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

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Ja- A . xl ,J 35 M fl -,' li. i n.: -r Q A - 924 DOUGHBOY A The bayonet court is a jolly place, full of cunning little trenches, shell holes, hurdles, and whatnots, with dummies scattered about, all touched up with spots of red paint. The dummies are hung around in all sorts of im- possible locations, or down in the bottom of a trench, and the game is: Try and hit 'em! If you keep your bayonet out of your own foot, and don't run yourself to death, you're lucky! We've been throwing live grenades this week, and today one came back into our squad bay. In ten seconds you couldn't have assembled the squad by radio! October 25-Rifle range now, all day, every day. It's great stuff, when the sun is warm, and there's nothing to do but fire a few scores, and then lie around and swap yarns until it's time to clean the old Springfield and climb onto the narrow gauge. I'd be supremely happy, if it wasn't for my con- founded monograph next month. The marking system is new this year. There used to be a scramble for tenths of a point and no speaking to your best friend before an exam, but this year it is merely a matter of the alphabet. AH-in the Benning primer stands for SUPERIOR, the NE PLUS ULTRA of scholastic ability, the watch-me-I'ma-whizz complex, of General Staff caliber, and that sort of thing. B is along the same line, but not so standoffish. Quite good enough to tell your wife, or Willie when you spank him for not being a shining light in the kindergarten. C is next, an average conservative, middle-class kind of a mark. Then follows D , below the satisfactory line. It doesn't quite ruin you, but it's a moral lapse that may lead to worse things later in life. And, oh, my dear, EH, of course, is utterly impossible! F I 7x ' X I A 'V' E ' l . , Tg.-.- - X X - X if U Q - T 9 Y a J -.9 'I - L' 'i 1 I V 5 W' V 'ol ,T ,xv ,. aw Q. -- ll!

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Je. , T' 7371 . ,xc , , f , 'A ,, 4.1. 4 a :ul I or U0 A- Q 924- oousnsov T QGirard.j Half of the corn crop of the south is used in making corn bread, and half for corn licker g another case of fifty per cent efficiency-Unable to locate the electric fan, and so to bed. September 28-Today hotter than yesterday. Hotel full of officers, mostly captains, and their wives and children. Went out riding with another auto salesman, then an insurance man, and after that an agent who rents houses. Bought a Columbus paper: much ado on the front page about one Stribling and a champion of sorts, Mike McTigue. Also took a couple of magazines from the news stand: the Atlantic Monthly and the Police Gazette. Lunch at tea room: waitresses rather cute but kittenish. Slept all afternoon. Going to the movies tonight. October 1-Reported officially at Benning, filled out a paper with in- teresting details of my previous life and was assigned to a company. Nothing on the schedule until Thursday. Morale high. October 4-Given my place in the company today, a responsible position in the rear rank. Had to draw a lot of property, two rifles, a bayonet and scabbard, a pistol, two belts, a canteen, a cleaning rod, field glasses, a clip- board, a clinometer, two compasses, and a sketching case with more trick things inside than a man could count in a month of Sundays. The only place to store the paraphernalia is a bathing suit locker, but darned if I see how. October 6-Lectures all morning, the mysteries of the monograph ex- plainedg the first shadow falling over the course. The subjects haven't been assigned yet, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.-We have pistol, grenades and bayonet all next week. October 12-Finished pistol range firing this afternoon. Can't say that I'm in the class of Wild Bill Hickok, or Whispering Smith, but I managed to rate sharpshooter. Six more bobbers and I'd have crossed the expert line, but my hand got shaky at fifty yards. Heard one of the class whooping like an Indian when he finished his last score. I made it! I made it! he kept yelling. Make expert?', Somebody asked. Naw, marksmanj said he- The pistol is gone, but like the poor, the bayonet is always with us. Somehow or other, the spirit of the bayonet, the overmastering determination to rush the enemy and carve him into gory scraps of meat, the insatiable craving for blood, is absent from my make-up. I just haven't a liking for the cold steel. It must be an acquired taste, like celery or limburger cheese. i - if-g. ,lacy if -Ea' gi , N, was 4. yw QQ-u Int

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an li -'1 w i . mv xc 1 4 r f A - Q... V.: Ae gl K ,' -F V A 1924 noueusov J f, 2 'E The letters come on the examination papers in blue pencil, or sometimes in red, depending upon the artistic color sense of the instructor. I heard two red-apple boys talking about the papers we got back yesterday. One said: I got an A', what'd you get? and the answer was: I got the same as you got, you lying son of a gun! November 6-Rifle firing over. We shot for record, yesterday and today, with the expert total boosted at the last minute from 293 to 300, and a darned fishtail wind blowing at 500 and 600 yards. I crawled over the 300 line, with the help of the Lord and a lucky guess at 500 rapid. Morale high. November 7-Scouting and Patrolling today, the wood lore of the scout, smearing mud over your face, and hiding behind a chinaberry bush. The first batch of monographs come tomorrow: a reminder that mine is only two Weeks off. Looked over my list of references for Knockemoffski's Offensive Qmy subjectjg there are forty-two books, seventeen pamphlets, and eighty- seven articles in service magazines-Read one hour at the library tonight, and took notes. November 8-The first of the monographs this morning. Recipe for success: wear your best coat and a pair of pink breeches, lean on the pointer, have at least two maps with pretty ink lines to keep the class awake watch- ing themg then talk for thirty minutes. There was generous applause' every thirty minutes, on the live and let live policy. Got to hand it to the boys for putting out on their subjects. Laid off the movies tonight, and read for two hours. Finished Knockemoffski's The General Staff and its Indecision, and took four pages of notes. ' November 10-More Sneaking and Peeking today. Tore the back out of my shirt crawling in the barbed wire, and skinned one hand with a wire cutter. Learned all about climbing a tree and sniping, this afternoon.-Read for three hours tonight in Field Marshal Limberger's Raus mit Einsf' The Marshal calls Knockernoffski' a cheat, a liar, a bum general, and a fourteen- syllable word that I can't translate. Threw away my first notes and made some new ones. This monograph proposition isn't as easy as it looks. Morale falling. November 12-More monographs this morning, but didn't hear a word. Took Count de Cussemoutls history to class, and read it under the desk. Spent three hours in the library tonight, and looked up twenty-nine references, L Y 2 2 Q 'ef 5 '- Q' Q S Q ? W! ' 1' Q? 'MW' U70 ii rl lil