Fort Snelling Recruiting Campaign Produces W Record-Breaking Figures HEN the Seventh Corps Area Training Center was established at Fort Snelling, Minn., the Third Infantry was made the raining regiment with an authorized strength of 555 enlisted men. When War Department orders converted the training center regiment into a combat regiment, its authorized strength bec: me at once 1150 enlisted men. In order to bring the Third Infantry to its authorized strength as a combat regiment, Col. A. W. Bjornstad. Commanding Officer of that regiment and of Fort Snelling, instituted an intensive organization recru'ting campaign. The results and progressive increase of enlistments in this drive are as follows: 1st to 11th to 21st to Total June 1922 38 41 July, 1922 17 (7 77 Oct., 192 42 74 193 Nov., 1922 113 108 ༤༡ 310 Aggregate for six (6) mo.... .989 Captain Paul Steele, Third Infantry, Recruiting Officer at Fort Snelling, Minn., has furnished an article explaining in detail the procedure in perfecting the recruiting organization and in carrying on the Third Infantry recruiting campaign. His story is quoted below: “1. In organizing for this campaign we collected maps of all the states in the Seventh Corps Area and of Wisconsin also, and grouped into recruiting areas all towns and cities of importance, taking into consideration the matter of transportation of the parties within those areas. These areas were then assigned to various organizations of the Third Infantry. "2. The recruiting department then secured all available information possible regarding the commercial activities in each area. This information came from personal interviews with railroad officials, employment agencies, letters from chambers of commerce and from manufacturing concerns that had factories in the towns within these areas. "3. The Third Infantry is very fortunate to have been stationed here several years ago and has within the Seventh Corps Area at present about 300 old Third Infantry men. Letters were prepared and sent to these men asking them to assist our recruiting parties when they arrived in their localities and if they knew of any men who would make Third Infautrymen to bring them around to the Recruiting Officer when he arrived. Our recruiting party was also instructed to visit this man when ti ey arrived in that cwn and to be prepared to discuss the past history of the Third Infantry with this man. Letters were also prepared and sent to all Regular Army officers on duty with the National Guard, R. O. T. C. and Organized Reserves, requesting their assistance when possibie. Reserve Officers were sent letters of like nature. "4. The post printing shop was then directed to prepare publicity matter which pertained to the Third Infantry only and to Fort Snelling as the home of the Third. The illustrations and cuts for this were secured in the following manner : "(a) Each organization was requested to have made and pay for one cut which would advertise that organization. "(b) The athletic department submitted cuts of the athletic teams in recent sports promoted in the post. "5. By making this advertising matter represent the Third Infantry alone, it gave the recruiters a sample of the work they were trying to sell and eliminated outside service. "6. In addition to this our photographic section made photographs of special parts of the post and pictures of the regiment in training and these were displayed by recruiting parties. "7. Before the parties left the post a recruiting school was inaugurated and all men required to attend had been recommended by their organization commanders as recruiters. This school instructed the men in the following: "(a) How to approach men on the street. "(b) Selling the Third Infantry to applicants. "(c) General education on the history of the regiment and all special features of advantage for a soldier at Fort Snelling. "(d) Methods on how to combat men who desire to criticize the Army. "(e) Requirements of a recruiter such as personal appearance, duties while on recruiting, etc. "(f) Preparation of enlistment records, etc. "8. In order to get competitior among the companies, the following methods were used: "(a) Parties were notified when they left that they would be recalled as soon as they had their organization filled. "(b) A daily report showing the strength of the organization was sent to each party each night by the headquarters of the recruiting detachment. "(c) A weekly bulletin showing the individuals with their standing as to applicants enlisted was published and sent out to all parties. "(d) Anything special which might occur in the post was sent to all parties in writing in order they would have the latest news. "9. The last but the most important feature of the drive is a daily check of all canvassers by the recruiting officers with the party and a daily report submitted to these headquarters. This enabled these headquarters to pick out men who did not produce and request a special report of their commanding officers why they were not getting recruits and recommendations as to whether or not these men should be relieved and live recruiters placed in their positions." No More Army Eliminations. Officers of the army who have been on the anxious bench on account of wholesale reductions being made in the commissioned personnel need have no further cause for worry. Secretary Weeks said recently that the work of discharging and demoting officers has been completed. The number dropped from the army is 1,003, and the number reduced in ranks is 855. Officers between the grades of Colonel and Second Lieutenant were affected. These eliminations and reductions in rank were directed by law to make the commissioned personnel conform proportionately to the reduction in the enlisted strength of the army. Through an error in the original enactment the number of eliminations and reductions would have been 2,700, but this was corrected by Congress. Each officer dropped from the service received one year's pay. No reflection on any of the officers dropped or reduced in rank was carried by the action of the War Department. Army Air Officer On Leave Kills Lion With Bow and Arrow. A mountain lion killed with a bow and arrow in the highlands of Humboldt County, Cal., has been added to the trophies of his archer hunting by Captain Cassius H. Styles of South Hero, Vt, an army air officer, now on leave of absence from Mitchel Field. In a letter to his father-in-law, Lincoln C. Cummings of Brookline, made public today, Captain Styles said that the animal was a big one and that his arrow pierced the heart. Fighting Parsons' Club in Boston. Clergymen of Boston and vicinity have a Fighting Parsons Club. At first the membership was limited to those who participated in the Civil War but recently it has been expanded to include veterans of the Spanish-American War and the World War. These militant ecclesiastics have an occasional get-together where continued interest in the military service is manifest. Chaplains Attend Convention. Chaplain Evan W. Scott, U. S. Navy, and Chaplain Axton, Chief of Chaplains, U. S. A, attended the Forty-first International Convention of the North American Young Men's Christian Associations at Atlantic City, N. J., November 1419, 1922, as guests of the convention. Both participated in group conferences of those especially interested in the Army and Navy Department of the Association. Renewed assurance was given of hearty co-operation in those projects which contribute to the contentment of men in the service, special stress being given the religious program as the most vital factor in making men strong, manly and courageous. 