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

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I , 3 if , IJ. .J -f if , THE INFANTRY SCHOGL HE OLD ADAGE Great oaks from small acorns grow has never had better exemplification than found in the growth of the Infantry School. Starting seventeen years ago as a very small bubble on the surface of the Army's training pool, it has become not only the largest special service school in the United States but also in the world. History tells us that as far back as 1826 there was established at jefferson Barracks, Missouri, an Infantry School of Practice, hav- ing to do with the training of foot soldiers in musketry and Infantry tactics. However, it was not until the year 1907 that the present conception of the Infantry School took form, for it was in this year that General MacArthur, while commanding the Pacific Division realized the necessity of co-ordinated training of the Infantry, especially for greater efficiency in the use of the rifle, and consequently directed the organization of a School of Musketry at the Presidio of Monterey, California. There practical and theoretical instruction in the use of small arms and the theory of machine gun fire was given to the selected officers and men of the division. There was also organized a Department of Experiment, a smalluedition of the same Department now functioning at the Infantry School. The courses were of three months duration and the classes were necessarily small, never consisting of more than eighty officers and men. The start in the right direction had been made and greater results were to' follow shortly. The Monterey school was the first step taken toward battering down the time worn theory that Wars were won by mechanicians and technicians instead of by Infantry in attack with rifle and bayonet and the auxiliary Weapons. It took a big step toward proving to the service that there is no sphere of training so vitally important as that of the Infantry. It succeeded in establishing a truth clearly demonstrated by the World War, that the most vital role in combat is played by the foot soldier and that on a highly trained and efficient Infantry rests the ultimate success of all armies. As the excellent results of the Monterey school became apparent thru- out the service, the value of this training was recognized and efforts were L 1 1 is N 2 s' 5 - 'T ' XL 'Q fu Q ' ga N. up fu :iq -Q l 'Wy

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Je , 'gif , New f l924- DOUGHBOY ' made to have the school taken over as an Army institution. This was achiev- ed in 1913 and, christened the School of Musketry, it was moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the location of the School of Fire for Field Artillery. While the Fort Sill reservation partially met the increased needs of this important training scheme and provided opportunity for cooperative work with the Artillery, it was never satisfactory from the larger viewpoint of all- round Infantry training. Finally upon our entry in the World War in 1917 the Artillery's need for expansion gradually crowded out the School of Mus- ketry and led to instruction in Infantry tactics and arms being given at three widely separated centers. First, the Small Arms Firing School was established at Camp Perry, Ohio, this was followed by the Machine Gun School at Camp Hancock, Georgia, while the remaining departments of Infantry Instruction continued to function at Fort Sill. From the start this was a very unsatisfactory condition of affairs and ultimately led to the consideration of a site for an Infantry School where would be combined the triple headed training centers of the Infantry arm. In selecting a location for this consolidated school, there were a number of special requirements to be considered in addition to the customary features necessary in a camp site. Chief among these were climatic conditions which would permit uninterrupted work the entire year: a large variety of terrain for unrestricted use as a class B rangeg a location near the center of population and within easy access to a seaport: and finally adequate rail facilities so that the several divisions which might be trained at such a school could be quickly moved. The first steps toward selecting a location were taken in june 1917 and between this date and September 1918, a lapse of sixteen months, a number of sites were considered. In practically every case the present location was first choice and finally the matter was sifted down to a decision between this and a location at Fayetteville, North Carolina. The Artillery already having selected the Fayetteville site for a firing school, a board which convened in September 1918, reached the decision to locate the Infantry School near Columbus, Georgia, and accordingly pro- ceeded eventually to purchase one of the largest tracts of land ever bought by the government of any nation. The Infantry School as it stands to-day, em- braces 97,000 acres and includes a varied terrain ideally suited to Infantry training. Here were moved the Small Arms Firing School, the Machine Gun L V Y v 1 2 3 123 gf 'A 1, ' -' S - if f fiw 2 114 F lg? ,ip ,,-. 14 K I pk S 1