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

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EIGHT YEARS OF THE CMTC f R , The CMTC is the best example we have of democratic living. lfiach army tent may shelter in common the sons of clerks or farmers. bankers or mechanics. Camp life treats them all alike. The drill field and the mess hall see no distinction of wealth or privilege. lfiach candidate assumes the same responsibility and is accorded the same opportunity as his fellows. Theodore Roosevelt said no truer word than that the army tent is side by side with the public school as a great exponent of democracyn. Many fathers and mothers have seen the result of this experience in the character of their own sons. The bashful boy has learned self-confidence, the bumptious lad has been taught some modesty through the training of the camp. Discipline is the greatest need of American life. Flaming Youth is a trite and tawdry catch-word, cheap and cynical, but it represents the revolt of the coming generation against all rules and regulations. Social conditions and family life are changingg young men and young women will not suffer the restraints to which their elders in their time yielded obedience, even though unwilling. Nevertheless, perhaps even more, every boy needs today a stricter handling than he finds either in school or at home. ,lust at this juncture the CMTC offers many bewildered parents a solace and recourse. The minimum age for admission to the camps is seventeen years, exactly the time when many boys become a family problem. They are impatient of direction, eager for freedom and avid for new experiences. The chance comes in the form of thirty days at camp. ln no other way can parents be more easily reconciled to the granting of greater independence to their sons. Nowhere else are boys so safe in their surroundings on their first release from home. Army officers undertake their guidance, men of rigid training, of character and high ideals. Military drill tends to develop obedience to orders and respect for constituted authority. The very routine of the camps is a stimulus to self-respect and self-direction through the fulfillment of daily duty. Discipline is the keynote of the CMTC and the best outcome of its training. MARTIAL MUSIC is more popular than jazz with the type of young men who volunteer for training. Page SL'Z'L'lI1t'!'lL . . .v.v. . vvv.v v. . .v.v. . .v.v.v.v - . vi' H 1.v.v.v-v-1.v.vmv.vw.vmv.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.

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hxx EIGHT YEARS OF THE CMTC I,u'rz WMU. ' I' I U N 1 .llujnr wnwrfz , . i . 1 rmy The Adjutant General nine Army Corps Areas of the United States is assigned its quota for training and this in turn is distributed to the var- ious States and to the counties of each State so that nowhere the op- portunity for camp at- tendance shall be lack- ing. The Military Train- ing Camps Association has been chosen by the War Department as its primary civilian agency in the selection of young men for the camps and the association main- tains, therefore, a nation- wide organization of county chairmen and committees with Civilian Aides to the Secretary of VVar appointed on its nomination and from its membership for each State and corps area. This plan of enrollment makes possible the dis- tribution of the oppor- tunity for enrollment equitably to all classes and occupations. Cou- try communities are given an equal chance with the larger centers of population. W'age carn- ers have an equal Chance with college students. t Page Sixlm' n l AND THOSE CAISSONS GO ROLLING ALONG . .v.v.v. . .VNV v.1.v-vm .v.v.v.v.v.v. . 1' ' I.V.vwN-UN-v.v.v.v.v-vN.l.!.1 1.13 71V-7.1 V-V.

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EIGHT YEARS OF THE CMTC The remarkable popularity of the Citizens, Camps is easily explained by their daily program. The CMTC offers no idle month: the schedule calls for real work, but this is alternated with recreation of the best and most attractive kind under quite ideal con- ditions. Reveille summons the young candi- dates from their army cots at six oiclock. Vigorous setting-up exercises give a hearty A TENT CITY appetite for breakfast, which like all their meals is prepared by trained cooks out of materials varied, nutritious and appetizing. It is safe to say that the young men enjoy a daily fare not inferior to that of their own homes and one which represents a balanced and scientific ration. The first hours are given to military drill and instruction with some special teaching of the elements of good citizenship. There are short rest periods so that the training though strenuous is not unduly taxing. At some camps the morning closes with a review which shows the daily progress. , In the afternoon there is the choice of any one of many athletic sports under expert supervision. Most camps are located on the coasts or on inland lakes or rivers and the rest have special provision for swimming tanks, since this is always a popular sport. Foot- ball, baseball, volleyball, tCl1- nis, boxing, wrestling and fencing have all their votaries, while other young men choose rather some form of track or field training. The VVar De- THE RIFLE MARKSMAN partment furnishes skilled coaches from the Regular Army or the Reserves and sufficient equipment is always provided from public or private sources. The evening hours are given over to many kinds of entertainment-dances, moving pictures, amateur or professional dramatic and musical programs, interspersed with boxing and wrestling contests or stunt', nights devised by the candidates themselves. The atmosphere of the Citizens' Camps is that of home and all activities are carried on in agreement with the best standards of family life. Religious interests are carefully ' guarded by chaplains of various faiths. Army women of character and experience conduct the hostess houses in which the young men spend much of their free time at cards, chess, checkers, billiards or other indoor games or in writing their own vivid stories of camp life to relatives and friends 'back home'. Uncle Sam is a wonderful pedagoguel Our Government is carrying on in the Citizens, Camps a large program of education. Thirty- five thousand, presently forty and then fifty ON THE HIKE thousand young men are and will be entered - n Pagz' Eighlrfn .v.v.v.v.v. . . . .v.v. .v.v. . .v. . .v. . . . . . .- .v. .v.v. . . .v.vvv.v v.v.v.v . .v. . .vvvm