Citizens Military Training Camp - Full Pack Yearbook (Fort Leavenworth, KS)

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242 liU1.I. 90l'l,C'KH9o Citizens' Miliiary Training Camps To EVERY CMTC CANDIDATE OF 1923: You were one of nearly 25,000 men in the Citizens' Military Training Camps of this year. There were 10,000 in 1921, something over 20,000 in 1922. The camps were an experiment during the first year, now they are a part of the permanent policy of the War Department. President Harding declared: A I hope every young man, who can arrange it, will attend one of the Citizens' Military Training Camps, conducted by the War Department in each of the nine Corps Areas. In this way he will increase his worth to the nation and obtain individ- ual benefits of priceless value to himself and to the community in which he lives. ,I hope to see established, during my ad- ' ministration, a comprehensive system of voluntary military training for at least 100,000 men each year. Whether the camps develop according to the wish of Mr. Harding depends on you and the other candidates. You went to camp on the invitation of the President as a guest and at the expense of the United States. It cost the Government something like eighty dollars to give you this experience. Has this expenditure been justified? Are you worth that much more as a citizen? Will you be willing in the event of an emergency to give the Government the benefit of the training you have received? . The high purpose of the Citizens' Military Training Camp is c'To bring together young men of all types, both native and foreign born, to develop closer national and social unity, to teach the privileges, duties and responsibilities of American' citizenship, to show the public, by actual example, that camp instruction of the kind contemplated will be to the liking of their sons, that it will develop them physically, mentally and morally, and will teach Americanism in its true sense. The Citizens' Military Training Camps were established for the welfare and security of the country and as a support to its mili- tary policy, as defined by President Harding in the following statement: Our present national defense law establishes an economical., anddemocratic policy thoroughly consistent with our national traditions. It provides for a small Regular Army, to be aug- mented by great citizen forces in the event of national emer- gency. This is our traditional military policy. But whereas ' in the past these larger war forces have been extemporized after the occurrence of an emergency, the new law wisely provides that the framework of their organization shall ,be established and developed in time of peace, in so far as this is practicable through the voluntary service of our- patriotic young men. The Army of the United States as defined in the new law comp-rises the Regular Army, the National Guard and the Organized Reserves. Every patriotic citizen should encour- age the development of these forces, each within its proper sphere. THE REGULAR ARMY, in the words of Major General Lassiter, provides the per- manent establishment necessary to furnish the overhead and other machinery necessary for the development ofa great citizen army and also furnishes our over-seas garrisons, our coast defense troops,our military school establishment and a limited number of mo- Page Seven