Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 231, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 October 1917 — LIFE IN A NAVAL TRAINING STATION [ARTICLE]

LIFE IN A NAVAL TRAINING STATION

How Young Men Are Taught Navigation and Nautical Tactics at Great Lakes. ARE GIVEN BEST OF CARE Work and Play, Three Meals a Day Limited Responsibility and Few Worries—ls,ooo Men Now In Camp. Great. Lakes, 111. —Work and play, thre? meals a day, limited responsibility, and few worries. That’s life in the navy. Mothers and fathers, sisters and sweethearts, who are worrying about their sons, brothers, or.loved ones, are the only persons worried while these lads are in training nt the Great Lakes Naval Training Station. Situated far from the tang of salt water, with Lake Michigan to gaze upon—and occasionally practice gun fire or rowing a boat on approximately 15,000 embryo sailors are learning navigation and nautical tactics In a surprisingly short time. Arriving at the station the recruit Is sent to detention camp ; He Isn’t accused of being a germ carrier, bnt precautions are taken to see to It that he doesn’t associate with the great body of sailors until he has been under observation for 21 days. During this period of detention the recruit Is given typhoid prophylaxis, cowpox vaccination, throat swab, teeth survey, and general physlcal attention. Final Physical Examination. He gets his final physical examination while Ln detention. If the examining surgeon thinks he is unfitted for the naval service, he is placed in the “hold-over” squad, re-examined frequently, -given plenty of work and plenty of food. If finally he is unable to pass muster, the recruit is sent home with a “medical discharge.” Very few men are received at the station who are unable to pass the final, examination, for they are given at least two examinations before they are sent to Great Lakes.

If at the end of the twenty-one days the recruit has been outfitted, had his hair cut short, and pronounced physically fit, he is passed into the main camp and his period of real instruction and work begins. He is invited to participate in athletics, selects the school he desires to attend, and begins In earnest to prepare himself and to be prepared for his future life on board a dreadnaught, or some form of fighting craft. • Has Varied Duties. He learns to do things which at home he thought was “girl’s” work. This Includes dining hall duty, serving the “mess,” peeling “spuds,” washing clothes, making up his bed, etc. He learns also to do many things which the “hired” man back home did for him. He swabs the “deck” (floor) of his tent, picks up paper and other rubbish in the vicinity of his tent or company Btr<*t, and a hundred other duties of this sort. And through it all he is being watched closely—by petty officers, surgeons and other higher officers. He is classified while in training station as good, bad or indifferent, and this classification will follow him, unless he wins a new one, throughout his enlistment. All you have to do is to look at the Jackies In training tp know that they never were better cared for In their Ilves and that the Kaiser is up against it when these lads set out to get him.