CHAPTER I
GENERAL ADVICE
The United States is divided geographically into military departments with a general officer commanding each department. The departments and their headquarters are as follows:
(1) The Northeastern Department, with headquarters at Boston, Massachusetts.
(2) The Eastern Department, with headquarters at Governors Island, New York.
(3) The Southeastern Department, with Headquarters at Charleston, South Carolina.
(4) The Central Department, with Headquarters at Chicago, Illinois.
(5) The Southern Department, with Headquarters at Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
(6) The Western Department, with Headquarters at San Francisco, California.
Overseas Departments
(7) The Philippine Department, with Headquarters at Manila.
(8) The Hawaiian Department, Departments with Headquarters at Honolulu, Hawaii.
(For States comprising each department, see Appendix)
If you are a civilian and desire any information in regard to the army, any training camps, the officers' reserve corps, or any military legislation or orders affecting you, write to the "Commanding General" of the Department in which you live. Address your letter to him at his headquarters.
Mail is most often delayed because there is not sufficient information for the Postmaster on the envelope. The delivery of your mail will be delayed unless your letters are sent to the company and the regiment to which you belong. Therefore, prepare, before you reach camp, several stamped postal cards, addressed to your family and business associates, containing directions to address all communications to you care of Company----, Regiment----. As soon as you are assigned to a company and regiment, fill in these data and mail these postal cards at once. This should be done by wire in case important mail is expected during the first week of camp. Mail is delivered to each company as soon as a complete roll of the organizations can be made out and sent to the post-office.
INOCULATIONS AND VACCINATION
As soon as you become a member of the army, whether as a private or as an officer, you will receive the typhoid prophylaxis inoculation and be vaccinated against smallpox.
WHAT TO BRING
1. Travel light. Bring only the bare necessities of life with you. Don't bring a trunk. Enlisted men (not officers) will be supplied with all necessary uniforms and underwear. This includes shoes.
2. Bring a pair of sneakers, or slippers. They will add greatly to your comfort after a long march or hard day's work. A complete bathing suit often comes in handy.
3. Report in uniform if you have one.
4. The Government will provide you with the necessary shoes. However, if you can afford it, buy before you report for duty, a pair of regulation tan shoes, larger than you ordinarily wear, and break them in well before arrival. Rubber heels are recommended.
5. Bring your toilet articles (comb, brush, mirror shaving equipment, etc.), and a good supply of handkerchiefs, and towels.
WHAT TO DO ON YOUR ARRIVAL
There is a general rule of procedure to follow in reporting for duty at any post or training camp.
1. If you receive an order directing you to report for duty at a camp or post at a certain specified time, read it carefully, put it in a secure place, and, on the day that you are to report for duty at the camp or post, present yourself in uniform, if you have one, with your order. Be careful not to lose your order or leave it at home. Have it in your pocket book.
2. Upon being assigned to a company, unless you receive orders to the contrary, report at once with your baggage to your company commander (captain), whom you can easily find when you reach your barracks or company street. If you cannot locate your company commander, report to the first sergeant.
3. It is a custom of the service to have an experienced soldier explain to a new man exactly where he is to go and what he is to do. Feel no embarrassment at being ignorant of your new duties and surroundings. The Government does not expect anything of you except eagerness to learn and willingness to obey.
4. After reporting to your company commander or first sergeant, you will have a bed assigned to you and you will be issued the property and uniforms necessary to your comfort and duties. Check your property carefully as it is issued to you. You will have to sign for all of it. Look after your property at all times.
5. After checking your property, make up your bed and arrange neatly your personal and issued property on or under your bed or cot.
6. Spend all your spare time cleaning your rifle and bayonet until they satisfy your company commander. Then keep them clean.
7. Don't leave the company street or barracks on the first day, except with the permission of your company commander. Don't ask for this permission unless you have a valid reason.
