MOBILISATION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 257, 18 July 1918, Page 6

MOBILISATION

; SOLDIERS IN THE MAKING

; THE RAW MATERIAL OF THE ARMY

' The concentration,' of a draft of re- ; oruits long ago ceased to attract much ! public attention in this country, though the monthly movement of men to the

I camps remains an event of very great ! importance to tho pcoplo immediately i concerned. The recruits,'volunteers and !■. balloted men, report themselves on the ; appointed day. at tho Headquarters of j their .group. They rocoive their first introduction to military life from tho group commander, and they, proceed thon i by road, steamer, and train to the camps, ■ . The Wellington City recruits for the .Forty-fourth Reinforcements concen- ;• trated at the Bucklo Street Barracks yes- ' • terday afternoon, nnd will go, to Trentham early this morning. ; Tho .recruit.is, technically a soldier j: from the time, lie takes the oath prior to being medically examined. He re- : oeives .his first day's, pay . when tho ; , medical board has dono with him—what- ! ever the verdict of tho doctors has been. But he dies not Tcally feel that he has become a unit of the Anny until tho • hour of mobilisation, when he stands in ■' a. line with a few-score other civilians

nnd answers his name when it is shouted ! by an entirely impersonal sergeant-major. | He gets his first taste of military, discipline then, as he waits to be told what 1 he is to do next.

■ Very often the, recruit does not wait patiently. He wonders why the process of getting him into camp nnd uniform does not proceed more rapidly. He is disposed to push forward and ask questions. ' There is no to his endeavouring to "get/ a move on," but presently ho will notice, if ho is a wiso man, that the few old hands, in the draft nre just waiting. They know that the machine is running nnd will pick them up in due course, and that in the meantime the mere recruit need not seek for information or mako suggestions. There are in every recruits' draft a certain

I ; liumber of men who have belated requests to make. They want a littlo. more leave, or advico about something they should lljve attended to long before, or some : concession.that they consider justified by ■ their special circumstances.'' 'i'hey'cwi ' wait.also., Thsy will be told when their S .opportunity comes to' mako their v»-

| -quests. ! V;, The,task of a group commander on the ; (lay of mobilisation is to get his nien Btar'ted for camp contented; properly iiiformed, and in full number. He must be an. officer of experience. He must be able to distinguish the legitimate request from the mere "try on,' 1 and tUo / > real case of hardship from tho attempt ' to shirk. - E. 9 must be ready to decide ■ offhand more or. less knotty points of military law and procedure. He must not mind being talked to familiarly and

oven indignantly by men who a few weeks ' later will stand rigid to attention in hia : i presence,"and at the same time he must .' make it quite clear to the recruits that they are soldiers "amenable'to military . discipline. He must give : orders- that ' ivill.be obeyed without--expecting the discipline that the"; men have still to acquire. Be is helped by the presence ■ in every draft of a certain number of ! i'nen who havo had training in the Terrii . torial Army and . other military forces. _' The group commander, having got his draft into - some semblance of formation, '. proceeds to give the men a little advice nnd information. ' He tells them that i they are now- soldiers, and that they are going to camp, like many thousands _ of •'. men before ..them, to receive the training they require to become efficient fighters. He assures them that he hns absolutely nothing to do with tho allocation of re- : cruits to the various branches of the ser- ■ rice. All recruits are attested for general service, and the selection of men for artillery, .armyservice, mounted | rifles, and so'ftirth is made in the camps. He knows that most of the men ' before ' him have expressed a preference for some arm other than infantry, but he is too 1 -tactful to explain bluntly that nine out i 1 of ten of them are destined to be "foot ! sloggers." He may hint at the advis- ; .ability of entering camp with, a clear | head on the following morniug, and ho ■ will advise cautious souls who have conie provided with portmanteaux nnd other bulky luggage to send it'-home again. ■ ,The recruit needs to tnke into camp his shaving gear, soap, tooth-brush; and boot--1 brush. These articles can be wrapped in paper and put into Any ; othor impedimenta will spell vexation of boul later on. . ■ " 'L'hc first formal parade over, the iceruits usually, get leave for a-few hours or for a night. Some of them go home, i Others do not. They are a quiet (if men as a-rulo, for-they are in strange . surroundings. _ They have ceased to bo ; irresponsible civilians, but they are nut .vet full-fledged soldiers.' They exchange views rather cautiously, for each man has' a notion that his neighbour"; may j know a little more about the new life ! than he does, and fears to' betray ignor-. ]fiticc. . They condemn military fashions quite roundly at times, but the.v do not disguise a 6ense of elation at being at last members of the Army that has absorbed the very pick of 'the nation's i manhood. They have begim to absorb the spirit,of coinradcshigthat will eni - Rblo them to grin a few hours later ; when they tramp in civilian lintidyness through the camp, amidst the jeers and . ironical applauso of real soldiers, who, 'by virtue of a month or two's training, regard the mere recruit with kindly con- ; tempt.