[B]"Our people are not a warlike people and the average person knows little about our army. The centers of population have never been brought into close contact with it, and, like anything that is unfamiliar, the people entertain a certain prejudice against it. To overcome this prejudice and to arouse and maintain an active interest in military preparedness it will be necessary to adopt some plan that will bring the army more closely in touch with the people. The time for this seems opportune and it can best be done by assigning the various units of the army to prescribed districts for local recruiting.
"If each regiment or smaller unit were composed of young men whose families were neighbors, especially if the home station of that unit were easily accessible, the people would undoubtedly support the unit with men and money. Each regimental unit might be given a local name and there surely would be quite as much pride in having a regiment named for a city or state as in having a war vessel so named. A regiment recruited locally would start out with a high esprit de corps and the evil of desertion would be eliminated. Men now desert mainly because they have no pride or interest in the individual organization to which they belong. Localization would soon develop both. It would also in time become an easy stepping stone to universal training to which we must come if we are ever to hope for a satisfactory solution of our military problem.
"Universal training does not mean that every man would have to serve with the army two years or any other given length of time, but it should mean that every young man though not drawn to the colors would have to take a certain amount of military training. Universal training is a necessary prerequisite to effective war armies.
"Under a system of compulsory service the whole number of men to become eligible each year would be greater than required for active service in the army, but selections could be easily determined by lot. Those not drawn for service with the colors would be given enough training to teach the meaning of discipline and make them familiar with the principles of marching, camping and shooting. They would all be subject to call in case of war and the question as to whether they were needed at the front would not be left to the judgment or personal inclination of the individual. The humiliating spectacle of expending time and effort after war begins in appealing through the press and platform directly to the people to support the Government would not have to be repeated. Each man would expect to do his part. Men called out for service during the war require at least a year of drill before they are familiar with what the modern soldier must know. The demands of modern warfare upon individuals are greater than ever before and only the thoroughly trained and tried soldier is able to stand the strain. In the Civil War troops were confronted by equally untrained levies."
Behind this calm, clear and deliberate utterance it is easy to read the unspoken anxiety and the needless strain forced upon the commander of the punitive expedition in pursuit of Villa. And these words were written long before Pershing ever dreamed he would be the leader of a mighty host to cross the seas and in a foreign land fight not only the battles of his country but also those of humanity as well.
Although the punitive expedition failed in its main purpose,—the capture of Villa,—the opinion in America was unanimous that the leadership had been superb. The American Review of Reviews declared that "the expedition was conducted from first to last in a way that reflected credit on American arms."
An interesting incident in this chapter of Pershing's story is that fourteen of the nineteen Apache Indian scouts whom he had helped to capture in the pursuit of Geronimo, in 1886, were aiding him in the pursuit of Villa. Several of these scouts were past seventy years of age; indeed, one was more than eighty, but their keenness on the trail and their long experience made their assistance of great value. One of the best was Sharley and another was Peaches. Several of these Indian scouts are with the colors in France, still with Pershing.
The main facts in the story of the punitive expedition are as follows:
LEADING EVENTS IN THE PUNITIVE EXPEDITION INTO MEXICO