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

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A01 , THE SENTINEL WAR TIME TRAINING IZ X . . 'AT FCDRT SHERIDAN. gY1'm'I3-ff lll br.

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THE SE,N,TINEL The old-timers watched the processing at the CMT Camps for eight years with I fl g f gl THE FIRST DAY AT CAMP a great deal of interest, because it is almost exactly the same as will be necessary in case unfortunate circumstances ever again require the mobilization of Americans for military purposes. Season after season, methods are perfected so that now, as we all saw on July ' cc as , 27th, 1928, the small force of experienced oflicers and men can process two thousand new-eomers in a single day. Q ort Sheridan earlv on the morning of 1'r1day, the 27th, we were guided As we reached I , ' from the railway station to Camp Holliday by numerous LIVITC signs with arrows point- ing in the proper direction. We were not the hrst on the scene, however, because some boys had come in during Wednesday afternoon and Thursday. As we were directed toward the registration tent we were joined by a group of these early-birdsw, who told us that they had been assigned to tents and issued necessary bedding and mess equip- ment and had been fed well during their short preliminary stay in the camp. While wait- ing our turn at the registration tables we were served sandwiches. Itdid not take long to get the first details over and receive the mileage pay from the 1'll1ZlI1CC OHicer to cover our expenses in reaching Camp Holliday. l As we passed thru the tent we received our assignments to companies, and as soon ' CC 79 as a group of ten or twelve men had gathered at each company signboard, a runner - a Regular soldier acting as guide-took us across the bridge to our respective company streets in Camp Holliday. Here we deposited our luggage under guard and, if we desired, turned over any small valuables to be locked in a steel strong-box. Then we were issued tags and sent to a dispatching station where we rested until our turn came to go to the hospital for physical examination. This examination was fun for the old-timers but a sort of a mysterious procedure to new-comers. We were sent in groups to a disrobing station and from here a constant stream of candidates was kept entering the medical examineris station. We were issued a barracks bag into which we put our civilian clothing, which was tagged with our number and taken away from us. Then we were shot thru under the eyes of a number of doctors, who made records of our appearance, height and weight, examined our muscles, eyes, ears, nose, throat, teeth, lungs-everything but our brains-and finally shot out onto another porch where someone shoved pencils into our hands and we signed for about 520.00 worth of leggings and other uniform equipment. After dressing in this new clothing, we were given our barracks bags with our civilian clothing and sent to the Quartermaster Checking Station to make sure that we had all the articles charged against us. We were then sent to the dressing station, where Regular Army Non-Coms saw that we dressed ourselves properly. Not only were we inspected by the Quartermaster detail, but when we again reached the jurisdiction of our respective companies, we passed another inspection. If anyone has any curiosity as to how much clothing and equipment we used or how much we ate, let him read the stories further along in this book about the quartermaster sup- plies and the CMTC men. To sum it all up, we arrived Friday, were all set and slept hard Friday night, began to have visitors from home Saturday, and by the time parade was formed Sunday morning at nine o'clock we began to think we were regular Camp Hollidayites. lhzcmvtuo l'lQUIl'MHN'l' Pngr .Yizlrly-.ffrffll - NN- - - - -V - - - -V-'W' - - - - N- -V- - - - ' -' ' v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v.v o

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THE SENTINEL CAMP IIo1.1.1DAx' IN 1028 EARLY CAMPS AT FORT SHERIDAN Fort Sheridan is an historical center of voluntary military training. Camps of this kind for students were held at Gettysburg, Pa.,and at the Presidio of Monterey, Cal., in 1913. Similar camps were administered at Ashville, -N. C., Burlington, Vt., Ludington, Mich., and again at Monterey in 1914. In the following year special provision was made for business and professional men at Plattsburg Barracks, N. Y., at Ludington, Mich., at American Lake, Wash., at the Presidio of San Francisco, and at Fort Sheridan. The latter camp was held from September 2O to October 17, 1915 under the command of Colonel lVm. bl. Nicholson, and enrolled many men who are now prominent in the social, business and professional life of Chicago and the Middle West. Graduates of these camps and of others which were held the following year at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., Fort Terry, N. Y., Fort Sam Houston, Tex., and Fort Douglas, Utah, in addition to those named above, formed the Military Training Camps Association and im- mediately developed far-reaching plans for voluntary military training throughout the country. lt effected a wide-spread organization with local representatives and secured the favor of Congress to a program of training centers in 1917 under the supervision as heretofore of the War Department. When this country was drawn into the Wiorld lVar, these plans were found most useful in the inauguration of officers' training camps through- out the United States. The First Officers' Training Camp at Fort Sheridan had a program of three months, from the middle of May to the middle of August in 1917. Like the earlier camp of IQIS, it was under the command of Colonel Nicholson, assisted by a staff of Regular Army Officers. The roster shows the presence of ten Infantry companies, three batteries of Field Artillery and one troop of Cavalry in the Ioth Provisional Regiment, and the same units for the Illll Provisional Regiment, together with two companies of lfingineers, who after five weeks at Fort Sheridan were transferred to Fort Leavenworth for the rest of their training. The Second Officers' Training Camp at Fort Sheridan was under the command of Colonel James A. Ryan, and this period of training was from August 27th to November 27tl1, 1917. It is interesting to note tl1at many OHTICCFS who helped in the administration of these two training camps at Fort Sheridan in IQI7 have had intimate connection with the Citizens' Military Training Camps of the past eight years. Young men of the CMTC who have the good fortune to enroll at Fort Sheridan may take just pride, not merely in the delightful site of their training center, its excellent equip- ment and personnel, but perhaps to an even greater degree in the historic and sacred association of this place with the high sense of patriotism and service which inspired the men who were trained here years ago. Pagf N1'r1r'ly-111'm' . . -1. . . . . . . .v.v.v.v. . . . .v. . . . . . .vs .v.v.v.v.v.vvv.vvvvv.v.v.v.v- .v.v.v.v.vvv. .n