AT PLATTSBURG

[The first of these articles was prepared by William Sewall '17, commissioned secondlieutenant after the first Plattsburg camp and now serving as a military instructor forAmerican troops in France. The second was written by his father, Reverend John L. Sewall 77.]

The close of the first training camp for officers at Plattsburg and the thirteen other military posts throughout the country marks the completion of one stage of the progress toward raising the first national army that1 is perhaps as important as any other. The opinion of those who are best able to judge results seems to be that the camps were more successful in producing capable officers than had been anticipated. The final criterion will be found in the kind of fighting force these officers can make from the men who went to the cantonments early in September. But if the new officers work as hard with the drafted men under them as they have in preparation for their task, they will have done all in their power toward accomplishing the purpose for which they have been called into the service.

For there can be no doubt that the men at Plattsburg did work hard. Statements to the contrary which have appeared from time to time during the past three months can be based only on imperfect knowledge. From half-past five in the morning till quarter of ten at night the normal day was crowded with a variety of tasks that left the candidates little time to themselves. Of course, if visitors came between the hours of four-thirty and five-thirty in the afternoon, on a day when the band was giving a concert on the parade ground and the men were showing relatives and friends around the post, the scene might have merited the characterization it received from one feminine pilgrim of "looking like a county fair." But that was the only full hour of the day when men were off duty, and to judge the entire course of training by that one hour is obviously absurd.

One day's routine gives in outline the plan of instruction followed throughout the three months. First call sounded at 5.30, then fifteen minutes for dressing, reveille going at 5.40 and assembly five minutes later. Morning mess at 6, allowing another fifteen minutes for washing up. After that, there was nothing scheduled until 7 o'clock. That did not mean, however, that, there was no work to be done; beds had to be made, barracks policed, faces shaved, rifles cleaned, or any of the other numerous things that have to be done sometime; and there was little bunk fatigue at that time of day.

The day's work began at 7, and from then until noon there was seldom at one time more than ten minutes' let-up in the grind. It is difficult to compress in-to a brief space a synopsis of the subjects taught during the training course. It was, we supposed, the West Point course in tabloid form. At some time during the morning or afternoon of every day we were pretty certain of a half-hour bayonet drill and an equal period of physical exercise. Close or extended order drill came next in point of certainty, and this was the principal and almost the only chance candidates were given to gain experience and confidence in commanding the company or platoons. Methods of designating these temporary commanders differed somewhat in the various organizations, but all were based on rosters, and each man was therefore given an equal opportunity automatically. The fact that there was scarcely a complaint from the unsuccessful candidates that they had not had a chance to show their ability may be a commentary on the fairness of this method.

The rest of the morning work varied from week to week. During the first month we were chiefly concerned with the mechanics of marching and handling troops in all formations, together with other minor necessities such as the wigwag and semaphore signal codes, and becoming familiar with the intricacies of the march kit. After the fifteenth of June, when the men were divided for specialization in the various arms of the service, the infantry companies took up, among other things, target practice with the rifle and pistol, musketry training, map-making, both the theory and practice of maneuver warfare, siting and construction of trenches and field fortifications, and the rudiments of position warfare as it is known on the western front at the present time.

This is but a partial list of the subjects included in the curriculum; but in general our morning's work included one or more of these enumerated. Noon mess came at 12.15, and afternoon instruction began at 1.30. This was more likely to be in the nature of conferences and lectures, but the more energetic forms of training were often included. Recall sounded at 4.30, and from then till half-past five or sometimes a little later the men were comparatively free. Retreat came at 5:50 and evening mess at 6. Then from seven until nine there was a compulsory study period, concluding the day's activities. Quarters went at 9.30 and taps fifteen minutes later found most of the men in bed and dead to the world.

But a mere program can give nothing of the spirit with which the men went at their work and tried to adapt themselves in the brief time available to new standards of exactness, new problems, a new conception of discipline,—in short to an entirely new life. There was, particularly at first, a college atmosphere about the camp, as there naturally would have been in a community made up mostly of college-bred men. But there was a seriousness underneath it all that grew more apparent as the end of the three months approached, and which bore witness to the fact that there was no misunderstanding of the issues. The newly commissioned officers know, beyond any doubt, that a tremendous problem confronts them, and that the country expects them to do what veteran officers of the regular army have probably never been called on to do. But they will go at their work, as they did at Plattsburg with a song on their lips, deep loyalty in their hearts, and leaving to the future the judgment of their accomplishment. And after it is all over, Dartmouth will find that the younger generation of her sons has not failed to play the part that the Old Mother has a right to expect of them.