Trench: Play by Play

In a letter you asked me for stories – one you mentioned was experience sin Boot Camp. Here goes. First the term Boot Camp is applied and used by the U S Marine Corps. In the Army we use the term “basic Training” but it is the same thing – very intensive training for those newly in the service.

There are the usual “experiences” like marching everywhere you went. Even marching from the barracks to the mess hall for a meal. There were no casual saundering over to the mess hall. It was marching! GOOD PRACTICE? Yes!

But now for an “always will remember” experience.

Look at the sketch. On the left you will see a trench. That is where you start from. Crawl up out of that trench and flat on your stomach crawl to your right until you come to and drop down into the trench on the right.

From that machine gun there are real bullets flying over your head. There is eighteen inches between the ground and those bullets. That is the space you have to crawl in.

There is a safety feature. There is a block below the machine gun prohibiting it from firing below that 18” level. You are safe as long as you do not stand up from that 18” space. But you do have the experience of live bullets flying just over your head.

Bullets are sometimes called “rounds”. Sometimes called “shells”.

The machine gun can fire a single round or a “burst” of several. A small burset is three or four rounds in rapid (non-stop) succession. Then there is a medium burst of ten or eleven rounds. And a long burst is 20 or 25 rounds. This rapid firing heats up the barrel of the machine gun and unless it is cooled it will warp and become useless. So there is a “jacket” around the barrel. This jacket is filled with water and acts as a cooling agent for the barrel.

The machine gun is mounted on three legs and can traverse 360 degrees.

How far do you crawl? Good question. The first time was at Fort Washington (along the Potomac River) in the summer of 1937 when I was between my Junior and Senior years at Penn State. We were in the ROTC Summer Training Program. As Cadets we crawled one hundred feet.

The next time was as a Lieutenant at Fort Benning, GA when I led fifty soldiers out of the trench and crawled 150’. The next time was at Camp McCoy, WI when as a Captain I led 200 soldiers out of the trench and crawled 200’. A football field is 300’ long so you get an idea of length.

YOU REALLY HAVE TO LAY FLAT ON the ground!!

During the Fort Benning and Camp McCoy crawls we did it twice. The first time was as I have described. The second time was similar except that our arms were extended in front of us as we crawled and had a rifle cupped inside the elbows. Thus we crawled but had a rifle with us.

Change the subject.

A lot of “training” becomes routine. Map reading. Rifle practice. Mortar range. Anti Tank Gun Firing. Calisthenics. Marches. Night patrols. Etc, etc. And it is all valuable. The above becomes very real as live bullets fly over your head. You don’t forget.