Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 225, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1916 — LETTER FROM THE MEXICAN BORDER [ARTICLE]

LETTER FROM THE MEXICAN BORDER

Major Healey Writes of Topics That Should Prove of Interest To All. Llano Grande, Tex., Sept. 15, 1916. The Republican: Probably there will never come, during our training period here, any want of subjects about which to write, but there will be at times the uncertainty whether the things I write serve the double motive with readers of The Republican of being entertaining and instructive. Probably the latter of the two motives is the worthier, for I feel it important that every person in the United States should realize the full’ importance of the training that is being given to those now serving along the border. I have, during the past ten or more years, occasionally or rather spasmodically put forth a preachment about tfee need of training along military lines. As my own experience has broadened it has been accompanied by a fuller appreciationx>f two things, first the lack of patriotic devotion on the part of many good people, and, second, the ignorance of all not connected with the military service about the extent of training necessary to produce efficiency among those who are to offer their lives on the altar of their country should necessity arise. My first observation may require explanation. I may not have stated it as clearly as'it should have been stated, for I really do not doubt the devotion of every American to all that America represents. It is more a condition of mind that causes so many to argue with themselves and others that they will go if needed, but until they are needed they will remain at home. The reasoning ’s false; it is selfish. Too often it comes from persons well able to make the sacrifice to acquire the training essential to the nation’s needs. The more one has, the more he needs protection, and in equity the more ne should make sacrifices to secure it, not by the payment of money, for whatever he has was secured for him by the country that he would be asked to serve if it were placed in jeopardy. Please do not misunderstand me. I do not mean that every citizen should rush madly to the front when a call for training is made. Many have interests that would suffer intolerably and prove a detriment to society and government if neglected, but I do believe that there should be a plan of universal service established that would put every citizen in a position to render the service for which he is best qualified. This would require that during certain years every physically fit young man be given military training, that those who are not fit physically for the rigors of battlefields be trained as clerks and familiarized with the office jobs that require exacting and skilled men. Then, when the call is made for field training, it should include those of every community who can leave their homes without jeopardizing the welfare of the country’s best interests. ■ You will agree that this is fair but say that it is difficult of attainment. Not at all. Every man in the United States is presumed to be catalogued for taxation. Simply make this plan operative for military service. Show v hat training each has had, what qualities of leadership were shown, what special service best suited for and such other information as would be valuable in case of call. The general staff department of the government secures data in time of peace that is presumed to show the needs in case of war. All that would be necessary when the call comes is to make an allotment from each county according to th« needs and from the roster kept in each coiinty are sent to the front the number called for. Others are placed in training by qualified leaders at home and the hours of training are so arranged as to cause conflict with business or other affairs, but every one is doing his ‘‘bit.” ’ • ~ Foi ten years I found it very hard to maintain a militia organization in Rensselaer. My experience was that cf practically every other officer in Ind ana, or, for that matter, in the entire country. Yet, all that was; asked of anyone wds to spend one and one-half hours each week in armory training and to attend a todays camp' each summer. Some of the young men who have served in Company M much of the time for the past twelve years are proving the value of the training they received, although it was meager and acquired under great difficulties, but in its absence over the country there would be now only such guards along the border as would have been secured by a call for volunteers and there would have been no officers for their trainI ing. Rensselaer furnished about 75 for the service. Monticello about 90.

Delphi, perhaps 3 or 4. Hammond, few if any. The inequality completes the agrument that universal service is the fair thing. Since I last wrote I made a horseback ride of about 35 miles along the Rio Grande. I saw Carranza soldiers across the river, heard them bartering with U. S. soldiers on this side and saw them send one of their number, a lad of 15 years, across the river to sell their hair-braided hat cords, not snake-skin hat bands as told by an Indianapolis paper. The trap was a delightful one from the standpoint of experience and it has caused me to hope that during the time we are here we are actually given a section of the river to patrol or outpost. It will seem more like real soldiering than just living in a training camp. I think all are hoping for it, although realizing that it would be somewhat of a hardship. Our training is now one of simulating combat situations. Bulletins give instructions about Mexican methods of fighting and we establish outguards in the mesquite and chapparal thickets, send patrols along the trails and covering our front and thus prepare ourselves to dispatch the Mexican army in the quickest w’ay in case we ever meet them in conflict. I have a deep interest in this training and I try to impress every soldier with the fact that what he learns here may some day save his life or the life of a comrade and that collectively it might win important engagements and thus contribute to general victory and shorten the length of war. We are talking of coming home and we are all homesick but in our tented palaces we are comfortable and when I compare our conditions with the deplorable ones of the civil war as related by the veterans of that long contest, I feel that we should steel our hearts and push forward to further training. We are now r in the midst of field inspections and yesterday the three Indiana regiments, with all equipment for a campaigning brigade, including wagons, machine guns, ammunition, etc., went to the field and submitted to an instection by a dozen army officers. We are better off than we were a month ago but we are still short of clothing and woefully lacking in field knowledge. A company speedily given an assumed situation and assigned an objective was given 5 minutes to deploy, assign to those charged with fire control the section of fire and the range and to communicate the information to every soldier. Only two men out of fifty were found to understand what they were firing at. The rest would have wasted all their ammunition. Some were aiming at the tops of trees,' some at telephone poles and others just blazing away. The training will not be complete until every man who goes to the firing line knows what he is to do and does it. If this is accomplished before our return, the guess that we will be back by Oct. 15th is a poor one. Camp is not without its' amusing events and every day some one brings in q new story about the blunders of the guards. One is told about the commanding general who had arisen in the nigth and passed beyond the guard lines. When he started to pass the lines returning, the guard challenged him properly as follows: Guard —“Halt, who is there?” General —“The Commanding General.” /There was a pause, the confused guard did not know what to do. In a minute the general, impatient to return to his tent,- said: “Well, what am I to do?” The guard studied a second and called out: “General, pass in review.” Another story tells of the challenge of the regimental chaplain. The guard called out: “Halt, who is there?” The chaplain replied: “The chaplain.” The guard, replied: “Advance, Charlie, and be recognized.” Lieut. Art Tuteur keeps our battalion mess in an uproar by telling stories. Sometimes they are a trifle ancient, but Art has a manner of* presentation that gives them new interest and since his recovery from the dengue fever he has sought to keep others well hy the mirth treatment and it is seldom an officer at our mess is sick enough to miss a meal. Will close for this time and write the next day it rains enough to keep us from exercises.

MAJ. GEORGE H.