MILITARY WORK IN AMERICA

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21414, 5 March 1935, Page 10

MILITARY WORK IN AMERICA

Officers Trained In Universities ARMY CONTROL OF SINGLE UNEMPLOYED [THE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, March 4. Military training in the United States has been spread to include a large proportion of the population, with all secondary school boys and many of the single unemployed, according to a description given by Mr A. J. Everett, who arrived at Wellington by the Maunganui to-day after a nine months' visit to North America and South America. Mr Everett was born in New Zealand

and lives in Australia. Pie was commissioned in Australia as a lieutenant. He is an employee in Alberts, Ltd., the Sydney music publishing house. He left for America with about three objects in mind—to take a course in military training, to investigate the musical field, and to "do some knocking about." To-day he was enthusiastic over his success in all three. He came off the Maunganui wearing on his lapel a badge that is now known in New Zealand, a contained the letters "U.C.," meaning "University of California," and over them "R.0.T.C," or Reserve Officers' Training Corps. He was issued with it at' the university when he joined the military school there. With his previous training in Australia, he was able to finish the third-year and fourth-year general courses at the school in nine months. Full-Time Training "With others in the school, I was doing full-time training; but I found that all the other students have a great deal of compulsory military training to do as well as their other studies," he said. "When they leave the university they are really potential officers, and they all have to join the Reserve Officers' Training Corps then to keep up their connexion with the military organisation. At the university, they have military instruction every day, and at the end of the year they are examined in it just as in any other course. Students learn technique in ma-chine-guns, poison gas, map reading, and so on, together with general field tactics. Also they have a weekly parade. "Compulsory Training" "I understand that the students in all the colleges and high schools also have compulsory training. At the end of it each joins the Reserve Officers' Training Corps as a sort of junior lieutenant." Mr Everett added that he also went through one of the many citizens' concentration camps (C.C.C.), where unemployed single men are organised in scrub cutting and similar jobs under military control. Some of the officers were members of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps, and others were sergeants and officers from the permanent staff. All wore their regular uniforms. The men themselves wore an informal type of uniform with forage caps. He said that at the time he was there they were paid 25 dollars a week and keep, and their term in camps was usually six months at a time.