Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 308, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 January 1918 — State Guard Is Eliminated In The New Army Plan [ARTICLE]

State Guard Is Eliminated In The New Army Plan

Identity of State Organizations Is Lost While This War Lasts. SUGGESTED BY GEN. PE RS HING Reorganization Wipes Out Identity of Some Famous State Regiments— National Defense Act May Restore It After Conflict. Washington.—War department officials,’ general staff officers and army officers generally frankly admit that the National Guard, as it was before the United States entered the war, is being gradually eliminated, certainly as far as this war is concerned. The fact Is that since Gen. John J. Pqrshing was sent to France a decision has been reached to reorganize the..regular army and National Guard from top to bottom. This decision was made on General Pershing’s urgent recommendation. General Pershing’s recommendations were the result of conferences in Paris between the American and allied commanders, and the new organization follows closely the lines of the present French organization, built up after three years of active fighting. The recommendations of General Pershing were an entire surprise to war department officials nnd the general staff. The latter'balked at first, but ultimately followed the plan recommended by the American field commanders on the theory that Pershing was on the ground and in a position to know what the British and French have found most effective in battering their way through the German lines. That is the whole story. It is hard on National Guard organizations, especially the crack regiments, whose members have always taken great pride in them and striven 'to Improve and perfect them. For Keeping Identity. At the outset the general staff plan provided for mustering into the federal service state units as such, each of them to be given a new regular army number, but to retain its identity. , When General Pershing urgently recommended that regiments be increased front 1,500 to more than 3,000, even crack National Guard Infantry regiments, which had been recruited to full wat strength were far below the required number. As finally perfected, the new organization provides for a regimental maximum strength of 103 officers and 3,652 enlisted men. This explains why it has been necessary to merge one National Guard regdment with another. It has been stated repeatedly that the National Guard would next go to France. By combining two Guard units the general staff figured the. war department would have a maximum of men in the enlarged regiment who had had some military training and experience. '• - ■On the other hand, if the recommendations of governors, senators and representatives sod National Guard officers were followed and the ranks of Guard units filled up with drafted men from the same states, the majority of every regiment, yjith a few exceptions, would be composed of wholly untrained men. # Thls would mean a much Jong££ training period. As reorganized, army experts are confident the National Guard troops will be ready for service after a minimum training period in this country. Superior. Fighting Machine. However disappointing the new organization may be to either National Guard or regular army troops, officials feel that there can be no doubt that every officer and man In both .branches, as well as those now In the National army camps, want to see the most efficient fighting machine possible. - Army experts devoted most earnest study and thought to the reorganization. They think they have perfected an organization which has no superior's a fighting machine. In the reorganisation New York’s

Guardsmen have suffered disintegration. For instance, the men of the First New York Cavalry and Squadron A find themselves today mere “dough boys,” as in the past they termed the infantry. They are bidding final farewell to their horses, and the parting is a sad one, for many of the former cavalrymen have had the same mounts for several years. The officers and men of the old. First Cavalry are being split up among three units. The One Hundred and Sixth Machine Gun battalion will claim 550 of the enlisted personnel and the One hundred and Second Trench Mortar battery, the first of its kind to be organized in this country, takes One Hundred and Eighty One. The One Hundred and Second Ammunition Train will also claim a number of officers and men of the old regiment. Squadrdn A, too, has lost Its mounts and the organization is now the One Hundred and Fifth Machine Gun battalion. In the Spartanburg camp of the Twelfth and Seventy-first regiments, there are not enough men left to make a decent sized company. The historic commands have been drained of their -men that more fortunate regiments in the first line might get their war quotas. In some instances units, from two states have been combined or are about to be thrown together. These extreme cases, and they tend to stir up even keener resentment than the combining of units within a single state. Missouri Protests. The Fourth Missouri and Third Kansas furnisV-n" striking illustration. Both of these regiments were below the strength required by the new organization. Both contained a large number of veterans. When it was decided to combine them, Missourians immediately rose and protested the’ case In person to Secretary Baker, pointing out the injustice to both states and the damaging effect on the morale of the officers and men.

He said this was true, also, of the Second Missouri, which was slated to be carved up and transformed into machine gun battalions. Governor Gardner used all of the arguments he could muster, but wound up by declaring emphatically that If the government could not ad otherwise Mr. Baker could count on Missouri supporting him and doing Its duty to a man. This case has . not yet been finally disposed of, but it Is entirely probable that Governor Gardner will lose. Mr. Baker personally regrets the necessity for breaking up state units. Ohio, his own state, has some crack regiments, and the Buckeye state is being treated exactly as every other state. The first consideration is a military one. The government wants the best possible military machine and only efficiency was considered in perfecting the organization plans. After the War. If there are any. definite after-the-war plans for the National Guard they have not been revealed. Military experts who discussed the matter declared that after the war the National Guard naturally will revert to its status under the national defense act, which waq passed with a view to federalizing the Guard and making It more responsive to national authority. But what will be left <of the National Guard If the war lasts a long time, it Is asked? When the Guard was shaken together after its "Service on the border It numbered approximately 150,000.. Since that time many thousand Guardsmen have been discharged on account of dependent relatives- Its strength at -the time the United States entered the war may be put at 125.000 officers and men. Men who have enlisted since that time did so “for the period, of the war. and will be automatically discharged when it ends. Meanwhile, it Is fair to assume that many of the veteran Guardsmen will appear on casualty lists. At best, therefore* the National

Guard, proper at the close of the war will be nothing like as large as at present—B7B,ooo men. Or course, many of the men who go through the war safely will re-enlist for peace time service. For “Period H War.” What is true of the National Guard in this respect also is true of the regular army, two-thirds of which is composed of men who volunteered their services for the period of the war, and cannot be held after peace is declared. The terms of thousands of other men will have expired and they also must be released. x. I It will be recalled that the formal announcement, of the war department, in defining the new organization, specifically stated that it was for "overseas service.” It is but fair to assume that this organization is not now intended to be permanent and that there will be no disposition to maintain National Guard units as now organized after peace comes. In fact, Secretary Baker has repeatedly Informed the newspaper men that all plans for the army ate temporary, or “for the period of the war.” Congress took particular pains to specify that the selective draft law applied only to the war period and was not to be considered as an approval of • the principle of universal military training as a permanent policy. It is freely predicted that the men who do the fighting in France will see to it that congress provides for a permanent system of universal military training. When the National Guard troops returned from the border they were almost a unit in demanding universal legislation as a matter of common sense and element ary justice. Even with a system of universal military training In vogue, it was pointed out, the Rational Guard would not necessarily be eliminated.