Evening star., 1928-11-04
d. c.. Naval Reserve

With Navy day ceremonies out of the
way, the United States Naval Reserve
Battalion of the District of Columbia is
settling down now for the hard train
ing and drill preparatory for the an
nual inspections which will be held in
the not distant future. AS matter of
fact, the Navy Department inspection
hoard already has started its annual
tour of divisions and battalionS in other
distGctS
An intensive training and school
program has been mapped out by Lieut..
Comdr. Nnney BaScom Smith, COM
mander of the battalion, and Lieut..
Comdr. Harry j. Nichols. executive
officer, and the men will be kept hard
at their tasks, in the hope OF bringing
tile local organization close to the top
of the list of reserve battalionS OF the
country when the final check-up Is
made after the first of the year.
The principal business before the
organization now, aside from the rou-
tine drills and schools, is the eXami-
nations. So many men had been rec
commended for promotion that the eX-
amining board found it impossible to
examine all of them at one sitting al
the written examination, SO the candi-
dates were split in two groups. There
were total of II men who took the
examination, 20 from the 1St Fleet Dl-
vision. % from the I'd Fleet Division
and % from the Sd Fleet Division.
The second group will be given their
examinations tomorrow night. These
written examinations are in the mill
tary subjects, and upon completion OF
these, which the candidates said were
very stiff, each will be called 1ndlvid-
uallv before the board for the oral ex-
aminations to show their knowledge in
.~s particular branch in which they
are seeking promotion. 1t was said by
the officers that It would be impossible
to set a whole group down for these
subjects, as there are so many ratings,
end an examination paper would nave
to be prepared for each man. Whlie
the taking of the written examinations
in military subjects will save consld-
cradle time, it will take several weeks
to give the oral examinations, as only
few men can be examined each drill
night.
The indoor rife range at the bat
TALON armory has been opened Tor the
season, and to insure its full use m
structions have been issued by Comdr.
Smith that two men from each dlv1-
sion will be sent there for the purpose
of firing on each drill night. The Inn
itation on the number of men IS mace
because of the small space available and
the desire to prevent the personnel
from using the range as an excuse LOT
not being present for other duties.
First aid instruction is being made
mart of the training program OF the
battalion. because of the Importance OF
having the men we'll versed In this
subject. Particular attention is being
given at this time to the types OF cases
which might present themselves ABOARD
q ship which does not carry a surgeon
in her regular complement. AS the re-
DESTROYER crews in time of emergency.
it was pointed out, the Importance OF
having the men SO well informed on
this subject cannot be stressed TOO
much. Lieut.. Kennedy, Medical Corps,
conducts the demonstrations before the
entire battalion.
Another enlisted man Of the local
reserves has climbed into the commits
stoned ranks. Robert Sanders, who re-
Gently completed his advanced flight
training at the United States Naval
Air Station at Pensacola, Fla, has
been promoted from seaman, second
class, to ensign, aviation, and has been
assigned to the reserve division at the
Naval Air Station at AnacoStia.
Lieut.. Thomas A. Lee, formerly COM
manding the 18th Fleet Division Of the
United States Naval Reserve Of Port
land, Me-, having moved to 1882
Thirtieth street. this city, has been
transferred to the local battalion. AS
there are no vacancies in the commits
stoned personnel of the fleet reserve
here. Lieut.. Lee will have to remain
on the unassigned list until one oc-
ours.
The drill schedule for the coming
month provides for the taking of a
large part of the training of the en-
listed personnel aboard the destroyer
Abel p UpShur, training ship OF the
local reserve organization. The YES
sci. having completed her annuel
rrl1iSinC dIItv for training the reserves