The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-29

The real hard training of the Rainbow division began at Camp Mills, near Hempstead L. l.. early in the fall of lslE Then it was that Hank Gowdy began to see the difference between pre- pairing for endurance in war and in shaping po the muscles for speed and strength in baseball.
 "As far as I can see,'' says Hank, "the main difference is that the army trains men for endurance and regularity in habits, while in the baseball training camps the aim is for sudden speed and spurts. There is quite a difference For instance, the well trained ball player would be all Jagged out carrying a pack, rifle and other equipment on a 10-mile hike, while the soldier would be abso- lutely winded if he had to run around the bases at top speed The soldiers arm would also be as sore as a boil after making two or three long throws while the ball player can do it all afternoon"
 This habit of regularity brings the soldier gradually into march discipline, the most important of all factors in the movement of troops. Men are taught a certain pace for walking-about three miles an hour. There are regular halts The first halt is at the end of 45 min Ltes. when rest of 15 minutes is had After that the soldier marches 50 min utes and rests 10. This regular method will take Them to the place in good con- dition, which is extremely important, more quickly than moving in intermit- tent spurts. If q regiment arrived at it's destination tired out and exhausted it would be of no use whatever.
 Another reason for regularity and pre- cisson is that the troops must be at certain place at a certain time, so as to fit in at the point of assembly with bodies of troops coming from other di rections and be able to move off to- gether without delay or congestion To carry heavy pack requires lot of physical strength. This is acquired grad ually by making short marches at first, under full pack. and increasing them a little every day.
 "Outside of the army" Hank observed the other night 'I find that people don't seem to understand that hiking is the hardest part of a soldiers life. Going to and from the fight takes more strength, endurance and real nerve than the battle itself. I have often had men tell me that even if they were rejected physically that they could shoot a rifle as well as anybody That may be, but what good would a crack rifle shot be if he could not get there and keep going under the heavy weight? Shooting a rifle or a machine gun is the easiest thing, that a soldier does. Very, very few men over 40 could stand the army grind with it's exhaustion and loss of sleep. The hardest worked and gamest men in the world are the fellows who rarely ever have a rifle in their hands at all-the supply men, those fellows who keep food coming up to the front line. They actu- ally keep the soldier going and get none of the credit. And they are shot up al- most as much as anybody else.'
 FRANCE WAS AHEAD
 It seemed mighty hard to the soldiers at first to have to carry all this weight just for practice. The need of the train ing was explained to them, though, and as Gowdy says, there was mighty little grumblng and grouching as compared with that of high-paid athletes But the run ors were constantly being circulated as to the time of departure for France and the fighting men were kept stimu- la ted by this thought Fearing a pos sible breakdown in France the men plugged on through the dust and sweat getting ready.
 1.-Two months from those first days" Gowdy relates, i've had a good example of what it means to carry big load. You know, soldier on the roads in France is always marching behind or around those thousands of big army trucks on the back end of which is printed in large letters, Load not to ex- ceed 31a tons.' That sign seen so often. through sweat and dust is so painted on my memory that I can still see it at night. It got to be a byword with the soldiers.
 Well. one day we were struggling along when We passed a private carrying a machine gun on his shoulders-some load, take it from me. He had to get 1t to a new position, though, and he was gamely sticking to his job, bending low under the weight AS he passed us We