RULES OF CONDUCT FOR CAMP LIFE
The first few days will be easy and profitable if you will read carefully and adhere to the following plan of procedure:
1. Get up at the first note of reveille and get quickly into proper uniform.
2. Get within two or three feet of your place in ranks and await the sounding of assembly for reveille and then step into ranks.
3. Stand at attention after the first sergeant commands "Fall In." Remember that this command is equivalent to "Company, Attention."
4. After reveille, make up your bed, arrange neatly your equipment, and clean up the ground under and around your cot. The company commander will require the beds made up and the equipment arranged in a prescribed way.
5. Wash for breakfast.
6. Upon returning from breakfast, go at once to the toilet. Next, prepare the equipment prescribed to be worn to drill. This is especially important when the full pack is prescribed. Assist your tent mates in policing the ground in and around your tent.
7. If you need medical attention give your name to the first sergeant at reveille and report to him at his tent upon your return from breakfast. Don't wait until you are sick to report to the hospital, but go as soon as you feel in the least unwell.
8. When the first call for drill is blown, put on your equipment, inspect your bed and property to see that everything is in order, and then go to your place in ranks.
9. After the morning drill, get ready for dinner. Get a little rest at this time if possible.
10. After dinner a short rest is usually allowed before the afternoon drill. Take advantage of this opportunity; get off your feet and rest. Be quiet so that your tent mates may rest.
11. Following the afternoon drill there is a short intermission before the ceremony of retreat. During this time take a quick bath, shave, get into the proper uniform for retreat, shine your shoes and brush your clothes and hat. Be the neatest man in the company.
12. Supper usually follows retreat.
13. After supper, you usually have some spare time until taps. The Y. M. C. A. generally provides a place supplied with Bibles, newspapers, good magazines, and writing material. Don't be ashamed to read the Bible. Don't forget to write to the folks back home.
14. Be in bed with lights out at taps. After taps and before reveille, remain silent, thus showing consideration for those who are sleeping or trying to sleep.
15. Consult the company bulletin board at least twice daily. On this bulletin board is usually found the following information:
- A list of calls.
- The proper uniform for each formation.
- Schedule of drills.
- Special orders and instructions.
16. Get all your orders from (a) the bulletin board, (b) the first sergeant, (c) the acting noncommissioned officers, (d) the company commander. Don't put much faith in rumors.
ADVICE REGARDING HABITS
Your life in camp in regard to food, exercise, hours of sleep, surroundings, and comforts, will differ greatly from that you lead as a civilian. You will submit your body to a sudden, severe, physical test. In order to prepare your body for this change in manner of living and work, we recommend that for a short time prior to your arrival in camp, and thereafter, you observe the following suggestions:
1. Use no alcohol of any kind.
2. Stop smoking, or at least be temperate in the use of tobacco.
3. Eat and drink moderately. Chew your food well. It is advisable, however, to drink a great deal of cool (not cold) water between meals.
4. Don't eat between meals.
5. Accustom yourself to regular hours as to sleeping, eating, and the morning functions.
6. Keep away from all soda fountains and soft drink stands.
7. For at least two weeks prior to your arrival at camp, take regularly the exercises described in this book.
Most men are troubled with their feet during the first week of each camp, usually because they do not observe the following precautions:
1. If you have ever had trouble with the arches of your feet, wear braces for them.
2. Lace your shoe as tightly as comfort will permit.
3. Wash the feet daily.
4. Every morning shake a little talcum powder or "Foot Ease" in each shoe.
5. Each morning put on a fresh pair of socks. Your socks should fit the feet so neatly that no wrinkles remain in them and yet not be so tight that they bind the foot. Do not wear a sock with a hole in it or one that has been darned.
6. Some men cannot wear light wool socks with comfort. Do not wear silk or cotton socks until you have given light wool socks a fair trial.
7. In case of a blister, treat it as directed in Chapter X.
8. Most of the foot troubles are caused by wearing shoes that do not fit properly. If the shoe is too large it rubs blisters, if too small it cramps the foot and causes severe pain. Marching several hours while carrying about thirty pounds of equipment causes each foot to expand at least one half a size in length and correspondingly in breadth; hence the size of the shoe you wear in the office will be too small for training camp use. If you have been living a sedentary life, ask for a pair of shoes larger than you ordinarily wear.
