FOR WOMEN "SHOCK" TRAINING

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 1, 2 January 1945, Page 3

FOR WOMEN "SHOCK" TRAINING

WOMEN COMMANDOS

WORK IN LIBERATED EUROPE

LONDON. Week-end after week-end, for many months past, small groups of middle-aged women have cycled to -special camps in the country to undergo commando training. They are volunteers for the Guides International Service, who will go to liberated Europe to help in rehabilitation Carrying a rucksack weighing 25 pounds, they α-un and walk over difficult country; they drag two-wheeled trucks up hill and clown, through swamps and over streams for as much as six' hours on end, and without food; sleep in the open in barns. While at the camps they cook in the open. Besides taking part .in the cor— mando courses the volunteers attend lectures on subjects they may need when they go "into action"— from baby welfare and doctoring to cooking and distributing rations. . Already 400 volunteers are trained or in training. But more are wanted between the ages of 31 and 50, prepared to spend at least 12 months abroad. They will get no pay, but will receive pocket money of from 5/ to 10/ a week. When they have completed their training, the women, all of whom are Guide Leaders, go to a special camp, where they are put through a rigorous test. Having passed, they are teamedup into the groups who will work together on the Continent when the time comes. Funds are being provided by children throughout the country, who have organised collections and so far raised over £32,000.