Aberdeen Proving Ground - Yearbook (Aberdeen, MD)

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llllli ll SIIHIIIIL The Ordnance Replacemenf Training Cenfer. Before The end of May, four more provisional companies were acTi- vaTed aT The school for The housing of enlisTed sTudenT personnel. On July 8 an evenT occurred which marked The begin- ning of a new branch of The school, a branch desfined To aTTain a size greafer Than any oTher. This was The sTarT of insTrucTion of The firsT class of Ordnance Officer Candidafe STudenTs. The iniTial enrollmenf was only a Tracfion of The class which now sTarTs weekly, buT, never- The less, iT was imporTanT. On Ocfober 8, affer Three monfhs of infensive Training and insTrucTion, approximaTely Three-guarfers of The class successfully complefed The course and were commissioned Second LieuTenanTs in The Ordnance Deparfmenf. A number of These men were assigned for duTy wiTh The School STaff and Faculfy. AT The Turn of The year, January, I942, The school balance sheeT boasTed almosT one hundred officers and over five hundred enlisTed men assigned To The sTaff. The officer sfudenf rosTer conTinued wiTh li++le change. buT The enlisTed specialisf course enrollmenf had iumped To well over a Thousand men under insTrucTion. AT This Time There were four officer courses and TwenTy enlisTed specialisf courses. The school conTinued wiTh iTs many Tasks, perfecfing and revising courses, adding new ma- Terial and discarding old, and The Training of insTrucTor personnel for any immediafe fuTure expansion. Many addifional duTies rnusT be performed in order To allow an organizafion such as The Ordnance School To make full use of iTs insTrucTion Time. Every hour ThaT a sTud-'enT spends aT The school is considered valuable. Therefore abouT all he does is aTTend classes or sTudy. The housekeeping rnusT be performed by oThers. Kifchen police dufy and company deTails are all performed by men of The 4OTh Ordnance Company lTng.l or The Ord- nance School Defachmenf. lnsTrucTion is rapid and every device To speed iT up and To make assimilaTion more swifT is employed. Training aids and TexTs are developed and wriTTen aT The school. These aids include charTs, diagrams, film slides, mofion picTures, mock-ups, and models. The school has iTs own phofographic secfion and a visual aid secfion. Much of The work is performed by These agencies. Models and mock-ups are builf by The insTrucTion secfion which is going To use Them. Charfs and diagrams are produced by The school draffing and arT secTions. Preparafion of school TexTs is an imporTanT funcfion. A sTudenT should have read his nexT day's assignmenf be- fore reporfing To class in order To successfully use every hour of insTrucTional class-Time. This necessiTaTes The use of TexTs. Since much of The eguipmenf used in insTrucTion is new, The regular War DeparTmenT TexTs have noT yeT been published. Therefore The insTrucTion secTions fur- nish The Technical facTs To The Publicafions Secfion of The Ordnance School and This secfion ediTs, prinTs, binds and disTribuTes The informafion. l.imiTed numbers of These TexTs are also provided To Ordnance unifs in The field. ln April, l942, The careful planning of The school paid off in big dividends. l-leadguarfers in WashingTon cle- creed ThaT The immediafe iob was To Train Thousands of enlisTed men for commissions as officers. This was To Take place wiThouT curfailing or inferfering wiTh insTruc- Tion in oTher secTions of The school. Since April l, Ten more officer Candidafe Companies have been acTivaTed, bringing The ToTal To fourfeen. There are seven general messes in exisfence. The school sTaff now has an acTual sTrengTh of almosT five hundred officers and nearly Two Thousand enlisTed men To care for adminisTraTive, insTrucTional and housekeeping loads. lnsTrucTors