The Washington herald., 1921-05-09
Declares Old Units of the
Army Should Be Per-
petuated.
ATTENTION CALLED
TO CITIZEN CAMPS
Inadequate Preparedness
Cause of War, Says
A. E. F. Leader.

That the historic American divi-
sions in the world war should Re
perpetuated as the organization Of
army reserves was proposed yester-
day by Gen. Pershing in appealing
for public support Of the forthcom-
ing series of military training camps
as recognition OF the obligation OF
the citizen to prepare himself to
serve his country in time Of war.
Gen. Pershing has been selected
by the President to head a skeleton
headquarter stan organized to furc-
tion instantly in time of war and
the general outlines for the first
time his views of fundamental pre-
paredness policies
From a purely military stand
point our policy" said Cen. Per
shing. should provide first for
permanent military establishment
large enough to guard against sud
den attack: second, force sufh-
cient to meet our International OBJ
legations. particularly on the Amer
lean continent: third. such force As
may be ecessary to meet our. inter-
national requirements; fourth. a
trained citizen reserve organized to
met the emergency Of war.
Nucleus is Trained.
IN considering a reserve. we al
ready have a nucleus in our trained
units that have had experience ih
the war. 1 refer to the units of the
National guard as well as those ot
the so-called national army. They
have returned with traditions, his
tory, pride of service and high
ideals of citizenship, all of which
together constitute a valuable asset
in any organization I should like
to see these divisions held together.
retaining their officers insofar as
their efficiency records show them
capable of performing the duties Of
their respective grades. I would re-
tain the organization Of these dlvf-
sions and utilize them as reserve
divisions into which the young men
would pass as they came from the
army or finish In the training
camps. Thereby the traditions ami
the esprit of these historic units
would be kept alive to encourage
and stimulate efficiency in those
who NIL their ranks in the future.
pointed out that there is great ne
cessity for a large number OF thor
oughly trained officers, not only for
the combat troops, but for the vari-
Gus stan corps and departments. Ia
cluding the general star. These offl-
GERS should be very carefully tested
and. depending upon his qualifica-
tions, each should have a definite
assignment to some particular unit
or Headquarters. An especial effort
should be made to retain in the re-
serve these officers, and men as
well. who during the war performed
their duties eficiently.
Citizen Soldier Important.
Gen Pershing asserts that our
success in the world war was not
due to preparedness, but to for
tunate circumstances permitting US
to prepare after the declaration Of
war and that IL We had been ade-
quately prepared our rights would
not have been violated nor safety
threatened. While We are opposed
traditionaIly to a large standing
army and have fought our wars
with citizen soldiers, we always
nave failed to train our citizen SOL
diers till war came upon u.s. We
have made every citizen subject to
call as a soldier. but never en-
phasized his obligation to prepare
himself to serve. To provide for
such preparation Is the object of
the training camps next summer.
Tn the preparation of our young
manhood for service in defense of
our country there are many per
sonal benefits that the course of
training would bring" said Gen.
Pershing. TT would develop the
physical vigor and manliness of our
youth and sharpen their mentality.
II would teach self-discipline and
respect for constituted anthnrit,rn %