The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-07-13
Heavens! Rookie Is
Almost Denied
His Pants
Here's Second Chapter of
Experiences at
c. M. T. C.
Nv Rookie John L. Niblack

BY Rookie" Joi1n IL. NiDiach
90 o pick up the story where 1t
IIT left off, I was dressed in a
mule shed at Ft. Benjamin
Harrison, having just finished my
medical exam which was part of the
preliminaries of entering the Citi-
zen's Military Training Camp, now
in session, as a rookie.
The idea was to "slip in," with
the aid Of Capt. Howard Clarke, one
of the commanding officers, and see
how things looked while wearing a
uniform.
Promotion
Well, Lieut.. George IsaacS, a
friend of mine, who had spied me in
line, not knowing 1 was supposed to
go through regularly, had gone to
"see the captain" about getting me
raised from the "red' rank to a
higher one-nore in line with the
previous military training he knew
I had had.
I guess he saw Captain Clark, be-
cause he didn't come back.
Put your clothes in this sack,
and take this check said a private
of the regular army, after a flock
Of doctors finally decided there
wasn't much wrong with my heart.
So L put them in the sack, and in
company with Corporal Ely, 11th
Inf, u. S. Army, who was detailed
by Capt Clark to trail along and see
got clothes not marked &C. M. T..
c." as they would have to be turned
tramped across the lot again, mainly
undressed, to get our duffle bags
and outfits.
whats the idear?" growled one
of the clothes dispensers, on gazing
at my slip which read "unstamped
clothes"
Captains orders. Shake a Leg"
said Ely.
He Got His Pants
SO after a march through another
mule barn, I was outfitted with
pants, wool socks, shoes, hat, pup
tent, mess kit, raincoat, canteen, etc.
Each private had his stock in stall.
I had to take pants that were
stamped after all, because the hard
boiled private opined there weren't
any others, and 1 opined I had tc
have pants or I wouldn't play any
longer.
What size shoes do you wear,
"Seven and a half on a D last,
I told him.
"All right, here's an eight and a
half on an e last" he said, after
thinking some about giving me a
nine.
Muscles Bucket
"Climb up on this platform, and
put your feet on the arrows" said
soldier. "Pick up them buckets of
rock. Hold 'em out straight"
Each bucket weighed about TWEEN
ty-five pounds.
"Now up on your toes. Now down.
Now up. Now down. Now up" he
said. THAT puts your weight on your
feet, and we can see if them shoes
fit your dogs"
I soon saw that muscling out the
soldiers, and to see how dumb the
rookie was.
Strange to say, the shoes fit well,
although stiff.
Next, a good hearted corporal
from Company c, to which we were
assigned, took us in tow. He even
carried the travelling bags Of two
of the Ohio boys. We struggled
after him across the hot dusty field.
Racket Over Racquet
"Yeahl Look at mammals boy, 60
in to play tennis. "jeered sroup of
regular soldiers, smoking behind a
kitchen, where they were on duty.
One of the Ohio boys c,rried a
tennis racquet.
We paid no attention to ITEM.
They looked hard We weren so
hard.
We reported to Top Sergeant M,
c. Rudolph, who had us fill out
cards notifying parents we arrived
o. k. Then we were sent to a tent.
about a quarter Of mile away.
'Get out your mess kits and wash
them. They got oil and things on
them, probably" said Rudolph. 'sYou
might get sick. One rookie yester-
day thought he was smart, and
wouldn't scald his kit. and now he's
got dysentery."
"Profane" Poisoning
So 1 got my kit out and ambled up
to where Private Crompton, Com
pany c, First Class" was tending
three large Kettles of boiling water.
yeah, that's right; dip 'em in like
this" said Private. Crompton, who
was very amiable
'Yeh see. yeh gotta dip 'em in this
here scaldin' water. That keeps yeh
from gettin' profane poisonin'," he
said.
Just then bugle blew, and I
looked around to see what all the
rush was about