Portions of the Cavalry instruction are devoted to hippology and to packing. In hippology the cadets study a text-book upon which they recite, but in addition they are frequently taken to the stables where all types of horses are trotted out for their inspection and criticism. They must be able to tell all of the horse’s good and bad points and must be conversant with the remedies for the ordinary diseases. The packing is entirely practical. A pack train is kept at West Point for the use of the cadets, and they are drilled in putting up an aparejo and packing the mules. They must be experts in throwing the diamond hitch.
The branch of the Service, however, that is more closely allied to the Infantry than the Cavalry is the Field Artillery. They are indeed brother arms. In the fight the Artillery must prepare the way for the Infantry, using its powerful explosive shells to demoralize and decimate the enemy so that the Infantry’s task, hard enough at best, may be made easier. Among the cadets the Field Artillery is a popular branch of the training almost rivaling the Cavalry. The course of instruction is splendidly progressive. During Fourth-Class year, the plebes learn all about the instruments, how to set the sights, to read the scales, the use of the quadrant, and to perform the duties of cannoneer. By the time that they go into their Yearling camp each individual is sufficiently trained to be a good gunner, so that the class is ready to receive instruction both in the squad acting alone, and as part of a battery. During the fall and drill periods of the Third-Class year, the Yearlings are called upon to perform the duties of driver, sometimes wheel driver and again lead driver. As in the Cavalry instruction, the cadets must learn all of the duties of enlisted men. Their experience as drivers will teach them how hard it is to bring horses and carriage to a stop at a designated place, how difficult it is to estimate the ground correctly, and how a man’s patience can be tried by fractious and unruly beasts.
The members of the Second Class are taught in the fall the technique of the mountain battery, and in the spring they act as officers at the drill of the field battery while the First Classmen who have already passed through this stage of the training are detailed to command the organization. The First Classmen also spend a great deal of their time upon the theory of artillery fire, and practice accumulating firing data. During the First-Class camp they conduct regular target practice with the battery.
Photo White Studio
At Target Practice on the Flats
The course in Field Artillery has been vastly improved in recent years. All of the instruction is given by Field Artillery officers, and non-commissioned officers who are specialists along certain lines, instead of as in former days by a stray Infantry, Cavalry, or Coast Artillery Tactical officer. All the plebe drill period at that time seemed to be consumed in jumping up on the caisson and off again. I always felt like a squirrel in a cage going round and round without getting anywhere. Sometimes, too, the instructions that the officer gave us were a little mixed to say the least. I remember once an instructor to whom Field Artillery was an alien art giving us at drill the following order much to the merriment of the plebes:
“The cadets will now be divided into three squads: those that have fired, those that have not fired, and those that have done neither.”
There are other drills in the cadet’s military calendar besides those of the three main branches of the mobile army. No little attention is given to Practical Military Engineering. In camp one third of the class spends four hours of the day practicing the various methods of signaling, how to make knots and lashes, how to construct gabions and fascines, how to use tackle, and how to construct bridges. The First Class make position and road sketches, they lay out field fortifications, and dig trenches. They learn the use of explosives, the placing of mines, and the dynamiting of trees, buildings, and railroads. During the Academic year the Department of Practical Military Engineering gives the Fourth Class a thorough course in surveying that embraces both theory and practical work with the instruments in the field.
The Tactical Department is charged with the instruction of the Coast Artillery. Several modern batteries, both rifles and mortars, are installed at West Point so that the cadets may have every facility for learning the technique of this arm. The Yearlings act as gunners, performing the same duties that are required of privates in the Regular Army. The Second Classmen act as gun pointers, range and azimuth setters, do the plotting and observing, or, in other words, perform the duties of non-commissioned officers in the Regular Service. The First Classmen act as battery officers or as range officers, so that upon graduation they may join their commands fully acquainted with their prospective duties.