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121  7  The Summons to War The year 1917 proved eventful for both the nation and Walter Bedell Smith. Relations between the United States and Germany worsened, and on 2 April President Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war. This struggle took on the pattern of previous American wars, as large numbers of citizen-soldiers inundated the tiny regular army. The size of the army stood at 127,151 men; the officer corps numbered 5,959. The War Department earmarked prewar officers for leadership and training duties. Platoon and company grade officers were chosen from National Guard cadre and other suitable young men from the general population, many of them “Plattsburg” men, products of the civilian military training camp movement. In the nineteen months the war lasted, the War Department trained 182,000 officers, at a rate of 30,000 in each threeweek cycle. By virtue of his “fine work during the flood” of 1913 and his proven leadership qualities as a noncommissioned officer, Hurt recommended Smith for a posting to one of the newly formed officer training schools.1 Beetle was part of the second series of reserve officer candidates processed through the system. For the twenty-one-year-old Smith, a commission represented the fulfillment of his childhood dream. AnotherofSmith’sambitionsflowered,perhapspromptedbytheromance of war. The Clines relented and gave their consent for Nory to marry. The hurried ceremony took place on 1 July 191 7. The honeymoon proved fleeting. Less than eight weeks after his marriage, Smith took the ten-mile trip out to Fort Benjamin Harrison, where he began his officer training course. You’re in the Army Now: Forts Harrison and Greene The youth of America responded to the call to arms. Fort Harrison came alive with the arrival of each succeeding wave of enthusiastic officer can- 122  BEETLE didates. The atmosphere of the training camps resembled a college campus the night before a big game. Upperclassmen or recent graduates of the nation’s colleges and universities composed the greater proportion of officer candidates. Here many old friends renewed acquaintances in a genuine spirit of collegiate camaraderie. No “college boy,” Smith’s anxiety eased with the knowledge that he possessed a service background and that his childhood friend Humphrey Harrington occupied the next bunk.2 The college atmosphere gave way to the rigors of army life. The urgent need to get on with the job animated the training camps. Fort Harrison was a permanent post, completed only in 1910. The Medical Corps occupied the bulk of the permanent buildings. Soldiers not billeted in the hastily constructed wooden barracks lived in sprouting tent cities. As the fair weather gave way to autumn chill, life in the camp became difficult.3 With time at a premium, little was wasted. Reveille sounded at 5:15 A.M., and the hectic pace of physical training, bayonet fighting, and field service maneuvers continued until ten at night. Harrison housed two camps, each organized as a provisional training regiment of nine infantry companies. Selected regular officers carried out training, with a captain assigned to each student company. Smith’s commanding officer, a hard-boiled regular named B. C. Lockwood, scared the young candidate “to death.”4 Beneath the captain served either a regular first lieutenant or one or more graduates of the preceding course. LT Charles L. Bolté, a “ninety day wonder” from the first batch, remembered that only with extreme difficulty did he keep ahead of his students. “When it came to teaching the .45 automatic pistol,” he recalled, “I had to sit up all night long with a manual just learning how you took it apart and put it together again so the next day I could sit down as if I knew all about it and try to teach this company how to do this very complicated task. It was a case of the blind leading the blind.”5 Training was elementary in nature, including close-order drill, weapons handling and marksmanship , and instruction in the conduct of scouting and patrolling. Its purpose was threefold: instill the essentials of military drill, harden the future officers physically, and exorcise the civilian in them. Too rudimentary , this officer training more closely resembled recruit training, lacking sufficient grounding in troop leading and tactical skills. To enhance competition, the army divided the camps chiefly along state lines: one consisted mostly of candidates from Indiana, the other largely of men from Kentucky. With no love lost between the two states, rivalry was intense...

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