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Show ! The l o IE AT I T HME HI By Pvt. Bob Kelly arms, and challenged "Who goes there?" To his consternation he discovered that the voice came from a loudspeaker at headquarters. headquar-ters. Just as he turned around to resume marching, another loud noise, seemingly from right at his feet, caused him to give a startled jump to the side. He landed on the very brink of the reservoir, for a moment he stood precariously precarious-ly balanced on the edge, then righted J'lmTnSS es would have laa drink." After reKa Z l '' ure, he Investigates the noise, and to his 1 ? SoiC tification, it was hl Wre in the grass. GlancC b; sheepishly ai)out him ?UlllllV 6J on his solitarv ' ',e P thankful in his hea;. a' i saw him being "att , bullfrog! "tacked'. bJ" The 115th Engineers is a combat com-bat engineers regiment, hence our training will consist mainly in building roads for troop movement, move-ment, demolition work, making barbed wire entanglements, erecting erect-ing obstacles to cover retreat, digging dig-ging permanent trenches, making ; tank traps, and building pontoon I and foot bridges. Therefore, most of our work, in the event of war, will be on or near the front. Unlike Un-like the corps engineers, we carry arms for defense; as a matter of fact, we get practically the same training as the infantry, as- well as our engineering training. The tank theoretically runs down the declination and butts against the six-foot bank; field artillery trained on this trap proceed to blast the tank into oblivion. An alternative to artillery fire is a demolition mine in the bottom of the trap. In our field operations, we will also make barbed-wire entanglements- and road blocks. During the past week it has rained so much that we've had very little field work. Instead, classes were held in the mess-hall. The first few days we were drilled in the nomenclature of the rifle, In accordance with our scheduled schedul-ed training program, we've been digging trenches and a tank trap. t The typo trenches we built have i a drain, a board duck-walk in the bottom to insure dryness under un-der foot, and a firing step three feet above the walk. The trench from the top of the parapet to the bottom is eight feet In depth. The tank trap is ten feet wide and ten feet long. It slopes from the ground level on the "enemy side" to six feet in depth in the bank. proper pos-itions for the various types of firing, and the proper use of the rifle; also, we had to completely com-pletely dissemble, thoroughly clean the guns, and reassemble them. Of course, we have infantry drill, rain or shine. The drill, when the weather is too rigorous- to permit marching, is restricted mainly to the manual of arms in the tents. This week gas masks were issued is-sued to us. For the past four or five days we've had gas mask drill under supervision from outside instructors. in-structors. Sgt. Theon Laney and Cpl. Clegg are attending a chemical chem-ical warfare school, so now they are instructing us. The drill is to acquaint us with the gas mask and to simulate conditions confronted con-fronted In warfare. As yet. though, the masks, with their goggling eyes, are still a novelty to us. Pvt. Harold Giles, poet laureate of the company, has aptly depicted depict-ed our sentiments in his lines of rhyming thought, entitled "The Lonesome Engineers": We all miss our loved ones, And hope they feel the same. But there's really nothing hard about This good old army game. We're up each man at daylight, And working all the day, And thinking of our loved ones Who are so far away. So after the big send-off, We cannot let them down; We're right in there a-pitching For the folks in our home town. But we'll all be coming, back some day To that home so far away. That dose of poison oak that we mentioned some time ago is spreading rampant as wildfire through the regiment. Company "A" was the first company to contract con-tract it, but now most of the companies com-panies are reporting cases of the poison among them. According to the "medics," there is practically nothing can be done to relieve the itching. Some of the commercial applicatives will prevent spreading spread-ing of the rash. It has to gradual- None of the soldiers have any reason rea-son whatever to become contaminated. contam-inated. Since this show, other films supplementing the theoretlcaT instruction in-struction we are being given in the classrooms, have been shown. Some of the topics covered were anti-tank defense, infantry drill, bayonet practice, reconnoitering, and road reconnaissance. Very probably other topics will be shown later. Perhaps you would care to know what we are taught in the classrooms class-rooms and by whom taught. Staff Sgt. Bob Cranmer instructed the class in bridge reconnaissance and' building, Sgt. Ely Tippetts presented pre-sented a lesson on firing and dissembling dis-sembling pistols, Cpls. Frank Witney Wit-ney and Hoyt Baxter gave a course in first aid, and Pvts. Joe Salisbury Salis-bury and Bob Kelly presented two lessons on demolition and mine fields. These lessons are given when climatic conditions are too inclement to permit field work. The other night when Pvt. Douglas Brown was dreamily walking guard at the reservoir, he was suddenly shocked from his reverie by a loud voice which seemed to come from immediately behind him. He snapped into action, ac-tion, bringing his gun to port Iy wear itself out before it will disappear. Last week many of the boys saw the Pacific ocean for the first time. The boys hiked from the camp to Morro Bay, a distance of eleven miles. To. their supreme disappointment, however, they were permitted only five minutes to survey the coast before returning. return-ing. Determind not to be cheated out of a good chance to see the ocean and swim in it, Pvt. Howard Jenkins, Pvt. Bill Leslie, and Pvt. Bob Lee, went to Plsmo Beach Sunday to go swimming. Howard and Bill glibly told us that the water was fine and It wasn't a bit cold. Without casting any insinuations, insinu-ations, we think that Bob's report was nearer the absolute truth. He s-aid that he turned blue with cold by just looking at the ocean. A soldier from the 222nd Field Artillery was drowned in Morro Bay last Sunday. The entire 40th Division had to see a film on "Sex Morality" shown a few days ago. The film was projected in the Division theatre, thea-tre, a tent over two hundred feet long and more than one hundred feet wide. Th army has the finest equipment and personnel in operation opera-tion against the social diseases. |
