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Officers' Club
McCommons Bushnell Krause Williams Seidel Sukovaty Rohwer Rogers
Ford Hooper Barrett Folds Dietz Reed Hopkins Thomson Long Jones (C.)
Graham Richmond Bryans Johnson Brenker Herrmann Kunkel Thomas Havens McShane Starboard Thompson
Jeffrey Cotter Jenkins Roberts Kelly Allen Urbach Jones (P.)
Although many men have left school on account of the war, after having registered and attended for a time, and many more have not come to the University this year who would have done so had our country not become engaged in the European struggle, nevertheless a large freshman class and a very small number of reprieves from drill this year have caused the Military Department to have an enrollment larger than usual even before the war commenced. In overcoming the difficulties encountered at the first of the year the Military Department has had to begin work with a doleful lack of trained men whom it could use to drill the "rookies," and it has had to work under the disadvantage of having only an acting commandant for the first few months, who, being a member of the faculty and acting head of another department, could only give the Military Department a portion of his time. Temporary appointments were necessitated in the regiment until the new commandant arrived and made permanent ones. No suits were procurable until the last week of the first semester, which fact certainly would have marred the efficiency of the training very much in former years, and did make the work this year a little less effective than it might have been.
The spirit which the officers and men have shown in their drilling this year, however, has overcome many obstacles and has made "drill" a great deal more attractive to those required to take it than it has been in former years.
Evidence of the sort of spirit which has held sway in the ranks of the drillers is found in the manner in which they have responded to such special calls as those to turn out to escort several large groups of men of the selective draft who stopped over in Lincoln en route to Funston, to aid in the military funeral escort of the first University soldier to die in the service of Uncle Sam, and to participate in the big Third Liberty Loan parade. Even high school students have caught the fever and a special company of them was formed at the beginning of the second semester and drilled separately until its members became proficient enough to be put into the University companies. In addition to the five o'clock drill for the entire regiment special classes covering the field service regulations and map work have been organized for officers and non-commissioned officers at four o'clock, under the instruction of Colonel Roberts.
The customary squad and company drill, calisthenics, rifle exercises, bayonet work, two-arm semaphore signaling, and military ceremonies on the drill grounds have been carried out. The two big military social events, the military ball and the officers' banquet, have been successfully staged by the Cadet Officers' Association.
Although a great many innovations
and new methods of fighting have been brought into use in this war
the drilling of the cadets of the University has not changed
materially, aside from some additions, as it is only intended that
the students shall be given a good conception of military
discipline and a working knowledge of infantry drill regulations.
This knowledge and practical work will be invaluable to them if
they are called into the army. However, the change in the
situation of our country has made it not only proper and fitting,
but also absolutely necessary and imperative, that more emphasis
be given to the work of the Military Science Department. Thus
extra courses have been organized and new instruction given, and
men and officers both have gotten out of drill more than has ever
been gotten out of it before, with results which show that the men
are in earnest and that military training at the University can
and will be a factor in the winning of the war in which we are now
engaged.
