Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-02

coolie demands his pay for waiting for
He starts to walk away, while the rick
sha coolie shouts.
Out from doorway and cave hole, up
from the very street, rises quickly a sin
lister mob of bowling Chinese, threaten
ing bluejacket. 1t is touch and 60 for
his life.
Bluejscket turns and surveys them.
Then he makes a sweeping geSture-as
man who draws q knife. They mo-
mentartly fall back, still threatening. A
yell and forward thrust of the mob
BlueJacket leans over the coolie, draws a
cigarette from the coolies pocket With
laugh, q superb wave of the hand,
bluejacket lights the cigarette. The
mob Is changed into his laughing SYM
pathizers. The coolie has "lost face"
For blueJacket knows his Chinese-and
has kept his head.
Some love of adventure there must
be, some willingness for daring in the
soul of the man who enlists. But stories
by the score such as these point TO the
presence and the development in the
service Of something else, too-some-
hing of Quickness, OF wit Of efficiency
in action, of heady control.
From the moment of enlisting that
training begins. The recruit is sent at
once to q training station at Hampton
Roads, Great Lakes in Chicago, Newport
or San Diego. New arrivals are kept
for q sort Of incubation period of three
| weeks under observation for physical
disease, for moral or mental disorders.
General classification tests are given
them.
Each individual Studied.
At the same time careful study OF
each individual man is made. Some
times q chap thinks he wishes to be
machinist's mate and finds his true tai
emit by transferring to the Hospital
Corps; or he finds that though he
thought he would be a radio man he Is
really better fitted to become a yeoman.
| For nine weeks he stays at the land
station, directing toward a speciality II
| advisable, yet at once beginning to learn
the lowly tasks that every seaman must
learn-how to wash in a bucket of water
and launder his clothes In it afterward:
how to keep his clothes in order and
stow them in seabag, how to sleep In a
hammock and swing 1t overhead by day,
now to clean up after mess and stow
the table overhead-and how to keep his
self-respect in every task.
| II, in the training station, special
aptitude is shown in certain directions,
the recruit stays on to complete his
course. II not, he goes at once to sea.
Yet even on board ship he will be given
further opportunity to ind himself, to
develop special aptitudes. His studies
can be carried on through the way the
ships company is organized.
Every ships company is divided into
| departments, each under its own officer.
! Within each department there Is a
further arrangement into divisions. each
| with its division ofi1cer, and into Sec
tons under junior and petty officers.
Each division Is assigned a certain
part OF the ship, with its own lockers,
its own hammocks to be properly slowed,
1ts folding mess tables seating ten each
and mess benches.
At $50 in the morning Cor in the
tropics) all hands are turned out to q
cup OF coffee and much cleaning I'D
and routine of morning watch, hunHrily
falling upon the 1880 breakfast Of ham,
bacon, beans, eggs, pancakes and fresh
frutt when the ship is near enough to
sources of supply.
At BIS the bugle sounds again, and
the boSun's mate pipes to clean UP the
wreckage after breakfast, to sweep the
decks and shine the brightwork.
quarter past Q, and the bugle calls
quarters. AL fall in on deck. Now Is
the time for inspection and for an
nouncements by the division officer Of
Now the sun-dodger'' comes I'D from
his dark lair below decks and joins in
setting-up exercises in the fresh air
and for routine drill. And always, ex-
cept on Saturday and Sunday, there is
battle stations" II that drill which
makes doing your part in time Of dan
ger as instructive as shutting the eye
Only from such eternal drill can the
infinite and delicate processes of mod
ern naval ships and their gunfire be
carried on, though necessarily they are
ordinarily so carried on without the
discharge Of a single gun. A naval gun,
you see, Is good for only about 125
shots without retubing so that firing
them becomes q rather expensive
process.
Canned" Problems Given Men.
Canned problems are given the men
for quick solution. Ship control prob
lens. Sudden cry that steering gear
is out. What to do? A boiler is out.
What to do? An explosion In q tur-
ret. Some one, theoretically, seriously
wounded. You, men in the Medical
Corps, get that stretcher down the hatch
without killing the patient. Gunnery
problems. Communication problems.
Training on a target. leading and simu-
lattng flre, with spoilers in an aircraft
giving corrections by radio to each sep
arate ship in the battle line. Canned
problemS"-but problems to keep the
men awake, alive to emergency.
Dinnertime. A sacred hour for the
men, during which the band plays and
the boys forget their troubles. Then an
afternoon devoted to the upkeep Of the
ship. And in that upkeep the processes
Of whole town. Steel scaled by salt
water to be Clipped and red-leaded.
Gear slowed below getting rotten:
break 1t out and repair. Overhaul the
machinery. Make pills or Squint down a
microscope for the ships doctor, Make
up the ships books.
Work stops at 4:30. In port It means
liberty. At sea 1t means sailor amuse-
ments-boxing. wrestling and the sail
also means endless scrubbing and mend
ing Of clothes. At half-past S there Is
supper, and after that there are movies
and at half-past 8 the bosun's mate
pipes down. -
1t is an active life. In the work OF
the ship itself there Is a considerable
experience for civilian life. The yeoman
handling his books, the carpenter, the
painter, the pharmacist, the radio men,
the mechanics-all are working daily at
peacetime jobs. 80
or the 10000 Of these men who an
nually return to private life, many en-
ter the Naval Reserve. Not all of them.
| Yet 1t Is to their Navy training that
we must look for added experienced
help in the event of national need.
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