The East Hartford Gazette

East Hartford Youths Laugh At Hardships During Army Training

The East Hartford young men were a very dirty looking group. They were cold, too. But drill and calisthenics were on the schedule for the morning and the dust storm and freezing weather were insufficient grounds for postponing the routine of army life.

The Army is like that. There are things to be done and rain, snow or hail won't prevent it from doing them. At Amarillo Field in Texas where a dozen East Hartford young men are being trained for technical jobs with the Air Forces, the men are given daily drill and calisthenics to keep them in physical trim.

This morning, we drilled and exercised as a biting wind swept across the drill field. A dust storm blew up and whirlpooled dirt against the soldiers faces and clothes until they looked as black as men working in coal mines. The dirt was so thick that it settled in a layer on the porch of the mess hall, on the window sills of the barracks and on the floors of the latrines. The tumble weed went on a spree and danced across the prairie, bobbing up and down as though delighted with the wind and flying particles of dirt that almost blinded the soldiers at moments.

Some of the East Hartford youths "ran" the obstacle course this morning, climbing up a slanting roof, swinging across a ditch on ropes; crawling, hand over hand, across a cable that stretched over a pit; scaling a twelve foot wall, jumping hurdles.

When the young men got back to their barracks at noon, they were so tired that they stretched across their bunks as though even dynamite could not move them. But the sergeant's whistle did. Within ten minutes the shriek of that whistle ordered them to "fall in" and commence the next event on the day's program. Somebody in the barracks let out a mighty cuss word but everyone else laughed—laughed because their bones ached and because the training was tough—laughed because—with all its hard work it was fun—tough fun—and they could take it.

They marched out the barracks again—into the dust storm and freezing weather and stood at attention, ready to receive and obey the next order—not because they liked to take orders but because they know they must if an efficient and powerful army were to be built.

The technicians in the Air Force are trained to fight just like men in the infantry because they are at air bases in all parts of the world and air bases are principal objectives of the enemy. The technicians fly in the planes, too, whenever their services are demanded in the air.

The war may end before these East Hartford young men get in to the actual fighting but they don't believe so. If it doesn't, Mr. Hitler and his gang can expect to meet a tough group at sometime in the future. These young men, who are today marching in a Texas dust storm, will be in top physical condition to climb over the Alps into Germany, hopping on one foot, with enough breath left over to blow over the enemy.