FOREV.AHD
In casting about for a subject upon wMch to write this
non-technical thesis my interest quite naturally turned to some
current topic, in these days of our national emergency, with
our recent selective service act, the interest of the entire
country is nov- upon civilian military training . ^ecause of ray
own interest In military training and because this subject is so
current, j. have chosen this topic for my thesis.
civilian military training is the process of taking
civilians from private life and giving them military training in
the army for a certain predetermined period and then returning
them to their private life. xhe onjeet of this training is to
form a nucleus of men in private industry with military training
who may, if the emergency occurs, form the basis of an enlarged
standing army. This training is not to make: soldiers of ell of
our male citizens but to make citizens of all of our males,
.these citizens are thus prepared to defend our country and its
ideals If the ocoasion should warrant.
citizens* military training camps, v.M.T.C, h'-ive been
abolished under the new selective service act^ but the training
received in the u.M.T.C. corresponds, to a certain extent, to
that received by the present drafted men, ihus, ± will try to
give in this thesis some experiences as received by a person
during six weeks training under the civilien military training
program.
This thesis is written to show the type of training
received by a trainee under the civilian military training
program. ,.hile the training as described in this paper is not
the same as that received under the present selective service
act, it will , j. am sure, closely correspond to the present
type of training, xhis paper deals with the training under
the citizens 4 Military j. raining uamps program.
xhe theme illustrates the activities of the trainee
from the first day of camp until his final test. j.hat test
consists of the application of all the principles learned during
the camp period, in the case of the coastal artillery camp,
this test consists of the actual firing of the 155- m il Ureter
field guns at a moving target six miles av/ay, j.he theme follows
the trainee through the work and play that he receives during
a typical dey at camp.
ihis thesis, in general, is a non-technical history
of the oitizens* military i raining uamp at j?ort iwonroe, Virginia,
from july 7 to august 5, 1937*
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uITIZENtJ 1 MILITARY iBAlNiNu uAMP
AT lrORTHESS MONhOE, VIRGINIA
jtuly 7 TO AUuUtoT 5, 1937
While a student in the nigh oohool oadet Corps, i first
became interested in the study of military science as a profes-
sion. In my senior year of high school, while a cadet lieutenant
in the corps of cadets, my interest in military training reached
a new peak, xhus it was only naturtl upon graduation from high
school, that I began to look about for further experience and
knowledge in military training. ±t was at this time that the
oitizens ; Military .training oamps program was first brought to
my attention, j. immediately made application for ooast artillery
training at jort Monroe, Virginia. My application was accepted,
and i received orders to report for training in the second
year course at jiort Monroe on the morning of july 7»
un the evening of July b, a went aboard the jNorfork-
«ashington steamer to start my journey to camp, jifter a plea sent
trip down the xotomac niver and across the ohesapeake ^ay during
the night, at which time ± met many of the boys who were to be
future trainees like myself, I arrived at ^ort Monroe at six
o'olock the next morning, iwy first impression of xort Monroe
was its beauty.
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rort Monroe, Virginia, is situated on the ohesapeak cay
and commands the entrance to hampton Koads, l*he fort was
named after James Monroe, who was r resident of the united states
when it was commenced, uuring the uivil ,.ar, the rost was
garrisoned by one regiment of heavy artillery which participated
in and witnessed the fight between the ''Monitor" and the
"Merrimac". A he jort itself is built in the shape of a hexagon
surrounded by a moat, xort ivuonroe is today, without exception,
the most beautiful army post in the united States.
After this initial birds-eye view of the fortress, I
left the steamer, xtt the dock, the trainees were met by our
future officjters and placed, with pur lugjage, in army trucks,
xhe trucks transported us to our camp. Immediately upon our
arrival at camp, we were told to go to the mess-hall, nere we
received
,\our first taste of army food in the form of breakfast. n.t this
time let me state that although the army expects and gets hard
work from its men, it feeds the men well at all tines, curing
my stay at xort monroe and als enuring my training at the
K.O.l'.U. oamp at i-ort weade, Maryland, i have yet to find the
time that x was not given more food than i could eat. v.hile I
1- jrom "information negarding u.M.T.C. in the xhird
i^orps Area* 1937 .
