Plattsburg Training Camp - Plattsburger Yearbook (Plattsburgh, NY)

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THE PLATTSBURGER Qi , .Y , who are as thoroughly able as they are k .. gli: J f thoroughly American, which is the driv- Z ,Nw Lffl. - fe, , A ing force of the institution, the battery 7 5,--,. A5 .MJxN' 4 fl X of human energy which could not and ,:5 .,y- ,lil Kbqggzs. www ij I 'L . . would not meet the demands of the L , Y' Q4 ,A ' 0 xffxhz Qggvyig Q x- course if actuated by a lesser ideal. I 1 s 4653 ' es or com- 'X if if i W A f 1 A milsslibliils gzimbhetocaglldligburgf already I , NW 2 I ufffwvyf 'ff if imbued with this spirit. The others soon r A'f'ii'YQ,ffi '3,'5 fiif5ff' -h acquired it. In all, it has daily and ,Xl if 0 Xie 7' '-mf f ' A hourly became intensified. just now, it ' in I ' f' l- , 5 'Q ' is in full swing. There is warmth in the l' gf iffiizf ,. t f A smile that reveals chattering teeth at I 1 , if il 3342153 Eggrg its a gponquering high and . g Z , . 1. lg' I J MX' In w can view emis- l f l ,X 5 ,,,, ,,X, M V nh fortunes of his awkward .efforts with 31 'N-A 29 ,f:f1fLN,,ffl'-V. Wglfgliuf fl complacency, call himself out of luck ,WfQ21', - I ,ff ffyifff, I .I ,f ,li ' . p 1 A and try again. NN , pa. -f 1 2 ' '.7,,4fs7.,f . - N ' , f tip? -fiigfvagfflff ' , Milky! ' f' F' . X In spite of this will to work, Colonel . .1 . M , ,R 127' Wolf and his aides faced a herculean ' 'I Af t ,, . N ' 1--f -- - task. Probably for the first time in ' fflvvfgf, ' ' ' army oiiicers, man for man the best corps in the world, but not enough of them. At this point a great military truism began to be under- stood where it had never penetrated before, the simple fact that OFFICERS CANNOT BE BOUGHT. Thus the War Department evolved the scheme of the Officers' Reserve Corps, and it was adopted by Congress. The entry of the United States into the war sent the country plunging into war plans and Plattsburg came into its own. Similar camps were hastened into being in various parts of the country, and the amateurish play camp of 1913 had become the military hope of the nation. The second camp of this year is not yet closed as this is written. The bulk of the work has been done, but there are still a few weeks in which the budding brigadiers of the early days may prove their fitness for civil life and in which those who registered an initial incorrigibility of hands and feet and mind may yet win their stripes by mental agility and physical grace. In other words, the Who's Who is still in the making, and it is anybody's race. For the individual, nothing is certain as yet but the fact that he is doing the hardest work of his life and the con- viction that Plattsburg is an inexorable crucible wherein his body, soul and mind are being tried to the utmost in the searchgfor military fibre., Military service was a matter of choice with the majority of the men enrolled for the second camp. The statistics showed many men over the draft age. For the greater part of these men the military in itself holds no attractions of glamour or romance or profit. They are becoming sol- diers to perform a definite task, they are learning the business of soldiery because they detest the soldiery of another nation and what it stands for. At heart, it is a matter of service rather than stripes, of duty to conscience as well as to country. Considering the foregoing, we come very close to the germ of the Plattsburg idea and the spirit that has grown out of the idea. If the world is to be made safe for democracy, it is the Plattsburg idea that a democratic army must do it. Likewise it is the Plattsburg spirit that a democratic army WILL do it. ' It is this spirit, fostered and directed by officers l V 14 history, an attempt was to be made to crowd into three months the training essential to a full-fledged and com- the line. Not the training required in our own wars, but the training of the battlefields of Europe, where war has become the most exact science of modern times. petent officer of Trench warfare, with its thousand devices and innova- tions, must be taught, the new science of artillery must be imparted, but withal the methods of open warfare must not be neglected. Surely the aim of this intensive training is to break through the enemy's lines, and, last the war one year or ten, it is the Plattsburg idea that the break must come. When the break'does come, it will mean the warfare of the old days, the warfare of our own West and South, when sabres flashed to the beats of galloping horses, and men went miles over the top instead of yards. To complete such a course in three months means a pace which only the fittest can survive. Out of the twenty- four hours of the day it leaves a scant eight for sleep and no time for recreation if the candidate is to keep up in the branches in which he finds himself deficient. A rest period of fifteen minutes is welcomed as an opportunity to practice the semaphore 5 an hour between formations is a holiday to be enjoyed to the full, cleaning guns. i I JK-qi ilfm uvg ' X mmm 4- 'I I E HW, i il il . Q :rw c, --I ,Oo f-A , , ,gf ,fl :7l j f,. . J ,afar f I Aff ,gi ,f-H ilk , f l l ...- -,- I to f ' f Q!! l

