Citizens Military Training Camp - Sentinel Yearbook (Fort Sheridan, IL)

Page 11 text:

EIGHT YEARS OF THE CMTC Dwroirr F. Davis The Sz-crcfury of Wur type were filled by those who saw the imminent danger of war. After the Armistice the Citizens' Camps were planned on a large scale and while primarily for the security of the country their rea- son for being was based mainly on peace-time needs. A suitable pro- gram for the camps had to be devised. Determi- nation of the proper minimum age for accept- ance, nice discrimination in the assignment of hours respectively for military drill and for general physical train- ing, careful consideration of discipline appropriate to the camps with meth- ods of its enforcement, adaptation of the daily schedule to the bodily powers of the youth at- tending, responsibility which should attach to the filing of applications, number of successive years to be included in the training courses, de- sirable requirements for ultimate commissions in the Reserves, compara- tive advantage of large and small camps, mini- mum basis of physical ff LL . ' 1 TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP -Cadenced step, patriotic music, streaming flags and pennants mark their consecration for days of peace or danger. Pagr Tm N. . . . . . . .v .v.v.v. . . . . . . . - . . ' .v.v.v.V- . - -UN .vv.1.v.v.v-v.V.v.v-VNVv.

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EIGHT YEARS OF THE CMTC f r EIGHT YEARS - OF THE CMTC The Citizens' Military Training Camps have in eight years enrolled 234658, applications exceeded this number by 137,935g a total of 372,293 young men have sought the opportunity of voluntary training. In recent years from 20,000 to 30,000 have been annually denied this privilege for lack of space and this number would have been far exceeded except that the period for enrollment was closed weeks, and often months, before the opening of the camps. A review of these eight years shows striking progress. The total of training centers has increased from ten to fifty and the number of men has grown from 10,299 in 1921 to 35,591 in 1928. More significant development is indicated by the following facts, Ist, there is a consistently higher average of intelligence and purpose in the young men who enroll, 2nd, an increasing percentage of candidates return for a second, third or fourth year of training, 3rd, applications are tiled earlier each year, 4th, the conditions of vaccination and in- A HEARTY GREETING oculation are more promptly and fully met, and 5th, there is from the Camp Commander a very marked reduction in the number who being accepted to the first arrival. fail for any reason to report at camp. Through these years the plan of training has been constantly revised and improved by the VVar Department: experience has given Army officers more sympathy and knowledge in discharging the new duties which devolved upon them. All visitors to the summer camps of 1928 were impressed with the excellence of man- agement but few imagined the diHieulties which have been surmounted since their es- tablishment in 1921. At that time no one could forecast their probable future. True, there was the precedent of the early students' camps, as at Gettysburg in 1913, and of the business and professional men's camps, as at Plattsburg in 1915, but these were, after all, different in character from those proposed in the National Defense Act of 1920. At Gettysburg and Plattsburg the appeal was to a comparatively small number, who were able and willing to pay their own expenses and in 1915 and 1916 a dozen camps of this . 1 v , .L l ir. THE INCOMIN G HORDE of today becomes the citizen army of tomorrow. Pagzr N i ne I

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EIGHT YEARS OF THE CMTC ,g --,,,.. .. irq N x . f 1: 1 l SUNDAY SERVICES are under the charge of chaplains of various faiths. qualification-these were only a few of the larger questions to be settledg they were coupled with a mass of minor problems. As the camps grew in number the difliculty arose of fit- ting in the CMTC month with the training of the ROTC and of the Reserve regiments and also of the National Guard wherever sites were used in common. As the enrollment grew the problem appeared of how best to supplement for training purposes the personnel of the Regular Army with oflicers commissioned in the Organized Reserves. It is hard to overestimate the patient and intelligent reflection and experimentation of the General Staff in the XVar Department and of the various Commanding Generals and the Corps Area Staffs in the determination of wise policy and practice as each difliculty arose. The Citizens, Camps of today have been slowly evolved through years of effort. livery one concerned in any way with the CMT Camps makes his own contribution to their success. Representatives and Senators of the Congress of the United States provide funds for their maintenance. Regular Army oflicers carry through the camp Wav CLASSES IN CITIZENSHIP are in the program of every camp. Pngv Elcvfn