9. In case the tendon in your heel becomes tender, report at once to the hospital tent and get it strapped.
A DISCIPLINED SOLDIER
You will be expected to become quickly amenable both mentally and physically to discipline. A clear conception on your part of what drills are disciplinary in character and what discipline really is, will help you to become a disciplined soldier. Drills executed at attention are disciplinary exercises and are designed to teach precise and soldierly movements and to inculcate that prompt and subconscious obedience which is essential to proper military control. Hence, all corrections should be given and received in an impersonal manner. Never forget that you lose your identity as an individual when you step into ranks; you then become merely a unit of a mass. As soon as you obey properly, promptly, and, at times, unconsciously, the commands of your officers, as soon as you can cheerfully give up pleasures and personal privileges that conflict with the new order of life to which you have submitted, you will then have become a disciplined man.
DRESS
The uniform you will wear stands for Duty, Honor, and Country. You should not disgrace it by the way you wear it or by your conduct any more than you would trample the flag of the United States of America under foot. You must constantly bear in mind that in our country a military organization is too often judged by the acts of a few of its members. When one or two soldiers in uniform conduct themselves in an ungentlemanly or unmilitary manner to the disgrace of the uniform, the layman shakes his head and condemns all men wearing that uniform. Hence, show by the way in which you wear your uniform that you are proud of it; this can be best accomplished by observing the following rules:
1. Carry yourself at all times as though you were proud of yourself, your uniform, and your country.
2. Wear your hat so that the brim is parallel to the ground.
3. Have all buttons fastened.
4. Never have sleeves rolled up.
5. Never wear sleeve holders.
6. Never leave shirt or coat unbuttoned at the throat.
7. Have leggins and trousers properly laced.
8. Keep shoes shined.
9. Always be clean shaved.
10. Keep head up and shoulders square.
11. Camp life has a tendency to make one careless as to personal cleanliness. Bear this in mind.
SALUTING
The military salute is universal. It is at foundation but a courteous recognition between two individuals of their common fellowship in the same honorable profession, the profession of arms. Regulations require that it be rendered by both the senior and the junior, as bare courtesy requires between gentlemen in civil life. It is the military equivalent of the laymen's expressions "Good Morning," or "How do you do?" Therefore be punctilious about saluting; be proud of the manner in which you execute your salute, and make it indicative of discipline and good breeding. Always look at the officer you are saluting. The junior salutes first. It is very unmilitary to salute with the left hand in a pocket, or with a cigarette, cigar, or pipe in the mouth. Observe the following general rules:
1. Never salute an officer when you are in ranks.
2. Indoors (in your tent) unarmed, do not salute but stand at attention, uncovered, on the entrance of an officer. If he speaks to you, then salute.
3. Indoors, armed, render the prescribed salute, i.e., the rifle salute at order arms or at trail.
4. Outdoors, armed, render the prescribed salute, i.e., the rifle salute at right shoulder arms.
5. Outdoors, unarmed, or armed with side arms, salute with the right hand.
ARMY SLANG
The following army slang is universally employed:
"Bunkie"--the soldier who shares the shelter half or tent of a comrade in the field. A bunkie looks after his comrade's property in the event the latter is absent.
"Doughboy"--the infantryman.
"French leave"--unauthorized absence.
"Holy Joe"--the chaplain.
"K.O."--the commanding officer.
"On the carpet"--a call before the commanding officer for admonition.
"Q.M."--quartermaster.
"Rookie"--a new recruit.
"Sand rat"--a soldier on duty in the rifle pit during target practice.
"Top sergeant"--the first sergeant.
"Come and get it"--the meal is ready to be served.
