Evening star., 1936-05-31
~oMpANY d, 121st ENGIN

EEttS, cOrnmhHuSQ Dy NdpL
Samuel r. Turner, having
~ distinguished itself by having
the largest average attendance Of any
unit in TIE regiment and keeping its
actual strength up to the full allot-
ment, has been singled out by Col.
John w. Oehmann. commander Of the
regiment, for special commendation.
II take this opportunity" Col. Och
mann wrote, "to commend the COM
manding officer and the other officers
and enlisted men of the company un-
der his command for the very salts
factory showing which has been made
in these matters. Please extend my
CONGRATULATIONS to those under your
command for their efforts in securing
and maintaining proper attendance
at drill. I urge the members Of Com
pany D not only to continue their
good work in this respect, but, as the
attendance of the regiment as whole
increases, to make the added effort
necessary to continue their leadership
within the regiment in the matter of
drill attendance"
Capt. Turner, in expressing his
qualification for the cooperation Of
the men in attaining the record, paid
particular tribute to First Sergt. Neil
M. Goen and those on-commlssioned
officers and privates who endeavored
increasingly to maintain the company
attendance at the high level neces-
sary to warrant such a special COM
mendation.
The War Department Is planning
advanced training for officers of the
National Guard who attend the serv-
ice schools. The plan is to provide
the minimum of $3.50 officer gradu-
ates from the various service schools
at the end of 15-year period. 1t
was pointed out that to attain this
objective it is necessary to limit the
attendance Of National Guard officers
to one special service school and to
one course at that school. In general,
the company, troop or battery officers
course was selected in the past year
as the logical course to which officers
should be sent.
The department reported that sur
vey of the courses at the various
schools, together with the jobs the Of
Ger graduates were expected to fill on
graduation convinced the National
Guard Bureau that many of the courses
were of insufficient scope to meet the
needs of the National Guard. The
chief of the bureau has initiated re-
quests for changes in the scopes of
most of the courses, and, as result,
1t is anticipated that many new sub
jects will be included in these courses
in the coming year.
The infantry. field artillery and cav
airy schools will train officers in the
following:
The tactical and technical duties of
the arm in abbreviated form to include
the regiment, with brief summary of
the corresponding brigade functions,
paying particular attention to the
company, battery or troop.
Practical command of units to in
clude the regiment and practical in
struction in the mechanics and en-
ployment of weapons.
Staff duties to include the brigade.
Proper methods of training.
The Coast Artillery school. it was
said, has heretofore held an eight
weeks course. The battery officers
course was very limited in scope and
gave instruction only in gunnery, ma
terial and target practice. An effort
is being made to extend this course to
a twelve weeks course and to include
the subjects of orientation, communl-
cation, tactical command and staff
functions to include the regiment and
methods of training.
The course at the Signal Corps
School has been enlarged to make it
suitable for division signal officers;
that at Chemical Warfare School to
make it suitable for division chemical
warfare officers and that at the Engi-
neer School to give instruction in the
tactical and technical duties OF the
engineers to include the regiment.
In view of the changes at the
various schools the National Guard
Bureau said that it plans to open
practically all of the courses to both
company and field officers under 45
years of age who have never attended
a special service school. Because OF
the fiscal limitations the number OF
field officers that can be sent to any
one course cannot exceed 10 per cent
of the total numoer sent to the course
Three hundred and seventy-Seyen
National Guard officers and SO en-
listed men will have attended the
schools this school year and approxi-
mately the same number will be sent
the next school year. To carry out
the program for National Guard per-
sonnel approximately s540,000 will be
expended in the fiscal year 1886 to
cover the cost of ammunition, pay.
transportation, and a like amount is
provided in the current Army appro-
priations bill for the fiscal year 1887.
Because OF business interference
with the performance of military duty,
the following have been ordered trans
fered from the active. to the inactive
lists of their respective units:
Pvt. Francis B. Hart, Medical De-
partment Detachment, 260th Coast
Artillery, and Pvt. Andrew I. Brown,
Battery B, 260th Coast Artillery.
For the same reason the following
members have been transferred to the
inactive list of the Division Quarter
master Platoon, Headquarters Com
pany, 104th Quartermaster Regiment:
.Pvts. Julian M. Johnston, Arthur
T. Johnston and Elmer R. Meyer.