The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-07-02
NIGHT PROBLEMS

NIGHT PROBLEMS
In time of war it is often con-
sidered more practical, and SAT-
er, for infantrymen to proceed
from one spot to another at night.
This, of course, enables them to
move with some degree of Sc
crecy, though, to be sure, it de-
prives them of the pleasure of
passing in dazzling review before
their countrymen and of receiv-
ing bouquets and affectionate
cheers from their wives or sweet
hearts. The officers at Camp
Forrest, Tenn, have accordingly
taken us on a number of night
problems" or maneuverS.
Before starting out on our
first problem, lieutenant gave
the men in my battalion some
general advice about night fight
ing. He told us, to begin with,
that only fool or a rookie would
signal another soldier in the dark
by so obvious and revealing a
method as calling out to him. It
is preferable to arrange in ad-
vance a sort of aural code system
and to exchange condolences by,
for instance, clicking a thumb
nail on a matchbox or tapping the
side of a rifle with stone.
The first night problem was a
simple hike of three and a half
miles, and we carried only such
regular arms as rifles and, in
some cases, automatic pistols. We
set off shortly after dark, travel
ing "at ease;;" that is, marching
along not at attention but with
out talking or smoking. The
stealthy tread of the couple of
thousand feet attached to our bat
talon was nevertheless audible
enough to arouse the suspicious
Of good many of the watchdogs
in Tennessee, who supplied a full
set of sound effects for our theo-
retically silent trek. Since we
were at ease, we were unable to
quiet them by reassuring whis-
ties or by any other conventional
call Of man to dog. We were
further harassed by our battalion
commander, a conscientious lieu
tenant colonel, who, to check on
our discipline, drove up behind
our marching columns without
turning his headlights on. The
colonel, however, did not bark at
us, on the contrary, at the end of
the hike, he said that our discip-
line had been fine. We got back
to our company area at II o'clock
and scrambled into our mess hall
for coffee and doughnuts, the
standard reward to army men
who solve a night problem.
Pitching Pup Tents
Our second problem was SUBJ
stantially the same as the first.
At the end of the hike, however,
we pitched pup tents. The locale
picked out for these operations
was the same patch of woods we
frequently inhabit during day
light hours while engaged in
small war games. Although we
are familiar with every square
foot of this area, the place SEEM
ed strange and unfriendly by what
little moonlight came through the
trees. My squad STUMBLED along
behind a guiding corporal until
he pointed to a clearing, at which
two of us detached ourselves from
the group and prepared to set up
a tent. Every soldier carries part
Of one, known as a shelter half,
inside the pack on his back. We
slipped our two halves out of our
packs, opened them up, and start
ed hopefully to button them to-
gether, meanwhile muttering to
ourselves how nice it would be
if we were allowed to strike a
match, which we weren't. My
partner, who was sincere but who
never before had applied himself
to a pup tent, whispered that he
intended to rely wholly upon my
efforts, which were feeble, since
I had put up total of two tents
before. We got to work, never
theless, and in a half-hour or so
constructed tenuous shelter that,
in the dim light, appeared to be
only a little more swayback than
! an army mule about to be retir-
A