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241. Practice with wooden bayonets
Practice with wooden bayonets
Description
Drills with blunt wooden bayonents when the different thrusts, parries and counter thrusts can be tried out without serious danger of injuring the combatants.
242. General view over a cantonment
General view over a cantonment
Description
No action taken by Congress since the declaration of war against Germany had as important bearing on the outcome of the War as the authorization of the selective draft. Before its enactment it loomed like a huge bogey in the imagination of many. After it was in force, like any other bogey its terrors vanished, and every day the wisdom of the action became more apparent. The energy and speed with which we pushed not only the draft registration but the arrangements to train those selected was a shock to the Kaiser an his advisors. In this action in spite of their words to the contrary, they saw their doom. They knew that neither our money nor our food alone could win the war. On the other hand they knew that our man-power, if exerted to the fullest, could. During the Civil War, under the volunteer system, the North sang “We’re coming, Father Abraham, 500,000 strong.” But Father Abraham had to wait a long while and finally resorted to the draft before they arrived. But within less than a year, by the selective draft, “Father Woodraw” had four times that number, not coming but here, and millions more on the way. How this host of men is cared for and transformed into efficient soldiers in an almost incredibly short time will be better realized as we see those men in their various camp activities. While the preliminary registration was being taken and the selective draft made, the construction of sixteen cantonments in different parts of the country to house this new army was started and within a few months they were ready for occupancy. Each cantonment is a complete city in itself, accommodating from 30,000 to 40,000 men. Within a few months after ground was broken for Camp Meade, it became the second city in Maryland as regards population. All the cantonments are built on the same general plan and, with the exception of the color of the soil and the surrounding topography, look alike. A paved or cement road in the shape of a great horseshoe or U, lined with warehouses and other buildings, encloses a great, flat, undulating central area used for the drill ground. In somewhat separated groups stand the two-story unpainted pine barracks, each group for a regiment. The general impression is that of a western boom-town. However, it is a complete city with all modern improvements, water and sewer system, electric lights, fire protection, buildings, hospitals, and other buildings. The residential sections are composed of the concentrated apartments called barracks. The cantonment shown here is Camp Lewis in the State of Washington. The men in the foreground are members of the Intelligence Division of the Signal Corps who are making observations and telephoning their findings to headquarters. It should be added that beside the sixteen cantonments referred to there are numerous National Guard Camps and other special camps which have been constructed.
243. New arrivals at camp
New arrivals at camp
Description
To those camps our selected representatives come: bankers, salesmen, artists, coal heavers, farmers, day laborers, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, all these classes and conditions, and take their position as equals. Later their ability, energy, and temperamental fitness will differentiate them into various ranks from privates to corporals and so on up without reference to what they were in private life. They first pass a series of physical examinations and mental tests by specialists and are separated into three general classes: Those fit for army service over there; those fit for domestic service but not for foreign, and those unavailable for either. It is the training of the first of these classes that we will now follow. After physical examination they are vaccinated and inoculated to guard against small pox and typhoid fever. The largest percentage of home sickness during the first two weeks in camp is doubtless due to the effects of these inoculations. The next step is to quarantine the new men for the next two weeks, which is not as bad as it sounds, for it merely means that they, possibly several thousand of them, will have to live separated from the rest of the soldiers until danger of their bringing contagious diseases with them is past.
244. New recruits after a few weeks training
New recruits after a few weeks training
Description
However, their training does not wait for quarantine but begins at once. At the quarter-master’s they are fitted with khaki suits, shoes, leggings, socks, underwear, shirts, blankets, etc. Next they are assigned to their beds in the barracks and taught how to make them up and turn the covers down just right. After a few days training a very decided change in their appearance takes place. No longer do they look like the string of marchers in a political rally, but like real soldiers. It is hard to realize that this is the same squad shown in the last picture, but a week or so later. The experience of a well paid traveling representative of an old and wealthy bond firm, whose wife came to visit him after he had been in camp several weeks is typical. He writes: “I shall never forget my wife’s surprise when she saw me. ‘Fred’ she cried, after I had kissed her, ‘You look magnificent! All your fleshiness is gone. You’re so tall and straight and brown. Your eyes are so clear and bright — Your arm is as hard as steel. You are a soldier, aren’t you?’“
245. Kits ready for examination
Kits ready for examination
Description
The physical equipment of a soldier is almost as important as his mental, and so the United States has arranged a kit with the best assortment of necessary articles furnished to any soldier in the world. It contains towels, soap, comb and brush, toothbrush, water bottle, moss dishes, and a few other articles which pack together into a small space. These have to be kept in good order for they are regularly inspected. To facilitate this inspection the kits and contents are spread out on the ground. That the ground is wet and puddles of water are standing in many places does not make any difference. Cleanliness and neatness, even under adverse circumstances, are one of the first requisites of a soldier. If it does not come naturally to a recruit the acquired characteristic develops rapidly under military discipline.
246. Care of the feet on the march
Care of the feet on the march
Description
If the hike is for more than one day each man will carry with him a half a tent which he can combine with his partner’s half and make a small shelter just big enough for two. The shoes seen sticking out of the tent in this view are occupied by the feet of a man whose body is lost to view in the shade of the tent. The main figure in the picture seems self-explanatory — it has been a long hike and involuntarily our sympathies go out to him. Possibly our sympathy is misplaced for he is bathing his feet for the foot inspection, rather than because they are paining him.
247. Off for a hike
Off for a hike
Description
After the training has advanced so that the men are accustomed to various marching tactics, and are hardened to the work the “hikes” begin. And we see columns of men, who a few weeks before would take a street car if they had more than six blocks to walk, swinging off at an easy gait for an all day hike, or possibly a several days’ trip. Usually on the march they have a short rest of ten minutes every hour, for total relaxation, after which they are in good conditions for the next fifty minutes of strenuous marching.
248. Filing service cards
Filing service cards
Description
A special service card is made out for each man giving an epitome of his life history. These are kept of file and are invaluable to the officers in determining the branch of service for which each man is best adapted. The preference of the soldier, however, is also taken into consideration in making the assignment. This view is in the office where such cards are filed at Camp Upton N.Y., but as far as general appearances go, it might be in a cantonment in Georgia, Texas, or Washington.
249. Class instruction at an American cantonment
Class instruction at an American cantonment
Description
General military principles and tactics are taught to large classes in the open air when the weather permits. Such a classroom as this in one of our great military universities holds enormous latest possibilities. It is a class of beginners in which will be developed, not only soldiers and petty officers, but possible generals. Each will find his level eventually according to his military ability and the energy he exerts.
250. Foot inspection
Foot inspection
Description
The most important and vulnerable part of a soldier is his feet and great attention is paid to their care; corns are receiving the proper attentions from their owners, inspections are made by medical officers. To facilitate this, for everything has to be done on a large scale, the men are lined up as in this picture with their feet on exhibition, while the doctors walk down the line closely examining each pair of feet on the way.
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