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THE PLATTSBURGER , :xv I Nc -X , 55- If-J. ,.. f..f K , , . ,E g.- lf, 5, J N...-Z' nf! f x .4T1e'r.,,,,- I s -4 - ' N --M. I H . I k ,-----Q . , ,,m,'3,, i ffigg--4, .I1'JgL'x,gEv'i.,A,aQ-Qalaxg-igggnnuw ---J - M WM - - .-eff ' I - , -e ---.dw-.--,fs-4---+1-e':'gig7.21gfjQj ,V .5,JjQf'1g:,,:!-,V ,..-f9.v Fmh' 'Wyman-f'- ' , ' ..ma...,..,,g..... ' ' - -Q---V -.,....- . --......-.-,.r.11,- . ,..-.....,,, ,. , N x. . PLATTSBURG-IDEALS AND ACHIEVEMENTS HE historian of the future who undertakes ac- curately and adequately to set forth the achieve- ments of the army of the United States in the world-war must give to Plattsburg an important and unique place in his compilation. To-day the world pronounces Plattsburg, as a training camp for ofiicers, a success. It is the American Aldershot, the American Neuilly. Overseas men of Plattsburg mold are doing their full share of the work that is soon to be crowned by the spectacle of the Stars and Stripes cleaving the battle winds of Europe, in other training camps they are helping to make still more officers, in the great 'cantonments they are bent upon the magic task of transforming the drafted mass into able men of arms. Four years ago, Major-General Leonard Wood planted the seed of a national military institution. Seriously conceived, with prophetic foresight, still the first Platts- burg camp was a gentle experiment, a summer pastime designed to give college men a taste of army life. The War Department became mildly interested in the project and, in the words of the Department, endeavored to select posts located in a region in each section offering advantages desirable from the summer outing standpointf' At the close of these first camps, President Wilson re- marked that they would be enormously beneficial to' the United States because of the physical upbuilding and habits of discipline that would accrue to the attendants. Former President Taft agreed that the Plattsburg training would be a splendid preparation for men to enter the militia in their various states. Surely the Plattsburg seed was taking root. The next step was the organization of the Association of National Reserve Corps of the United States. The body was composed mainly of college presidents, who opened recruiting stations and urged their students to enlist. I August of 1914 saw a maddened Europe in death grips. The cry of Preparedness went up in America. It was a loud, insistent cry, but little heeded. The possibility of the United States becoming embroiled in the conflict was so remote as to be almost absurd! Whatever their views of the war, however, the regular army officers who were responsible for Plattsburg in the beginning now quietly developed a complete system of training camps with courses of more intensified instruc- tion. Soldiering at Plattsburg became a strenuous form of recreation in 1915. A year later the United States had been drawn immeasurably nearer the brink of the European cataclysm. We were still at peace with a warring world, but an emergency might come. Now preparation became more definite, a reality.- The United States with its tremendous resources and its potential strength could and would if needs be cast a great and perhaps deciding weight into the European balance. An unlimited supply of man power could be drawn upon, but who was going to train them? There were regular l13l

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THE PLATTSBURGER If the task is hard for the men, it is not less exacting for the instructors. No man is spared in the calculations of Headquarters At Plattsburg Headquarters means Colonel Wolf, and his staff, the men upon whom rest more than upon any others the responsibility of training men competent to lead the way in the nation's battles, and to them more than any other must go the credit for what Plattsburg is achieving. The writer once heard Lord Kitchener say that five months was entirely too short a period for the training of a modern soldier, considering the fact that it took three months to teach him to keep his head below the top of a trench. If Plattsburgers encounter this difficulty, it will be because they have forgotten their lessons. It is the basic theory at Plattsburg Headquarters that the man who can not execute an about face with exactness could not be trusted on a battle front where exactness and precision constitute the quintessence of this theory which, when ignored, has invariably resulted in wanton and unnecessary sacrifices of men. No detail is too small to receive the attention of the Plattsburg commander. Frequent trips to the parade it is really possible to train a competent officer in three months has been dispelled by the fact that their own instructors are products of the same training as their own. The work of these reserve officers in the second camp has been a splendid tribute to the efficiency of the whole scheme. They have comported themselves in a manner heretofore believed