The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-09-04
With tue National Guard


 without blanketss Selecting the cold
 est looking trooper in a well known
 and Justly famous tent, the detail
 carefully and gently tucked the
 ground hog in bed with him and
 sought their cots.
 At reveille the next morning the poor ground hog was found dead; the trooper had rolled up in his blankets. had rolled on the poor anil nal and mashed him to death.
 Long after taps had sounded Tues day night when the camp was buried in slumber and the sickle moon shone overhead; from far down the troop street came a sleepy, quere
 lous voice: George" 1t said; "Oh, George. Do ground hogs have fleas7"
 Cavalry Is trained to fight on foot as well as mounted. In all dis mounted action the horses are left in charge of the guidon sergeant and one man for each four horses if they are to be mobile; .tl@t is, if they are to be brought in tl&e to the firing line for the dismounted troopers to remount. The same method is used Tn cases where the action is so hur- ried as to be necessary for the troop
 CTS 10 get into position with the least possible, delay, as in instances where the firing begins as soon as the men can dismount and get into position. ETA
 In cases where there is time to do so, or where the circumstances will permit, the horses are linked in such manner as to force them to walk Tn a circle if they try to leave. The troop has been working on
 this phase of training In connection with rifle drill All of the dis
 faA L.~ q. view to giving the troopers an oppor- ] tunity to get in actual bolt and sling
 manipulation preparatory to going on
 the rifle range.
 At the signal to dismount and fight
 on foot, the troop halts, the horses of
 a set of fours are given into the
 charge of No. or a trooper pre- viously designated, and the dis
 mounted troopers form to the right. left or In front of the column. The
 horses. in charge of the guidon ser geant, are then disposed of in or
 der to have them available for use, and protected from fire. The troop
 can then act as infantry, forming a
 skirmish line or attacking in body. When the mounts are again required, | they are brought up in the same formation as when the troop dis- mounted; the troopers mount, and away they go after the enemy. if he Is running, or to hunt some more of l them If they are all dead on the spot. Great stuff, cavalry, anyhow. The big day was Wednesday. Things happened, took place and oc- cured at great rate. It was
 started when the troop rode out on to the drill field and started some fancy drilling. This was followed by some dismounted action. The troop
 was trotting along peacefully enough when one of the advance guard spotted a detachment of a large pa- trol sent out by the enemy. The | signal was given to fight on foot. and within two minutes the troop 1 had formed skirmish line, the l horses had been led to the rear and firing had commenced The line was | pushed ahead in short rushes of two | troopers at the time, and the final rush was made by the entire line. Having routed the enemy, the horses were brought up and the march was resumed.
 Eight troopers, the best swords men of the outfit were then chosen to conduct charge against an inn aginary foe, and they rode with all the fire and ferocity of troopers ril- ing for their lives. Tn troop com mander rode sabre course of eight dummies, with six hurdles and a ditch in the course.
 Cossack races, Roman teams and mounted wrestling were next. Lieu tenant Riddle and Corporal Fraser were the Roman riders. After night had fallen the real attraction took | places
 The troop was divided into two parts, and one was stationed at headquarters. The other, with Lieu tenant Riddle in comniand. was to be the attacking party. Advance par ties were sent out by the attackers, and were ordered to get as close to the enemy as possible before open ing fire. No Mans Land was an l, open space between the woods to the east of headquarters and the bar racks. This space was swept by au- tomatic rifle fire. as well as the de- fense of the entrenched troopers. The advanced parties reached the barbed wire entanglements la nasty four-strand fence) and were within
 100 yards of the automatic rifle em-
 placements before flares were sent up which swept the surrounding ter ritory with an intense white liga.. When the attack was discovered the defenders opened fire at a great
 rate, and their rifles and automatics popped off at a great rate. Noise, lights and silent, swiftly moving fig ures, which blended with the weeds and grass when a flare was burning. were perfect imitation of a real attack. and the way the troopers handled themselves was very erati- lying, taking Into consideration the fact that the war was entirely new