Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 239, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 October 1919 — Vocational Training at Camp Humphreys, Va. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Vocational Training at Camp Humphreys, Va.

by Edward B. Clark

,v— ——vv Rl'oßE Leg. willing. It ■ 1 wid !♦** 1, »r vji'i-ld im-n Jg ; !,n<l N.-dmiml Guards to receive •gy "WB vocational training of a high deF ■ Hi give ill Connection with the millZ | <> ' tary 1 raining — which —ls— es^enlml //' h's the J Hereafter, again congress will1% ([ing, the .voting men .who enlist in the regular tinny <tf the I nit-. ed States will receive instruction which will ina_ double sense fit them for their > country's servi<•<•. EL the-enl l ever ”h<>uiii iihik- n. ,| ii | i t<<r Hoidmrslo - take the field the youths who have been given”this training will In- n.ith —lii niitwx r. When thw*' B terins of enlistment are up they will be fitted for that particular vocation in elvlt life lip«>li which Choice has fallen; The entrance into the working of the country of these young men who have flnish.si their vocational training, -it is promised,.; will benefit the country in the titnes of peilc.e. as "fheTr nnlitafv italuitig will bi'iieiit If in the lio> rI t> 1 e time of War? At Crimp Humphreya, Va.. there is now under development a project known as the “New Engineer School and I’ost and College of Military Research.'' Admittedly this is a cumbersome tttlv. and one which would benefit by elision in behalf of b revity. This school is wonderfully planned. This is none too high praise. It Is the heart son of officers of the army, regulars and National Guardsmen, who have studied the situation, present and future, from every possible viewpoint of the service and who have agreed upon plans for this school of the future. In fryt. '.his institution at Gamp Ilumphrcya 13 n cFKFid cf tlm p'-oinnV for there for a long time young men have been under—going vocattonnLand ntiitttnry tra In ing. It is the intention to make the school a permanent one in order that every officer'.and enlisted •man may become skilled in those vocations which have in them the possibility of double service army service ami civilian service. One of the faults which men .have found with the regular army service of the I'nited States in time of peace has been that it has fitted officers and men only for the life military. There have been parents —wine have Thought, not entirely rightly however that an enlistment-in the regular army of the I'nited States in time of peace was tantamount to time wasted so far as prepartition was concerned for usefulness in civil life. If the army students of today are allowed to have their way the diiy-sovin--wilL.eome_.vv heii the bovs . of. tile country etui seek the artiiy with a certainty of« securing a training which will enable them at the time of the expiration of their enlistments to enter the civilian field certain that they have in them the foundation know ledge of success. The school nt Camp Humphreys'■will be an engineer school, but it will supply courses to which men of other branches of the service can be sent to get that training which is not sumdied by (he school s of their own to n dies and which he I p t o ph ?y m ent. ~Tt"is"iKe intetition of the government to establish other schools than that at Camp Humphreys, but that institution probably will be much larger than any of the others, and in a sense be all embracing. The site of the school has all the attractions that nature can give it. It lies not far from the city of Washington. It has the necessary road, rail and water connections, for the Potomac washes its shores, and, moreover, it has today on the ground serviceable material for instruction purposes in all vocational branches which cannot be duplicated in any-other place in the world. . Camp Humphreys will be the engineer- school of the army. Recently the school at what was ordinarily known as Washington barracks in the dty of was nb.md. ned. Soltvirtually Is certain that the corps of engineers,. for it must Imye a school, will continue its educational wprk_ at Camp Humphreys at l’>elv.>ir-<m-the-Potonmc. Credit goes where credit is due. Col. Richard Park, corps of engineers of the regular army, assisted by Lieut,hadcharge of the preparation of the general plan” and detailed estimates for the establishment of this school. Maj. H. E. Kebbon of the cotps of engineers has "been chief "oFtfie architectural features?" Capts. Mark Daniels and J. A. McLean and Lieut. 'J.' W. Baston have supervised, and in fact have done the landscape work and the modeling. So famss the planning is concerned the work is done, and to some extent the execution of the plan already is under way. In planning the layout of the present Camp Humphreys a large portion of the south_end of the Belvoir peninsula was reserved for a permanent post and school by direction of the chief of gineers, whose mind long had-held a plan for the the corps of engineers. The secretary of war was . heartily. In favor of smffi a sidiool and was so impressed with the riatural advantages of the locality that he directed the chief of engineers to include in his plans a group of buildings for a college of military research. Lieutenant Colonel Lanagan and Captain Danlefs, who explained to me the functions of the school, who showed me the beautiful model of the completed institution, who explained evc-ything in detail and who finally took.me into every part of the beautiful government reservation which is to be the school site, paid the*'highest tribute to the cpnstnictive genius of Col. Richard Park and other officers associated with him in the labor of preparation and execution. As for Colonel Lana-