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cannot say that every meal received in an army mess-hall was
excellent, because a f e*. , although only a few, were bad; there
v;as always more than enough to satisfy everyone, anyone that
is stationed at an army camp under peace time conditions will,
i believe, find himself well fed and well clothed.
iifter breekfast, the men were told to report to the
commanding officer and present their credentials. ,,hen these
formalities were completed, we were sent to the infirmary for a
physical examination, jtll those who were found to be physically
fit were assigned to their barracks. and told to draw their
bedding, clothing, and equipment. There were two hundred and
twenty-five men received at oamp and a picture of the barracks
that housed these men is shown below.
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xhe equipment issued to the trainees consisted of the
following:
Three woolen snirts, olive drab
Two pairs of breeches, olive drab
une pair of woolen trousers, olive drab
oix pair of woolen sox
two pair of service shoes
une pair of woolen wrap legglns
une denim jumper
une pair of denim trousers
une denim hat
une campaign hat with u.m.t.G. cord
une raincoat
une black necktie
une web waistbelt
two sheets and one pillow case
Two blankets iwool)
One meat oan
une canteen and one aluminum canteen cup
une canteen cover
une knife, one fork, anc one spoon
une cartridge belt
une first aid pouch
une field pac<t: with shelter tent equipment
one opringf ield 30-cal. , model 1903 service rifle
.& picture showing the drill
uniform witnout the field
equipment is shown at right.
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nftev the equipment had been issued, the men returned
to the barracks. jL.he bedstyere made up and the barracks were
policed. ihen all cililian clothes vere turned in and placed
under lock and key. ..hen the cililian clothes had once been
turned in, they could not be drev.n again until the next week-end
leave. , the soldiers were forced to remain in uniform
were
at all times while they h within the camp area.
jjy the time these duties had been performed, the morning
was over. *t 12:1s dinner was served in the mess hall, "phe
afternoon was spent cleaning rifles for inspection at the
retreat formation that evening. ,.-hen all the assigned work was
completed, the men were permitted to loaf about or explore the
lost. «fter supper and the retreat formation werelgver that
evening, a xired grotty of men retired to the barracks to either
go to sleep or enter whole-heartedly in one of the many bull
sessions or card games in progress, .this completed the first
day of camp.
xhe remainder of the first week of camp was spent in
lectures, simple drill instruction, and\the general accustoming
of the men to the standardjcamp routine.
saving given an account of the trainees' first day in
camp, j. will next try to give a description of a typical day at
camp. j.he men were awakened at 5 ; 4S in the morning by the sound
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or the bugle, .at six o'clock the companies v^ere formed to stand
the reveille formation, -after reveille, the companies were
marched to the drill ground by the sea-wall for the morning
exercised. .hen these mass exercises were over, the men were
marched back to the barracks to prepare themselves for breakfast.
Breakfast formation was held at 0:30. ^fter breakfast the
barracks and cemp area were policed up. ^t 7^30 drill call was
sounded, the companies were formed, and the men marched to the
parade ground for close order drill. A his close order infantry-
drill was held from 7*3^ ^° ^:15» whereon the men were taken to
the baseball stands to listen to lectures, i'rom 8: IS to 8:45
the officers of the camp gave lectures to the men seated in the
stands, xhese leotures varied from day to day. xhe topics
covered were; first aid, hygiene, citizenship, military and civil
courtesy, and ..merican history and government.
jit 8:45 "the infantry drill uas resumed, Brill, this
time, lasted until 9i^0 t when the companies were marohed back to
the barracks. j.he men, then, changed from their drill uniforms
into the blue denims, un a bugle call at 10;00 a.m. the
companies again formed in the "company street". ^ train nick-
n .med the "general xershing" then steamed up the street, and the
men boarded the train. ^he train took the companies to the upper
end of the Post where the field guns were located. These field
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guns t.iat were used by the wM.t.u. were 155 -mi 11 ime tor, mobile
field artillery pieces set in place with their spades fastened
to concrete footings. ±n this manner they were considered
stationary coastal guns. j.wo pictures of these 155-millimeter
guns are shown below.