HOW TO CLEAN A RIFLE AND BAYONET
Get a rag and rub the heavy grease off; then get a soft pine stick, pointed at one end, and with this point remove the grease from the cracks, crevices and corners. Clean the bore from the breech. When the heavy grease has been removed, the metal part of the gun, bore included, should be covered with a light coating of "3-in-1" oil. Heavy grease can be removed from the rifle by rubbing it with a rag which has been saturated with gasoline or coal oil.
FRIENDS
There are a few men in all companies who play, loaf, and who are constantly in trouble. As the good men in each company will not become friendly with them, they seek their acquaintances among the new men on whom they have a baneful influence. We wish to warn you about making friends too quickly.
FINAL SUGGESTIONS
Don't be profane or tell questionable stories to your bunkies or around the company. There is a much greater number of silent and unprotesting men in camp than is generally supposed, to whom this is offensive. Keep everything on a high plane.
CHAPTER II[1]
Read this chapter as soon as you decide to attend a Camp.
PHYSICAL EXERCISE
The greatest problem you will have to solve will be that of making your body do the work required. Every one else will be doing exactly what you are doing, and you have too much pride to want to take even a shorter step than the man by your side. Some men have to leave the training camps because they are not in the proper physical condition to go on with the work. If this chapter is taken as seriously as it should be, it will be of great help to you.
If you have not a pair of sensible marching shoes (tan, high-tops, no hooks on them) get a pair. These shoes should be considerably larger than a pair of office shoes.
Walk to and from your business. Take every opportunity to get out in the country where the air is pure. Fill your lungs full. Get into the habit of taking deep breaths now and then. Don't make this a task, but surround it with pleasantries. Get some delightful companion to walk with you. Walk vigorously.
Let down on your smoking. Better to leave it alone for a while. You will enjoy the air. Deep breathing seems to be more natural.
Make it a work for your country. View it in that light. If you are not going to be called upon to undergo the cruel hardships and physical strain of some campaigns, your son will be, and you can be of great help to him by being fit yourself. You and your sons will form the backbone of America's strength in her next peril.
You will have a great deal of walking after you arrive in camp, possibly a great deal more than you have ever had, and probably a great deal more than you expect, even with this word of warning. If you have failed to provide yourself with proper shoes and socks, great will be the price of your lack of forethought. You will wince at your own blisters. You will get no sympathy from any one else. It is the spirit of the camp for each man to bear his own burdens. So arrive at camp with hardened legs and broken in shoes. Don't buy shoes with pointed or narrow toes. They should be broad and airy.
Immediately after you arise in the morning and just before you retire at night, go through the following exercises for two or three minutes. In a short time you may want to make it more. No objection. Give it a fair trial. Be brisk and energetic. Forget, for the time being, what you are going to get out of it. Give and then give more. The result will take care of itself.
1st Exercise
Involving practically every important muscle in the body.
From first position spring to second position; instantly return to first position and continue.
Be light on your feet. Alight on your toes. Begin with a limited number of times. Day by day increase it a little until you reach a fair number. Be most moderate at first. Never allow yourself in any exercise to become greatly fatigued.
2d Exercise
To reduce waist, strengthen back muscles, and become limber.
Assume position No. 1.
Swing to position (No. 2), return at once to No. 1, and continue.
Shoot your head and arms as far through your legs as your conformation permits.
3rd Exercise
To harden leg muscles and exercise joints.
From position No. 1 come to position No. 2. Return at once to No. 1 and continue.
Toes turned well out. Body and head erect. Up with a slight spring. After a little practice, you will have no difficulty with this exercise in balancing yourself.
4th Exercise
To exercise arms and shoulders and organs of chest and shoulder muscles.
From position No. 1 thrust arms forward to position No. 2, and return at once to position No. 1.
Vary by thrusting arms downward, sideward and upward. Be moderate at first. Grow more vigorous with practice.
5th Exercise
To strengthen ankles and insteps.
From position No. 1 rise on the toes to position No. 2, return at once to position No. 1, and continue.
Go up on your toes as high as you can.
