Page:The history and achievements of the Fort Sheridan officers' training camps.djvu/19

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��RIENDSHIP and Necessity were the parents of the Fort Sheridan Asso- ciation. Long before the actual organization was born and given a name, the way was being prepared.

��The Spring of 1917 brought to Fort Sheridan thousands of men w^ho had much in common. They had not waited. They had all stepped out of business, professions, colleges, and placed themselves at the disposal of the Government. They differed a great deal in age, ability, experience, and in other respects, but w^hen they were packed away in the barracks at night or marched away on a hike by day, the past w^as erased and men w^ere measured w^ithin the companies by w^hat they had in their personalities, not by what the outside civilian said of them.

Never were men subjected to a more careful personal scrutiny than in these companies. Corporal Common Sense or General Ridicule w^arned each candidate daily against depending for his position upon something that his family had done or he had accomplished before enlisting.

It was a wholesome atmosphere. Men tried to win respect by doing their best and show^ing their strongest side, realizing that progress and oppor- tunity depended largely upon the good will of their associates.

In these close associations, men came to know each other. They found out some of the difficulties that lay behind the daily routine. They rubbed elbows, not merely on the march, but in some of the quiet hours w^hen they visited w^ith their "bunkies."

Here is one illustration there were hundreds more. Two men bunked

side by side one, a carpenter by trade, came from a small village up North;

the other, a leading young business man, from a large city. As they worked together a real friendship developed and a mutual understanding.

In the course of their training the business man learned a great deal from the carpenter, who had military experience and real qualities of leadership, and the carpenter was never too tired to explain everything to him. Both w^ere reticent about their personal affairs, but one night the business man knew^ that his "bunkie" was in trouble. The carpenter rolled sleeplessly on his cot. Early the next morning the business man took him aside and made him explain. This was what he found out:

The carpenter had left a sickly wife and two children at home in order to come to Fort Sheridan. His wife had been in the hospital. One of the children w^as sick and funds were exhausted. The paltry $ 1 00 a month which the candidate received, without an allowance of quarters of the family, w^ould not meet his obligations. He must resign.

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