possible only after much longer training and, what is more important, they have demonstrated that they Nknow their business? Whether or not this consideration was a factor in the assignment of these officers to the second camp as instruc- tors, their presence has had a marked effect on the attitude of the men toward their work. The task of the reserve instructors has been peculiarly difiicult, even with the most expert of regular army knowl- edge and experience to fall back upon in the persons of the higher in command. It is they who must gain the first- hand impressions of the men in their command, and it is upon their judgment that the higher officers must largely rely in the recommendations for commissions. Rating according to written tests has been relatively simple but rating according to military proficiency has been an en- tirely different matter. Each rating counts Hfty in the summary of a man's fitness, and it is not a light respon- ground by this ofiicial afford ample proof of his methods. If the pivot man of a squad sibility for the officer who must with justice estimate a man's military capabilities allows his feet to stray a ,E l.W,,,,,,, if ,I ,A . . j-- 4 from wha,t'he Shows in qbgadltch uqilltiiie this 61,1 4. I, pf V, H V- training. , - 3 ' ,v I i iw.,-5 wf. g . 4, N, ry, .. ' . These ofiicers keep the Estructpr nfay see it, but fl Auf El. if X72 I , hours of. their men, and Tlc cofone 15 stgre tgp. gg Ein. .. .pi f .. lXS,,iH,,3ill4y:yswift-v 7, if ',.,,. they subject their men to . , If V, 4' '12 ,.,.,,' ,A,3f,,' 1- .! . Y . N . caiiedidatbetislefevblaledi whaf t ' ' X T . Q -41 , 1 -52' iii glbiyszlgalsgsrtiligiqggfifiglg might be termed the key- ,,.f ix 'QQ Q-' . ' 'f m undergo, They too must note to Colonel Wolf's fs , is ' , 'T Q , J A -ff' ' i , ' :f be forever up and at it. SUCCESS, ln the 13-ttefis OWU , K. , im, ,llf!nll,:. . ' ,nw ,I X A Each man must be trained words: l . g-..p.-QlL,fLfJf Jzflnl ilflli U , -v in the duties of every po- Ulf you donlt do the V Q -' ' W . r'i- l sition in company or battery, small things right, you will ,. - T- -- ,- ' ' ,. ,M A W W . T Q33-Ch man must be tra-lnffd never master the big r',,,':?:wzit. .- .gg f- -:.,,mn-..f4-W-A- 't , , V: gn qvery tduty dof captain, things. j::f-3-gggggg -Q',,, Q , --M'-ri-'-1 ,V-gif? i n, 1eu enan s an non-com- I , , , ' -Ili A1 1, 7 ' missioned officers. The in- fhls POSIUOU of the reg' fffd s ' ' ' ,. ,Z 4 ,5,p3gg,Q,Q,, '1 -'ff structor can assign work to UI?-1' agmy 025063 111 cghe g 'f :'i 'r'., gfalj- if i W-. ' ' his assistants, but if he is . o o e n- , -N el- ff- 261, - - - - didlalfiisl Ilias undoubtedly l fwflxfff ' ' . gf fig-1yamg1l:1Stin1I1f1i?5rei2g3 been ai strong factor in- the l t Q mand, he must be on hand camp life. They have given ' . continually to see and an impetus to the work which is always imparted by the know what each man is doing. personality of an officer who has the unqualified respect and admiration of his men. To inculcate the habit of discipline in the candidates without sacrificing the spirit of democracy in which the camp was conceived has not been the least of the instruc- tors' work. judging from the attitude of both officers and candidates in the second camp, this combination of virtues is to become traditional in the new army. The effort seems to have been entirely successful and one of the finest lessons of Plattsburg will have been taught in vain if the newly commissioned men fail to carry this ideal into the cantonments. One of the few true of the many dubious stories emanat- ing from Germany early in the war told of the shooting of German officers by their own men and later the transfer of hundreds of ofiicers from the forces which they had trained in barracks to commands which did not know them and where they could start anew. This was the result of the Prussian demi-God system of officers-one of the many German miscalculations of human psychology. Any doubt in the minds of the candidates as to whether l 15 Thus from Colonel Wolf down to the most unlikely candidate in the camp, Plattsburg has meant work and work and still more work. An almost vicious concentration has been required to keep up with the procession. A physical hardihood far beyond the demands of the most vigorous civil life has been necessary to the man who would succeed. To most of the candidates, discouragement in the work has been but a passing cloud. There have been disagree- able doses to swallow-there always are, in any army-but few troubles of the day, if they do not succumb sooner, can withstand the enspiriting spectacle of retreat at night. Tired minds and aching limbs, all but spent perhaps in the final work of shining up for the event, are dragged to the parade ground and there revived and recharged for whatever tribulations are to come on the morrow. There is no elixir like the Stars and Stripes and no man can pay homage to his colors at a Plattsburg retreat with- out adding a feeling of reverence to his positions of parade rest and Hattentionf' and being glad down to the depths of his heart that he is there. l