Modern Camp

Hutt News, Volume 16, Issue 13, 26 August 1942, Page 5

Modern Camp

QVAItTKKM/iSTKIt'S JOB 1" I.,'MMi,(l(i ?f IXV I->"T.\! iJXT Feed them wel! house them well - -clothe them weii - those are the three basic essentials in llm complicated. business ol" turning a civilian into m soldier. That is the foundation upon which training is built, up in the uominiou's largest inland camp, and in their capacity of universal providers it is the daily job of the Camp v'uarternnister and his staff to ensure that every one of the thousands of soldiers in camp is properly fed, quartered and outiitted., on the priii ciple thai a soldier with a grouch is poor training material. In the business of war this Army establishment represents an investment of hundreds of thousands of pounds in construction alone, and the maintenance of its material assets at peak efficiency is in the hands of the Camp Quartermaster, working in conjunction with the Public Works Dept.—buildings, road ways.,- power plant, water supply, sewerage system, fire fighting service and numerous minor details. JUany more thousands of pounds are involved in the daily turn-over of food and supplies, and though the iinal distribution is made progressively through unit quartermaster's stores, both the initial and final responsibility for efficient and equitable disbursement, is the Camp Quartermaster's. In the military municipality, "largely self-contained because of its isolation the Quartermaster's branch takes over the new recruit as soon as he has been checked, into camp. Most drafts, up to a,thousand at a time, arrive at. night, and the first maxim "feed 'em well,'' is applied at once by the provision of a hot meal in the mess rooms.

Quartering has already been worked out, and the newcomers file out from their first Army meal to their huts under me guidance of N.C.O.'s. Each man's place has been marked, and on it is waiting hi?, palliasse (which is Army for mattress) and plus issue of blankets. The newly developed type of portable hut is rapidly replacing tentage in this cam]), ami the assembling of these is one of the jobs the Camp Quartermaster has in hand at present. Several hundreds have already been erected and shortly all tents, except those used for special purposes, will, have been replaced. These huts are pre-fahricated in two sizes, one (o hold two, and the other to hold four men, and are a practical expression of the second quartermastering maxim, house 'em well. In the huts, the men have low wooden beds instead of the bare floor boards 011 which to put their bedding, and more space is available for equipment and personal belongings than in the old style bell tent. Elictric light is fitted in each hut. and the use of radio sets is permitted within reason. 011 the new recruits first, day in this camp he ?.lieds his civilian guise and is fitted out with his army issue of clothing and equipment. "Clothe 'em well" is interpreted literally No effort is made to break records by putting as many men as possible through the Clothing Store in the shortest possible time. The idea is to give each man the be£it. possible individual fit, so that there will not be a series 'of "change parades" later to replace hastily fitted clothing. Such changes not only involve loss of time but are economically wasteful, because if clothing is worn and has to be changed it becomes second-hand, and must be overhauled and fumigated before being put on issue again. This procedure is followed in all cases, for instance, when a man is discharged and hands hack his equipment to the Army, but by careful fittings in the first place much unnecessary reconditioning is avoided in the ordinary way. First item of Army wear which the new recruit tries out are the socks., and he must wear the Army issue while being fitted with liis Army boots. Because, a man takes a certain size in civilian footwear that does not necessarily mean that his Army size will be the same. Most men do not wear such heavy-weight socks as the Army provides, and most of them are not used to wearing heavy boots. Having got what they consider a tit, the men are sent outside in their new/ boots to run about in them as a final test. t Prom the boot section the new recruits move down the long counter of the Clothing Store, gradually shedding their civilian clothes and replacing them with Army issue. Kirst. item handed over is a canvas kit bag, which is a man's suitcase, wardrobe, secretaire and general Jhold-all while he is in the Army, and into it in succession go his castoff civilian gear and the Army clothing he does not don immediately. Having received his underwear the new recruit moves on to receive his batlle dress, cap, hat, greatcoat and ground sheet, and at each section the fit is carefully checked. In batlle dresses, 110 sizes are carried, a range stillieienl to meet most of. Ihe vagaries of the human form, but should a man have one of those perverse figure:) which .stock sizes can make no provisions for, lie is meas-

ured, and a uniform is made specially for him. If only minor alterations to a standard size are needed to get a fit, the work is done in the Camp tailoring shop, another branch of the Quartermaster's section. Having come into the Clothing Store a civilian, the Army's new hand emerges at the other end in uniform, lie is 011 the way to being made a soldier. Before he leaves the store his issue is checked under the supervision of an officer of the unit to which lie has been posted, and he signs for more than £20 worth of clothing and blankets. By the time the . new recruit has received the rest of his gear—web, haversack, rifle, respirator, tin hat, and the like —he lias been debited with nearly £40 worth, of material 011 his clothing and equipment card.. There are always about 1500 qfcniplete outfits and 8000 pair of boots £30,000 worth, held in the Clothing Store, and as stocks are distributed they are replenished from what is virtually the Camp Quartermaster's warehouse, the Ordnance Store, which bandies not only clothing and equipment in bulk, but also a wide variety of other material. However the Ordnance Store is a story in itself. The movement of the vast amount of food and material involved in a camp of this size and type is the subject of constant check to prevent losses and leakages. There is a continual internal audit by the section headquarters itself, arid in addition an independent investigation is carried out periodically—but not at fixed intervals—by the Audit Department. In the wide sweep of activities which make up the daily job of the Quartermaster's section there are many-—such as the rationing system, cooking methods, -etc —which can only be dealt with in separate articles. Here the idea has been to give you some general idea of tlie size of the job involved in providing for thousands of men gathered together in a modern camp. When all the I'actora are considered —initial cost., upkeep, quantity of stores handled, and the value of the human material involved—it is 110 exaggeration to say that this establishment is a £1,U00.000 enterprise in the business of war. The dividends which its resources are made to pay are the most important dividends/ a nation can have these days -a steady output of thousands of keen and efficient soldiers.