Evening star., 1919-04-27
Army and Navy News


such police work. No one is willing
10 see conscriptton except in case of
some great national emergency. But.
| country would be able to turn out at
short notice such an army as would
| make an enemy do the watchful
| waiting before committing the Of
| tense meaning war against the
United States.
vigorous and even acrimonious dis
| cussions have arisen as to the treat
ment of the
Regular Army and National
| the National Guard. whole e mat
ter is simple enough. The government
mad made no military preparation
whatever; and a good systemic say
| nothing of the faulty one prevailing
| cannot produce nearly 100000 first
fact is that the 10000 officers in the
United States Army were made up of
human beings, with human feelings
and ambitions, of varied character and
qualifications. none of whom-regulars,
guardsmen or civilians - was pos
sessed of adequate education and ex-
per1ence for the positions in which
they found themselves. officers who
| had never handled brigade were
called upon to command divisions, and
commanders of Army Corps had never
seen a full division of United States
troops.
The Regular Army furnished about
5000 officers, of whom nearly 2,500
were in the technical or other nom
combatant branches of the service.
The National Guard furnished about
$4,000 officers directly with their or
ganizattons and another lot or excel
lent men who had seen service IN the
Mexican campaign found their way as
officers into the Army through the Of.
ficers' training camps. Nearly All OF
the remaining officers for the Army
were obtained from training camps
Many splendid young men from unlver-
stiles, business and professional nle,
and from the ranks of the Army took
a three month course in those scnools.
Some of the regular omcerS were
not fully qualified for the command
rank to which they were advanced,
and many of those young men taken
from civil life and from the guard
were found lacking in resqufsite quail
ties. especially that Of leadership:
At the end Of their training period IN
began their real work in the organ1-
cations to which they were assigned Tor
duty, either In this country or In france
During this further time they were on
probation. If they made good tney
stuck or they were dropped: In the
stern business Of war 1t is unfair to re-
tain any but the best men available to
lead the troops both in the line and in
the equally important duties OF camp.
In making these changes human nature
! asserted itself. Some mistakes were
made and some ambitions were gratihed
at the expense of wholly fair and i'm
partial treatment. Some regulars were
dropped or charitably transferred; moro
guard officers were dropped than regu-
lars in proportion to their numbers
just as the worlds best base ball team
| would contain more professional than
amateur players. Still more were drop
ped from the greater group Of officers
that lacked the experience of both guard
and Regular Army. The faulty system
and lack Of provision on the part OF the
department in the way OF preparatlona
let a lot Of officers not fully qualified
Into the service. The same lack OF
system brought about some mistakes
Fin the process Of elimination. The gen.
eral body Of regular officers was no
more responsible for these mistakes
guard for the shortcomings Of those that
were dropped. In fact. most OF the com
plants come not from the fighters, but
| from the eliminated and they do not
produce their own records.
There has been a good deal OF feeling
because II was said that the regulars
wanted to break up local divisions Of the
guard and that they failed to fill divi-
sions with local men. There were two
reasons why this could not be done, and
neither carries a reflection upon the
guard. American troops were made
specialists: that is. each unit contain
ed 4 certain number OF men trained
specially in a particular line OF duty.
but not skilled in any other. When
any Of this unit were disabled. fresh
units were sent to take their place.
This fact, added to the tremendous
VA astage Of battle and sickness. made
enormous replacements g. necessity.
The result was that in France a
constant interchange Of organizations
took place.
In the United States. as a result Of
tho German spring offensive. there
was . call for troops A fast as they
could be rushed to the other side.
There was no time to be lost; and
the army could not wait while the
states enlisted from their territory
recruits to fill up divisions far be-
low their minimum war strength
The need Of Fastening the sailing
time Of the most advanced divisions
led to the unfortunate practice of
robbing some divisions of special
units in order to make a. sailing dfvi-
sion. It was q. max eshift way Of do
ing things: but in the unprepared