WOMEN IN THE ARMY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 March 1943, Page 4

WOMEN IN THE ARMY

VARIED TRAINING COURSE FOR RECRUITS. INTERESTING EXPERIENCES. To a girl who joins the W.A.AC. to man anti-aircraft equipment, the crowning object is to be posted to a unit, but before she can achieve this she must spend several weeks in intensive training, during which she learns the mysteries of general soldiering, and how to become proficient in her specialised duties. The army realises how difficult the change from civilian to military life is for a recruit, and therefore does everything to make things as easy as possible. A recruit coming from another area to, say, Wellington, would travel in a party under the care of a non-commis-sioned officer, and would be met on arrival by a W.A.A.C. sergeant, with the imposing title of Railway Transport Officer. The party of somewhat apprehensive recruits is then packed into an army van and taken to the elementary training camp. Here, most of their fears are swept away by the very warm welcome they are given by those who, having now spent two or three weeks in camp, consider themselves old soldiers. The next step is the allotting of huts, each of which houses three. By the time all the personal belongings have been placed on the dressing table and the photographs on the walls, the recruit begins to feel very much more at home, and thinks perhaps this life is going to 'be as much fun as she had hoped ,after all. The rest of the week is spent in collecting clothes and equipment, receiving protective injections for all kinds of odd diseases, and settling in generally. The second week training really begins, and the recruit is introduced to many military subjects, which, up to then, have probably been only a name to her —map-reading, security, military etiquette and channels of communication are some. In keeping with the army's policy that a healthy body breeds a healthy mind, outdoor activities fill in several periods of the day. Chief among these is parade ground drill, because every soldier, whether male or female, must learn to march and obey orders instinctively. Physical training, under experienced instructors, is also daily routine. Gardening is another part of the syllabus ,and in the warm weather sea bathing parades, during which lifesaving drill is taught, are organised as often as possible. Lectures on first aid and sanitation are given by an army nurse, who is in charge of the health of those in camp. The food, which is cooked by the W.A.A.C. cooks in the large kitchen attached to the camp, is considered to be equal to that cooked in any camp in New Zealand. At the end of six weeks, the W.A.A.C., who, of course, can no longer be called a recruit, under normal circumstances is sent to an artillery school for training in radio-location or to an anti-aircraft battery for training on fire-control instruments. She new feels that her life in the army has really begun. But there remains a further six weeks of hard yet intensely interesting work ahead of her. At the end of this time the W.A.A.C. (officially a gunner now) takes her place either in the plotting room, at the identification telescope, the height-finder, the predictor, or on the radio location sets. At last she is a real soldier! The weeks behind her, besides training her to take her part in this vital arm of defence, have taught her much in the way of self-discipline and comradeship, and have made her fitter in mind and body for the job she has to undertake.