Evening star., 1945-03-25
By BEN III. PEARSE,
Star Staff CORRESPONDENT,


CAMP WHEELER, Ga, Mar. "a.
The Army prefers young men in
the 18-to-20-year age group for the
ground forces and Is giving them
thorough training before sending
them overseas, authorities declared
here today in reply to criticisms in
this country and Europe that youth
full replacementS were being sent
into battle unprepared.
Without mentioning the criticisms
directly, Maj. Gen. Harry F. Haz-
lett, commander of the Replacement
and School Command, told corre-
spondents, on tour of replacement
centers, to see the operation Of
training facilities, that the schedule
in effect four years ago, before the
United States got into the war, had
had to be changed very little as
result OF battle experience and that
a longer training period would not
materially improve the quality of
training being given now.
Stressing that trainees are being
sent over as individuals to replace
battle losses by units already in
one or another Of the active thea
terS, Gen. Hazlett said:
eff replacement sent out from
one of our centers Is put in the type
of unit for which he is trained, in
numbers which can reasonably be
absorbed, and is there long enough
for his unit leaders to learn his
name, he is ready to CO."
Final Training at Front.
Gen. Hazlett pointed out that the
sudden demands Of q situation such
as the German offensive OF last
December, in which at least one
division lost half of its electives in
casualties and prisoners, would
make orderly assignment of person.
mel impossible for time. He en-
phasized, however, that even a thor
oughly trained replacement is not
a full-fledged soldier until he has
been in battle, and that final train
ing must be carried out by the unit
under actual battlefield conditions.
Demonstrations of artillery train
ing at Fort Bragg, N. c., commanded
by Maj. Gen. Donald c. Cubbison,
former 1st Division chief, and in
fantry training at this post, COM
manded by Maj. Gen. Thomas G.
Hearn, until recently chief of staff
to Gen. Joseph w. Stilwell in China,
showed that the work was conducted
with the latest weapons in use in
active theaters, and that each
trainee became proficient in the use
of these weapons before being sent
out for overseas shipment The ar
tillery training period is II. the in
fantry Is weeks.
Toughened in Weeks.
The first six weeks of all training
is devoted to toughening the trainees
so they can stand the rigorous
schedule and to teaching them the
fundamentals common to all
branches, such as close order drill,
Workmanship, first aid, and various
phases of military life. BY. that
time, they have been classified as to
relative mental, physical and edu-
cational qualifications and assigned
to a particular job in the ground
force team.
Their training starts witfp theory
and ends with practice. The rifle
man, for example, starts out with
the basic infantry weapon, the Ga
rand rifle, and fires at targets at
known distances, then at unknown
distances he must estimate, then
in the field at random targets that
pop up out of the ground, later in
attack with others of his squad,
and finally in a platoon assault |
with artillery and machine guns |
firing over his head to accustom |
him to battle noises Since in bat
tie he will seldom know what is
going on in larger units, all empha-
sis is placed on teamwork in his
squad. Efforts are made to de-
velop leadership for advancement1
to on-commissioned and commits
stoned grades, for which additional
training is given.
Youths More Efficient.
In addition to physical condi-
tioning and the use of live ammu-
milton to accustom them psyche
logically to working amid battle
noises, they are prepared ideolog-
ically in orientation courses which |
bring out the causes of the war and
their own part in it. This latter |
training is considered most impor-
tant, according to Gen. Hazlett.