O^acneU Hntoeraitjj ffiihrarg atttata, New ^ovtt _'P.u^Vli-5.H&.'r'.. Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030728863 F. A. C. O. T. S. THE STORY OF THE FIELD ARTILLERY CENTRAL OFFICERS TRAINING SCHOOL GAMP ZAGHARY TAYLOR, KEISfTUGKY BY RAYMOND WALTERS GEORGE PALMER PUTNAM JOHN KIRBY ARTHUR BAER HOMER DYE, jR. FORREST B. MYERS AND OTHERS UNI VI: t^:;l 1 Y Copyright, 1919 BY [ELD ARTILLERY CENTRAL OFFICERS TRAINING SCHOOL ASSOCIATION printeft bs Ube 1f!nicl!erbocfiei; prcee TTife book i^os prepared and published for the F. A. C. O. T. S. Association by its Editorial Committee. It is the property of the Associa- tion and is sold slightly above the actual cost of production. Such profits, if any, as may accrue Will go to the Association treasury. PREFACE rHE biggest university in the world." That is what we had at Camp Taylor. For F. A. C. O. T. S. contained more under^aduates than any other educational institution of record. Not "mail order" students, mind you, but actual resident workers. As to work—well, no one could put more mental and physical energy into twelve weeks than did each and every one of the embryo officers. As we remember, there wasn't much choice about that—it was work and make good, or quit. And there were mighty few quitters. F. A. C. O. T. S., with its record of large accomplishments, is an example of what America did, and can do again, in national emergency. And we beheve that all of us who had a share, however small, in the institu- tion's initial success, owe it to ourselves and to oiu* country to carry on its spirit and foster interest in all those things for which it stood. To do that is our duty and our pleasure. If the Call should come again—which God grant it may not—we, at least, shall be ready. And we shall do our share to keep the country ready. So much for the serious side. Who of us ever can forget the other side—the pleasurable memories of F. A. C. O. T. S., with its new friendships and fresh experiences. These, too, we would keep alive. As the years roll on, memories of the School, of what we did there and of the friends we made there, will be among our happiest. The purpose of this book is to preserve in tangible form something of all this, as well as to provide a con- venient roster of the alumni. In it we have tried to create a lasting and appropriate souvenir of the School, in keeping with what it meant to all of us, and with the service it rendered the nation. For the shortcomings of the volume we ask your indulgence. If it helps us to pull together for the best interests of our country and our service, to renew happy memories and to keep alive new friendships, it will have served its purpose. John Kikby, Gbobge Palmer PtJTNAM, Editorial Committee. FOREWORD is a sincere pleasure to contribute a foreword to " The Story of the Field Artillery Central OflScers Training ITSchool." The history of this institution is not, as we had earlier expected, a closed book. The School is to go on. It will have a changed scope and schedule. But it will continue the name and, I trust, the standards and traditions that were set in the eventful months of which this volume is so truthful and vivid a record. The appeal of this book should be a fairly general one. It certainly will interest serious students of mili- tary and patriotic affairs as one revelation of how the best of America's manhood came forward in the hour of the nation's need. The appeal will, of coiu-se, be most striking to our alumni body—the twenty thousand men who represent the splendid product of the F. A. C. O. T. S. You alumni who came to the School, I say frankly, were from the best of America's manhood. You gave everything you had, and you made good splendidly. Above all, you helped demonstrate that once America has time to catch her breath and properly organize, we can meet an emergency adequately. Above all, you showed that we can turn out officers who are a credit to the Flag and to our branch of the service. It was a large undertaking, to get under way an educational institution whose enrollment, in the sixth month of its existence, exceeded 14,000. And it is a satisfaction to testify that the measure of its success was very largely due to the fine spirit, keen intelligence, and indefatigable industry of the candidates. Without your grit and whole-souled enthusiasm we could never have made the start we did. As you know, I have from the first heartily approved the formation of the Alimmi Association. In all ways it is a thoroughly desirable undertaking, and the results already obtained are a source of keen satisfaction to all of us whose hearts were in the School work and whose hopes are for the adequate development and recogni- tion of Field Artillery. It is an appropriate tribute to the lasting spirit of the F. A. C. O. T. S. that the Association has started out so strongly. I sincerely hope that every alumnus will "stay with it, " and that those not already members will join. An organization of this character can be, and should be, a power for good in the nation as well as a source of individual pleasure to its members. The School, and those associated with it, are to be congratulated, I feel, upon the production of this book. I am sure that in years to come it will be a source of recurrent entertainment and interest to all of us, and a valued souvenir of a vital part of our experiences in the Great War. Abthxjb H. Carter, Colonel F. A. A MESSAGE TO MEMBERS OF THE F. A. C. O. T. S. ASSOCIATION by William J. Snow. Major General, F. A., Chief of Field Artillery t AHE office of the Chief of Fjeld Artillery was established February 10, 1918, and I assumed the duties of I the office the same day. During the ten months that had elapsed since the beginning of the War, condi- tions in the Field Artillery had become somewhat chaotic. This was a matter of more or less common knowledge. Investigation was at once begun by the Chief to determine the principal defects in the Field Artillery in order that suitable remedies might be applied and a comprehensive scheme of training devised and promulgated. Greneral and specific questions were sent out by the office to all centers of Artillery activity and the replies tabu- lated. From these replies, it became apparent that one of the greatest obstacles to progress lay in the general lack of training possessed by the officers. Instructors did not exist to an appreciable extent. It was a case of " the blind leading the blind. " After consideration of the whole question, a " General Scheme for Field Artillery Training both Commissioned and Enlisted" was prepared by the Chief of Field Artillery and presented to the Chief of Staff on March 27th. Among other important things, it was recommended in this scheme that a Central Officers Training Camp for candidate officers of the Field Artillery be opened and that the plan of training officer candidates in Divisional Camps be abandoned. Among the arguments set forth in this memorandmn were the following: "The advantages of this concentration over the present method of training and selection in the different Divisional Training Camps and the first two series of Officers Training Camps, are the following: " (a) It insures a uniformity in the preliminary training of officers not otherwise obtainable. " (b) It enables us to select men for commission according to one fixed standard, thereby securing both justice to the candidates and a imiform standard of fitness in the interests of the government. " (c) It economizes the number of necessary instructors. " (d) It economizes the amount of necessary material of all sorts, most of which is not now available at the Divisional Camps. " (e) From information at hand in this office it appears that the Field Artillery instruction in the present series of Training Camps has been conducted in almost every instance by a reserve officer, who has had practi- cally no experience other than that gained at a preceding training camp. The lack of equipment and the 9 " " : insufficient number of trained Field Artillery instructors at these preceding camps have in no way qualified the present instructors for their duties or heavy responsibilities. The results obtained have fallen far short of what might have been expected had these Schools been combined and the instruction coordinated under competent Field Artillery officers and also coordinated with the School of Fire. It must be borne in mind that the report of the Inspector General after his inspection of all Artillery Brigades has revealed a deplorable condition. It is, therefore, too much to expect that Schools conducted by instructor personnel drawn from these brigades could be productive of anything but mediocre results. Such a system is intolerable and if continued will result in each class of candidates being turned out more poorly equipped for the duties of Field Artillery officers than the one preceding.