Evening star., 1940-11-17
Camp Is Now
Undergoing
Expansion
District, Maryland
And Virginia to
Furnish Men
Bv Robert BruSkin.

weathered leaves. Only the sound
of hammers slamming together
wooden barracks disturbs the his
toric Maryland countryside. The
regular garrison of 2,100 soldiers,
who live in brick barracks of Colo
nial architecture resembling col
lege campus, is scarcely noticeable
in the huge reservation.
Within four months the quietude
will have disappeared for at least
five years, and $4,000 selectees, Ma
tional Guardsmen and Army Regu-
lars will be swarming over the
posts 7,470 acres.
New life will begin officially for
Fort Meade at reveille tomorrow.
1t will be a gradual reawakening.
First will come scattered truck
loads of civilian-garbed selecteeS,
bound for the reception center,
where 10000 will be housed and
introduced to Army ways and uni
forms within four months. They
will come from the District OF
Columbia, Maryland. and Virginia,
and remain at the center for only a
week before being appended to or
ganizations at Fort Meade, Fort
Myer, and other nearby posts.
BY mid-January, the narrow,
winding roads leading to the post
will take on the aspects of perma-
nent traffic jam. For by then the
29th Division of the National Guard
made up of civilian soldiers" from
the same States, will be arriving in
ever-increasing numbers. To the
e,197 Guardsmen will be added
10000 selectees. so that before the
end of February the division will oe
organized on a full-strength basis,
ready for IL months of strenuous
training in all aspects of modern
warfare.
Sharp military commands will
break the 22-year intermisSion on
the barren drill fields, and from
dozens of mess halls the odor of
food will be carried down wind to
hungry soldiers Tanks will clat-
ter and bump over simulated shell
holes and from weedy target ranges
will come the sharp crack of rifles
being fired by city dwellerS, who
long ago forgot the skill of their
sharpshooting ancestors.
Stress on Endurance.
Vigorous physical exercise will be
the rule, for great stress will be
placed on a soldiers ability to en-
dure hardship and long marches
under full pack. But mental exer-
else will not be neglected. Schools
of the various arms and services
will flourish, and men who show an
aptitude will be sent to more spe-
cialized schools to learn the skills
without which a modern army be-
comes a disorganized rabble.
Scientific advancement since the
World War for betterment of the
human race has also brought, as a
side line, improvements in the va
riety of weapons, and training of
troops, so that the soldiers of 1910
may look in vain for the type of life
they had been hearing about from
World War veterans. The man with
the rifle and bayonet is still the
backbone of the Army around which
are built the other arms But the
proportion of rif1emen has decreased
and in his place has come the ex-
pert of multitude of a weapons.
Schools will be continuous, for
instance, to train infantrymen to
operate the enormously increased
number of machine guns, anti-tank
guns, (both 81 millimeter and so
caliber machine guns, the so and
81 millimeter mortars, the new Ga
rand semi-automatic rifles and
automatic rifles, hand grenades and
pistols, with which the 1910 dough-
boy" will be equipped.
These will be the weapons of the
four infantry regiments to be
stationed at Fort Meade. The three
regiments of field artillerymen will
also have schools operating, for
their standard gun, the French 75's.
which the United States adopted
In 1917, has been modernized to
shoot faster, farther, and at
wider traverse. Moreover, they are
to be replaced as fast as factories
turn them out with los millimeter
hoW1tzers and the men must become
experts with those guns also
Training With Tanks.
To a fortunate few se1ectees,
among the first called, will come
assignment to the new jugger-
naut of war. The regular 10th tank
battalion at Fs4t Meade will re-
ceive about 125 new soldiers for
training with 55 light tanks.
Selectees and guardsmen will find
here their first weapons Supposed
to be something which they aren't.
The tank battalion is supposed to
be training for cotton medium
tanks. But only a few are in
service and meanwhile the training
continues on the oldest types of
light Q1 tons) tanks.
A vast number of men will be
needed for quartermaster duties, the
Signal Corps, Medical Corps, En-
glneer Corps, Chemical Warfare
Service, Coast Artillery, Cavalry,
Ordnance Department. Finance De-
partment, and few who are espe-
claly qualified will be assigned to
the Air Corps. The men to be sta
toned at Fort Meade will be among
the few who will be near tanks
and airplanes. The 104th Air Corps
Observation Squadron, a National
Guard Organization, will be sta
toned at Frederick, Md-not far
from Fort Meade, where it can be
used to simulate bombers or other
attacking planes.
All selectees will find the Army
vastly different from the descrip-
tions given by veterans of 1917
and 1918. Squads right" has dis
appeared into the limbo of military
history. Squads will be composed
of II men instead of 8, and a
sergeant will be in command in
stead of corporal. The men march
in columns of three's instead of
fours. Less attention is paid to
,,o 20 Ie Ground Y,rooicioy, onl