and far between.
During the detention process the
man is selected for the school in
which he is best fitted. If he has
had experience as a seaman he is
given a chance in the yeoman S
school. In addition there are wire
| less, cooks, and bakers and diverse
other schools, and hospital corps
that has grown to be one of the big
gest and most important adjuncts or
the island. This corps has its own
quarters on the top of the island
it's tents being placed under straight
rows of trees that afford protection
both in winter and summer. There j.
? station hospital, and three big iso
lated wards for the treatment of co:
tagiCu5 and infectious diseases. TIL
hospital plant includes a fully equiI
ped laboratory, drug and store com.
operating rooms, dental Offices an
rooms for the treatment of eye, eal
nose and throat diseases.
The operating rooms open up to thu
corps quarters on the floor above
permitting the corps members tt
look down directly on the tables ant
get an intimate view of all opera
tions.
In addition a semi-eircular trench
containing first aid dugout has beer
constructed for the hospital corp
near it's special parade grounds. Thi'
trench is an exact Reproduction of the
trenches in Flanders, and in it the
men are given the Identical first ai(
work that they expect to be giver
abroad.
Goat Island is one of the five major
training stations in the United States
Only it's geographical limitations pre-
vent it from being one of the biggest
of the five. Every available inch OF
land on the island is being utilized
for the purposes of the big school
Because of these limitations, over
flow schools have been established al
Mare Island, Calf, and San Diego
Calf, under separate jurisdictions.
The drills on the island consist OF
calisthenics, the usual navy manuel
of arms, and instruction in the use OF
machine guns, and the small artillery
used by landing parties. The island
now accommodates approximately six
times the number of men 1t was first
intended to serve, but Captain Durell
has found room for all of them, and