Evening star., 1941-03-27
Fort BeIvoir's 's8-Week
Course Turns Recruits
Into Soldiers
5th Engineers Show
Proficiency in Busic
Training on Graduation
By a Staff Correspondent of The Star

By a staff Correspondent Of The Star
FORT BELVOIR, Va, March 81
Raw recruits become trained soldiers
in eight weeks in the rejuvenated
United States Army.
A detachment of $50 bank clerks.
farmers, truck drivers. statesmen and
schoolboys. mostly from Western
Pennsylvania. were given the COM
mon identity of 18th Engineers,
U. S. A" in graduation ceremonies
held yesterday at this Army post on
the completion of an eight-week
initial training period.
Men in khaki donned gas masks
in nine seconds, threw down pup
tents IN two minutes, packed for
march. in five minutes, assembled
and operated heavy machine guns.
in three minutes, strung rnazes OF
barbed wire in rapid order, and gen.
orally displayed what they know
about soldering.
Proficient With BayOnets.
The good soldier of l94l must be
an expert with the bayonet. Sea-
soned sergeants put the men
through the elements of bayonet
drill. They now know how to stab
an enemy without getting the bay
onet stuck
IF the thrust is done according
to regulation and the bayonet still
sticks" a sergeant was heard to
tell his squad, there is one certain
way to free your weapon. Just press
the trigger and push with your
foot"
Parrying is also an art in the
Army. You have to know how to
knock the enemy's rifle aside. be-
cause he was taught the same thing
by sergeants in his army, too.
Gas masks, or smoke helmets"
as the boys call them, must be
donned in nine seconds. Some SOL
diers can loosen their masks, whip
off their caps. strap on the mask
in seven seconds. 1t was explained
that certain forms of poison gas,
now developed, are so odorless and
colorless that little warning can be
given The reason for the nine
second speed minimum requirement
needs no explanation to most men.
Some Slow at Packing.
Getting that 65-pound pack in
shape is more trouble than bayonet
drill. In yesterdays exhibition. the
$50 men spread the entire contents
of their packs on the ground, set
up pup tents. Then, at a given
signal, they furiously began to pack
up again, Stimulating actual con-
ditions of hurried order to march.
Some of the boys could do the job
in five minutes, others in Is. One
recruit. with the aid of four SER
geants, a corporal and three fellow
prlvates, managed to get his packed
before nightfall
Stringing barbed wire is one of
the many things in which the en-
gineers must be adept. These eight
week soldiers unrolled the wire.
hammered iron fence posts into the
ground and strung their barriers in
matter Of minutes.
The Army .eQuips engineers with
heavy, rawhide gloves for this work.
One recruit slashed his face work.
ing too fast with the tricky wire.
Stakes Serve as Guide.
During the last war men on patrol
in no mans land sometimes lost
their sense of direction. crawled to
the wrong trenches. They could
always tell whether they were right
or not by the wire stakes. Germans
used iron, the Allies used wood.
This time Americans use all iron
stakes.
A parade marked the close of the
activities. 1t. Col. Raymond G.
Moss, regimental commander, was
the reviewing officer. 1t. Col. Roy M.
McCutcheon. commanding officer of
the 1st Battalion of the regiment,
was in charge of the intercompany
competition.