who had formerly been The only officers Teaching a given subiecf suddenly found Themselves aT The heads of secTions of a score or more officer insTruc- Tors, all Teaching The same subiecf. Courses increased so greafly ThaT To name Them would be cumbersome, and names have been replaced wiTh numerical code designa- Tions. AuTomoTive, once embodied in a single course. has developed info Three courses, and is aT presenT broken down inTo Twelve separafe enlisTed courses in addiTion To officers and officer candidafe courses. lnsTrucTional secTions, once housed in one small building, now occupies several large ones. All secTions of The Ordnance School are noT locafed aT The Aberdeen Proving Ground. ln Ocfober, l94O, The firsT branch school was formed aT Springfield, Massa- chuseTTs, -for The Training of machinisfs. The presenT number of enlisTed men undergoing insTrucTion aT This branch is abouf one hundred. A second branch school began in January, I942, aT Savanna, lllinois. Over six hundred sTudenTs regularly receive insTrucTion in Depof and Supply and AmmuniTion aT Savanna. Affiliafed schools have been esfablished aT planfs of civilian con- cerns who manufacfure Ordnance maferiel. Among Those in exisfence aT presenT are schools locafed aT Lansing, Michigan: Akron, Ohio: and DeTroiT, Michigan. The concerns include: Firesfone Tire and Rubber Company, General MoTors, and The Whife MoTors Company. The Ordnance School is beginning To produce a rich harvesf. Trained officers and enlisTed men are going everywhere To perform innumerable Ordnance Tasks in Thousands of places. Whaf The fuTure holds in sTore for The school-no one knows, buT The sTaff is ready To cope wiTh any siTuaTion, iusf as They have done in The pasT.

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'A' ir The grOwTh OT The Ordnance School aT Aberdeen Prov- ing Ground, Maryland, during recenT mOnThs has been a process which was wholly unpredicTabIe a Tew years ago. So swiTTly has The school expanded ThaT iTs Organ- izaTiOn baTTles sTrangers, buT in reaIiTy The size and scope is a simple Thing. The developmenT OT The school has been logical and On a planned basis, moving surely and cOnTidenTly againsT many obsTacles TO perTorm The Task OT Training men TO lqeep The vasT quanTiTy OT presenT-day Ordnance equiprnenT OT The UniTed STaTes Army in oper- aTing condiTion. The Ordnance School, as iT is designaTed Today, came inTo OTTiciaI exisTence On July I, I94-O, when iT was de- cided TO merge The OTTicers' School aT Aberdeen Prov- ing Ground and The Ordnance Field Service School OT RariTan Arsenal, MeTuchen, New Jersey, on a single PosT. AcTually The process Toolc over a monTh, despiTe The TacT ThaT The mOvemenT OT men and equipmenT Trom RariTan Arsenal was compleTed by July I5. The school was in OperaTiOn long beTOre The housing TaciIiTies Tor iT were compleTed. Many hardships were endured by The TirsT sTaTT OT The school, buT They weaTh- ered Through: The while sTarTing a new course Tor non- commissioned oTTicers wiTh almosT 200 in aTTendance: This in addiTiOn To specialisT courses in MainTenance. DepOT and Supply, and AmmuniTion. The oTTicer courses conTinued in Their Tormer TaciliTies aT The Proving Ground. On AugusT I The TirsT OT The new buildings were ready TO be occupied, alThough all doors and windows had noT yeT been puT in place. The pioneering OT The school required much iniTiaTive Tor adequaTe insTrucTional equipmenT was lacking. There were no TexTs or Training aids such as charTs and film slides. And This was aT The Time when The Tield needed The equipmenT under manuTacTure by The Tew Tirms en- gaged in building Ordnance maTeriel, and The Tield uniTs had The highesT prioriTy. Some OT The insTrucTion had To be given On equipmenT which required insTrucTors wiTh wide experience. This was especially True