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ithi le at the guns we v<ere given instruction and
experience in their use. xhe instruction on the 155 * s W6S
divided into two sections, ^attery V would receive theoretical
instruction about the guns while ^ttery V was having drill with
dummy ammunition. j.he theoretical instruction consisted of the
nomenclature of the piece, the fire power and rate of fire,
principles of operation, and range finding and spotting principles
and execution, i.e. all data pertaining to the use and operation
of the gun. ±he drill with dummy ammunition consisted of practice
in the art of loading and firing the piece. *.fter forty-five
minutes the two batteries would exchange instruction, ^.t 1?;00
noon all men would return to t^e barracks to prepare for mess.
mess call was sounded at 12. 15. ,-ifter dinner, the after-
noon program was varied from day to day. Some days the afternoon
was devoted to supervised athletics, such as, swimming, boxing
and wrestling, baseball, volley-ball, track, and tennis, ^ther
days field trips were taken. Some of these trips were taken to;
iorktown, to view the historical points of interest; .Langley
xield, to see the air force in operation and iti= planes and shops;
Newport mews ohipbuilding and ^rydock xards, to see the construc-
tion and maintenance of large naval and private ships, un
several afternoon^ trips were made to the nearby beaches for
amusement and pleasure or fishing trips were made on the bay.
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In order to show that all afternoons were not made for play, the
men were required to work on some of the afternoon periods. This
work consisted of demonstration and instruction in chemieel
warfare Service, signal ^orps , urdnance, transportation, and
other divisions of the united states military service.
Retreat formation and inspection concluded the actual
work for the day. ahen supper wa&. over, the men could do as they
pleased around the j-o&t. j^and concerts, movies, letter writting,
table tennis, pool, and just plain relaxation constituted the
principal forms of amusement indulged in by the boys during the
evenings, .every ^riday night, a dance wt?s held for the trainees,
to which girls from the surrounding sections were invited,
Dinally, heavy sleep completed the day-s activity.
naving given a report of the activities of a trainee
in the u.m.t.u. at j?ort Monroe for a typical day, I will add
that the greatest thrill at camp occured when we firedjthe 155"
millimeter guns. The trainees were permitted to fire live
ammunition with the guns, .these men, with their officers, col-
lected, computed and posted all fire deta. ± will not attempt
to explain how the range and elevation were obtained. A de-
scription of the operation of the base end stations to find two
angles and a known distance so that the exact position of the
target may be plotted, would require too much s^ace for this
theme, j. will state that from the data received from the base
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end stations the position of the target was plotted in the plot-
ting car. Here the range and deflection were determined to the
position that the target would occupy at the time the shell
was fired and reached its objective. A he factors taken into con-
sideration were; wind velocity, speed of target, rotation of the
earth, deflection caused by the spinning of the projectile, and
the size of powder charge used. j.he elevation and deflection
datae{were phoned to. the firing point five seconds before the
signal to fire. j.he sights were set and the command to fire was
given on the all clear signal. ±he projectile was sent on its
journey six miles across the bay toward the target, ^attery "A"
received the distinguished honor of having four "hits" out of
six rounds, j.hus, it may be seen that a well coordinated gun
crew may be put together, and with about a months training it
is prepared to render acceptible service to our country if needed,
a picture is shown on the next page of a gun crew in
action during the aotual firing of the 155~mi].liEi e ter guns.
j.he picture was taken Just as the breech was opened after the
firing of one round of ammunition.
xt has been the purpose of this paper to give the
civilian in private life a small insight into army life, ihus ,
he may, if called into active service under the selective service
act, have a slight knowledge of what to expect from the army and
what the army may expect from him. I have tried to show that
^^
m
i
m * j i %t i ,>.» * 2&*^i
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a civilian if given the proper training can be of just as much
value to his country in its defense as the so-called professional
soldier, .^stly, x have tried to develop within the civilian
a keener and more profound interest in the military service. It
is not my desire to cause everyone to take some type of military
training, but to give him a higher opinion of those men who
receive this training, x hope that this theme will in some
small way accomplish these purposes.
J.HE UlxlWiUMb* Mli^LxAKI iitiU.ru JNU- <uASAF
AT JfOtt'i'ilKfaa MOWKuii;, VlitUXNlii.
jui,x 7 lo Auuuia-i- 5, 1937
November 2d, 1940
xHJS QlTHUmS' Mi.i.lxJittl xHAllMUNu oARP
AT IfUKXiUibt! MO^tfUii, VlitbrlWXA
JUi-X 7 ^ AUuUisX 5> !937
jmov ember 2d, 1940
Open Library