git jFiufiT Cii |dam Daniel h, it ought ‘to In< mid ttuUtlipse two officers have given of their best and are rrurnTTniiTg; in- ttio fairviv'C,/despite tinycalls of--their business in civil lifeTto forward-the project which has us its essential element military plus a high grade of civilian vocational eduCiUioii for tlje youth of America who may become officers or en--Hsted men <>f the Vidtod States army. k ..rz - -Last Jum- 1 was at West I’oiiit, w here I H -rltptom ir« to 250 young s.-euml liftironitiitsdr (he army vv!io ;fftor a two .y_muL— the aca-dowy —had— been sent tOCnmp Humphreys for vocational training. They returned to Wyst Point for the purpose of reveivIng their diplomas. So it will be seen that this school at Belvolr-ondbe-rotomac has been ~hr~ opefatrbnTbr some time. v Even m. its preparatory Stages this school not ■only has Instructed young officers of the army, but hundreds of enlisted’men. They work in machine shops, in lumber camps, for the peninsula is heav--ily wooded; in carpentry, tn printing, in map making, in blacksmithing, in railvvay construction and railway -nperatnui, In °ftnd in tact—iU" all branches of Industry which are serviceable in civil life as in the army. The, completion of the school as outlined will give to an officer, regular, reserve or National Guard, and to the enlisted man that rounded out vocational education which it will be difficult to get elsewhere. Here is every necessary manufactured product of the war time. Everything that engineering in-, genuity has produced is here, one might say. as a kind of educational sample. Canffi-Humphreys is a storehouse of tlie mhTtU'lariiecesstny for instruction along nearly every line of niilifury -ami civilian effort. , ——L——— Appropriations are needed to carry the work at Camp Humphreys to conclusion. Congress has been asked for money and the probability is that it will be forthcoming. No one knows today whether the I'nited States is to have any form of universal military training or not, but if the decision shall be in its favor young men who from year to year enter their itbuntry's service for field training will be given an opportunity to benefit by a training at this Potomac school. The students who thus far have been under instruction at Camp Humphreys, officers and enlisted men alike, have started at the beginning of things. The West Point classes went into the mm-hiue and earpemewshepsWaidTraytes ’rTTgivetiieingrpraclical knowledge of “the thihgs useful to them in their soldier profession or later in any profession or trade or business which they fnight enter on return to civil life. It has been a school of hard work, of regular living. With a sufficient amount of recreation, and with things so well balanced generally as to promote the normal working and “recreating" lives” of men. There are broad-guage and -’narrow-gauge railroads in operation at Camp Humphreys. There are many army trucks, armored trains, signal, searchlight, and Hash range apparatus; forestry study, lumbering.'bridge laying, and all other facilities for training on a brdad scale. The very character of the terrain and the ample timber supply at Camp Humphreys will allow the development of field, fortifications on a large scale anil under varied conditions. Roads already avail“^7s77T?fvrrrTl jdrnish the fields for the Vractieal study of communication which forms such an important part of the duties of eiigineering troops in the field. , Five miles vrf standard-gauge- railroad and 20 miles .of narrow-gauge or combat railroads, together with warehouses and depots cover in all their operations the functions of the service of supply. Adequate areas for target practice and for the use of gas are already developed. The watersupply is plentiful and of excellent tpiality. The climate is healthful. and mild enough to make field work practicable during the entire year. An area ten miles square is large enough for maneuvering large bodies of troops and is sufficiently varied in character to cover the wide range of field conditions. iincluding flat, open country, rolling ground, wooded areas, valleys and ravines. Camp Humidireys will be an engineer school, a _engineering training. There will ,be an Institution of civil institutions to prepare them for the work of the corps of engineers. The course will require two years and will cover many subjects which can “be grouped under these heads: Military * military engineering. _ciyil engineering, electrical and mechanical engineering. There will be a cadet school for the completion of training of cadets who have not the full course at the military academy; a school for reserve and National Guard'officers ; a school for line officers; a correspondence school for' reserve and National Guard officers, covering the of engineer officers, of the various branches of the reserve and National Guard. Naturally a large

part of the Interest in th’s prnpncod incfitntida centers on what it can do'for enlisted men as well .1, fn- ..iH-.ry . The engineer trade school which is to be estahlishe<l will embrace all these branches: <Blacksmith. caipent ry. drafting, surveying, electricity, gas engines, automobiles, lithography, steam engines, masonry, phukmraithv". idumbiug. riggmg. work, railromt op.ertirion and cumouilUge; - A , <*nmplelt< tmalel hay been ntade oi the pr<e posed school and outlying accessories. For the College of Military Research there will be one admini strat hard)tri+dillgfTour hirge’central buildings, respectively for records, statistics, and mechanical and electrical laboratories; four smaller buildings, one for chemistry, one for physics, and two for lecture rooms? one library building, and a village of 250 separate houses for officers, churches, club, garage, playgrounds,, and all necessary utilities. grouped there are to be effie, academic building, and two recitation buildings, an auditorium, a lures. Buildings corresponding in size and in equipment and grouped so as to insure uniformity coupled with beauty will be necessary for the school directly connected with the vocational training of the enlisted men and the officers. It has been evident for some time that the attention of the military authorities is to be given in the future to the vocational training of young men, to'be carried on side by side with their military instruction. The school at Camp Humphreys, aslhas been said, is not the only school which it is intended to establish, but it probably will be in a .sense...the .parent school and tlm. one. .which will furnish the facilities for certain training which caiinot be secured at schools of the other branches of the service.

.Men who already have attended the school at Camp Humphreys have spread its fame an educational the words of Col. Richard Park of the corps of engineers, who has had this project at heart, and who* worked daily and nightly to perfect it in every detail: “It wifi be tile function of the trade schools not only to develop the skilled .personnel needed for military work, but also to insure every soldier a thorough training in some trade which will be a benefit to him after leaving the service. This will attract a ilnudi j, of unit factor in the maintenance of monde under a system of universal military training.’ No one knows how large a force it will be necessary for the United States to maintain for purposes of defense and preparedness, but whether the force be large br small the evident intention of the government authorities is to see to it that men who enter the service shall have an opportunity to educate themselves along lines other than those which are purely military. » (Copyright, 1919. Western Newspaper Union)