in The Fire COnTrOl SecTiOn, and The Tew Trained men in The counTry capable OT insTrucTing This subiecT were cIassiTied as lcey employes in indusTry. There were no TexTs available Tor insTrucTors TO use as guides, buT The sTaTT worlced On, modiTying courses, rem- edying errors, and pulling weeds in procedure and course rnaTeriaI. lnsTrucTOrs OTTen wroTe Their own TexTs and. aTTer much waiTing, The TirsT OT The new equipmenT began To arnve. On January I, I94I, Ordnance School Special Order NO. I IisTed apprOximaTely 30 oTTicers and Their assign- menTs TO duTies, wiTh LieuTenanT Colonel George W. SIIIIII III THE Oufland as COmmandanT. On The same day The Ord- nance Training C.Ommand came inTo exisTence. The Ordnance School was one OT The Three sub-headquarTers OT This Training cenTer. The oTher Two were The Ordnance UniT Training CenTer and The Ordnance ReplacemenT Training CenTer. A number OT valuable oTTicers and enIisTed men were relieved Trom assignmenT TO The Ord- nance' School On +ha+ daTe and were assigned Tor duTy in These oTher new headquarTers. The Tollowing Tew mOnThs were criTical Ones Tor The school. EvenTs overseas were causing apprehension ThrOughouT The UniTed STaTes, SeIecTive Service had been inauguraTed, and The Ordnance School was sure To ex- pand, Tor modern warTare employs much mechanized equipmenT, which in Turn requires many repairmen. WiTh so many imporTanT phases OT Ordnance TO be TaughT, There was some guesTion as To which branch or branches OT The school should develop TirsT. The COmmandanT, his sTaTT, and Their advisors moved wisely. They buiIT The headquarTers organizaTiOn soundly, so ThaT no maTTer which branch mighT grow The TasTesT The headquarTers would be large and sTrong enough To balance The sTruc- Ture. The process OT pruning ouT dead wood was also em- ployed. Any misTiTs Or unquaIiTied personnel were TacTTulIy eliminaTed, and Their places were Taken by careTuIIy chosen men. The sTaTT used all available sources OT oTTicer maTeriel, OTTicers OT The Regular Army headed The OrganizaTiOn, giving Their Tull experience To The school. Many oTTicers were commissioned Trom The ranks, men who were experT Technicians in Their lines. Many OT These laTer became secTion heads. Reserve oTTicers wiTh varied Technical and adminisTraTive Training and experi- ence ObTained in indusTry were anOTher supply. These men Toolc adminisTraTive pOsTs, became insTrucTors and company commanders-The maiOriTy OT Them learning Their iob as They perTOrmed iT-buT all OT Them learning rapidly and working well. February, I94I, saw The esTabIishmen+ OT The FirsT Pro- visional Ordnance Training Company in which all enlisfed sTudenTs were housed. Two general messes Tor The Teed- ing OT enlisTed sTaTT and enlisTed sTudenTs were acTivaTed. In March, The enlisTed adminisTraTive Overhead and Train- ing personnel reached a sTrengTh OT beTween Three and Tour hundred. OTTicer sTudenTs numbered abouT one hun- dred and enIisTed sTudenTs Two hundred. Five specialisT courses Tor oTTicers were sTarTed. They were: AuTOmoTive and AmmuniTiOn, ArTillery and DepOT and Supply, DepoT and Supply and Small Arms, and an ArTilIery course Tor Marine Corps personnel. The en- IisTed division was busy Training cadre Tor new uniTs TO be acTivaTed in The Ordnance UniT Training CenTer and

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Ji,.Ji,iJl5,.3iiliWO Q uk Ordnance men have To know every derail aboui each Jrype oi gun Jrhar Jrhe Army uses. He rnusi know how if is consfrucfeci, he musi know fhe srresses and srrains +o which if is subiecrq he musf know how +o repair if in Jrhe shop, how ro im- , 2, . nfl' 2 .1-14, ,p,13Q,'LJ ' ' , .. ,, ,jay-fl ' 3:9-2 2 E i??a21a 5 'V W.,- -W Je ez? 1 Top: Repairs in +he field. Above: Anfiaircraff gun firing. EEE Antieircrafi gun check. Work on gun barrel.