94th Division Makes Progress. The organization of the 94th Division at Boston, Mass., is progressing very rapidly and it will be only a short time before the assignment of all commissioned personnel has been completed. The War Department has recently authorized instruments and uniforms necessary for one complete band to each Infantry Division. Fort Benning is Fine Station Says Soldier to Recruiting Sergeant. Sergeant Aaron M. Winn, in charge of the recruiting station a Columbus, Georgia, has received the following letter from a grateful reIcruit whom he enlisted: Fort Benning, Ga. Hello there. Sergeant: How are the recruits coming now? Bet they have been keeping you busy for the last six or eight months since I had my papers made out. Just thought that I would write to you and let you know how I am getting along and give you a little idea of what a fine place this is. After three weeks of intensive drill and other instructions. I was put on a soldier's regular routine of duty, which is a pleasure at this place. To make a long story short I am now a corporal, -the paymaster hands me forty-two bucks a month. As you know I also I get my board, cloths, medical and dental work free. Figure it all up and you will see that you would have to make five bucks a day on the outside to compete with my Army pay. That ought to be a good encouragement to any recruit or prospect, don't you think? To my way of thinking, the Army is one of the best places in the world for a man to be. Take it from me I have been treated white since I enlisted in the Army and I can honestly tell anyone that I like it, and would encourage every young man to put in some length of time in the Army. This is a fine place to spend your idle time. You don't have to go to Columbus or any other place to find recreation, for we have ninety thousand acres of land to hunt and fish on. You can hunt rabbits, squirrels, quail, pecans or wild cats. just as you like, for you can find them all here at Fort Benning. Well, it is about chow time now, Sergeant, and you know what an important thing that is, so will close, hoping to hear from you right away, Yours, John W. Hill, Co. B, 29th Inf., Girl Dressed in Garb of Man Tries to Enlist in Army. Descriptions of the palms in Panama and Waikiki Beach in Hawaii, on the army poster boards on the Rochester streets, proved to be so attractive to Mildred Simmons, of Buffalo, that she tried to enlist, disguised as a man, and almost caused her sweetheart, Thomas Dangler, of Erie, Pa., to enlist with her. Sergeant M. P. Frazer of the recruiting station became suspicious of the two would-be recruits when they began to plead with him, after he had told the girl that she did not weigh enough. Sergeant Frazer was sitting at his desk smoking when the two entered the office, Dangler ahead of his companion, both clad in overcoats, collars turned up, and caps. "We want to go to Hawaii or Parama," said Dangler. The sergeant surveyed the two "Well," he said to Dangler, a tall awkward youth of 22, "I guess you'll pass all right. I don't know about you, though," he said to Dangler's companion, "you look pretty light. Come over here to the scales and let's see what you weigh." "I don't want to go unless shhe can, too," said Dangler. "We want to go together." "I see," grunted Sergeant Frazer, as he arranged the weights. Overcoat and all, Dangler's companion lacked twenty pounds of the required weight. "I can't take you, you're much too light," said the sergeant. Pleadings followed, pleadings so sincere, that Sergeant Frazer became suspicious of the two. Leaning back in his chair he gazed at the underweight applicant for half a minute without speaking. "What do you want to join the army for," he finally asked, "you, a woman?" The two stood speechless and bewildered. Dangler's companion moved toward the door, but Dangler, who seemed to be glad that he would not have to join, called "him" back. "The Sergeant won't do anything about it," he said. "You They were not Arthur Johnson and James Sawyer, of Rochester, as they had told the sergeant. They were Mildred Simmons, of Buffalo, and Thomas Dangler, of Erie, Pa. Miss Simmons felt in an adventurous mood, according to Dangler, and happening to notice some of the attractive army posters on the streets, had suggested to him that they both join the army. Dangler said that he had protested at first. "She urged me and urged me," he said, "and said that I didn't have any nerve. Finally she promised she would marry me when we got to Hawaii, and then I gave in." The two had finished their confession, so they turned and left the office. Down the steps to the first floor of City Hall annex they went, and into a small car standing in Exchange street. Dangler stopped then, and asked Miss Simmons a question. Evidently he was urging her to marry him, anyway, without making him enlist in the Army.-Rochester Post Express. No Place For A Hero. It was on the second of the G. H. Q. spring tours for newspapermen in the A. E. F., that the newlymade second lieutenant dropped in at a barber's in Coblenz for a shave. The barber, a huge, cropheaded, truculent looking boche, spoke English fluently, and during the lathering process discoursed freely to his Yank customer on his four years' service at the front, where, it appeared, he had been one of the main props of the Hindenburg line. Germany was far from beaten when the armistice was signed, he insisted, getting quite excited about it and fighting most of the war over again. He stropped a razor, muttering gutterals, and approached the chair with the reminiscent fighting gleam still in his eye. He laid the gleaming razor lightly on the lieutenant's throat. "Were you at the front?" he growled. "No," said the lieutenant truthfully. The shave was a fair one |