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

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JOHN W. WEEKS Secrfzfary of War Pagf Eighut

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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

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.2.::ml'U LIN' ,0YACK'rav9 bile troops ready for service at any time at home or abroad. This force is strictly lim- ited in numbers in time of peace, but plans are provided for expansion in time of war. The functions of the Regular Army in peace time are many, important and of great economical value to the country. In pioneer days the War Department rendered great service through the building of highways, canals and railroads, mapping new areas and locating titles, developing waterways and protecting the frontiers against the Indians. In a recent address Secretary John W. Weeks briefly mentioned some work which the Army is doing today for the country. Through the Signal Corps and the Air Service it is co-operating with the Weather Bureau in the important service which the latter is rendering the public. In many parts of the country the Signal Corps is overcoming through its radio service the isolation of the farm. The Air Service is assisting the Department of Agriculture in its war against pests, a struggle in which the Chemical Warfare Service is doing good Work quite aside from the varied help it is giving the industries of the coun- try. The spread of forest fires has been largely prevented through the observers of the Air Service and in many other ways the War Department is working with other Govern- mental agencies for public health and prosperity. THE NATIONAL GUARD is the second component of the Army ofthe United States and is by far the greater in time of peace, while in time of war, itwill contribute fully one-third to the force available for national security. It is organized today on a federal basis and its support comes from both national and state appropriations. Upon the Nation- al Guard rests a primary responsibility for domestic quiet, it is a part of every community in proportion to population, and you who have been in the Citizens' Military Training Camp have a moral obligation to consider what you can contribute to its strength. THE ORC-ANIZED RESERVE represents concretely the principle of voluntary train-, ing for national defense, merely a skeleton organization in time of peace,it is planned to be the basis on which can be developed a citizens' army in time of war. Future ofiicers for the Reserve will come from the R. O. T. C. of our colleges and universities and from you graduates of the Citizens' Military Training Camps. They will not be available, how- ever, when need arises unless the youth of the country is filled with the thought of service. You know that no military obligation is involved in Citizens' Military Training Camp attendance during the first two years. For the White Course and for the Blue you are asked to enroll in some 'fcomponent of the Army of the United States and this will probably mean for you the Organized Reserve in case for any reason you cannot join the National Guard. In point of fact to sign your name for the Reserve involves no call to active duty or training, since there are no present appropriations for this purpose, but it should mean for you a solemn recognition of the service you owe your country and must perform in any case under draft legislation in time of need. The real difference for you lies ina better preparation if ever the nation is called to arms, and you have this because of your own desire to get ready for such emergency. The principle of voluntary training underlay the college, business and professional rnen's camps in IQI3, 714, '15 and 'I6. The graduates of these Plattsburg camps, in the spirit of Theodore Roosevelt and Leonard Wood, formed the Military Training Camps Association, which did great work in recruiting for the OHicers' Training Camps and for the different branches of the Service during the World War. After the Armistice this Association suggested to the War Department that civilian camps be conducted through- out the country, thus reviving the thought of Red, White and Blue Camps, so warmly supported by Newton D. Baker when he was Secretary of War. Voluntary training is, indeed, the policy of no one political party, but has received the consistent endorsement of Republicans and Democrats alike. No partisan consideration has ever entered into the training camp movement, which aims simply at good citizenship. When Congressional appropriations were first asked for the Citizens' Military Training Camps, Julius Kahn, Chairman of the Military Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, argued for them on the broad basis of civic advantage: Page Nine W r,,,g