US Army Infantry School - Doughboy Yearbook (Fort Benning, GA)

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kind in the world. lrlundreds of infantry oHicers were taught, drilled and trained in the best that this big vital branch of the service could give them. Instructors of the greatest experience during the war were brought to the Faculty. Cther branches sent their co-ordinating teachers. Nlethods changed and outgrew themselves. The Demonstrationl' came to play the most influential part it has ever played in any pedagogical scheme. And officers learned their science and art, became familiar with the authori- tative voice of their arm, and went away confident and inspired. So the School has kept pace with progress. In some cases it has out- stripped it. ln the four short years of its existence it has stridden for- ward with such surety that its beginnings are scarcely recognizable in the present. The Benning graduate is demanded. XVherever he goes, in or out of the service, he bears the stamp of knowledge of his branch. He repre- sents the latest achievement of Infantry technique and tactics. y He carries with him soundness and uniformity. The Infantry School has articulated the backbone of the United States Army.

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must be continued the entire year. The kind of ground must permit every phase of action to be encountered by a modern infantryman-the ap- proach, the engagement, the break through and the pursuit. The reserva- tion must permit the simultaneous training of thousands of riflemen in accurate target practice, in field firing exercises, in artillery and machine gun barrages with live ammunition, in secret marches over considerable distances, in night occupation of trenches, in advance by compass through total darkness, in the attack over ground extensive enough to represent a day's battle and in the resumption of the offensive after the break. 1 All these conditions Benning fulfills for its classes. Students actually do the work. They apply all that can be applied individually and the troops demonstrate the rest. Everything is actual but the bullet Wound. Further, the Infantry Board is locatedwithin the limits of the garri- son. Together with the Department of Experiment and the troops avail- able, it is ready to test thoroughly and pass upon speedily any project in technique. Such action has become a necessity, especially since the VVorld VVar. Before that time the infantry had always been recognized as the mainstay of any army. The rilleman with both feet on the ground has ever been the final necessity for victory. By magnitude and quality he was the chief element of military strength. Withoiit losing any of these elements he suddenly in the recent conflict grew out of all resemblance to his former self. Pandora's box had been opened. Hand grenades, rifle grenades, machine guns, tanks, automatic rifles, mortars and one-pounders summoned the foot-soldier with many mysterious voices. The infantry had come to be the technical arm of the service. The machine gun of itself had grown as intricate in its use and workings as the 3-inch field piece. Although the Doughboy was sad- dled with no less responsibility for a successful issue of the fight than before, he was forced besides to an intimate understanding of his weapons. and their use before he could conscientiously accept his position as a leader. The Infantry School, therefore, within a year after peace, metamor- phosed itself from a small school of bfusketry into the largest plant of its

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