Falling as a mixed blessing came the announcement on August 15 that the horses were to be taken from the Troop and the personnel used in the formation of a machine gun company. To the new men in the ranks it was a relief, but to those who were with the outfit when it enjoyed that happy little picnic on the Mexican Border during the summer of 1916 it meant the loss of their most valued friends. They wasted no time in mourning, however, but gathered up all the available information on machine-gun work and set their minds to become proficient in that branch of the service with the cheerful prospect of becoming members in what the British army called the "suicide club." CHAPTER III PREPARATION The last two weeks of August produced revolutionary changes in the old Troop, recruits were eagerly sought to fill out the ranks of the organization from its cavalry strength of one hundred and five men to the machine-gun requirements of one hundred and eighty, requisitions were entered for the new equipment and clothing prescribed for troops going overseas, and doughboy training, both in close order drill and road hikes, took the place of mounted drill. Batteries E and F of the Field Artillery left camp for a concentration point in Massachusetts, and the First Separate Company entrained for Springfield, where they were scheduled to guard the arsenal, leaving the 101st Machine Gun Battalion, of which Troop A had become Company A, with the Field Hospital the only occupants of the camp. Vaccination and inoculation, those terrors of all early experiences in the army, held the stage on the afternoon of August 21, with the usual accompaniment of blanched faces and shaky knees. It was at this particularly unfavorable time the announcement was made by Captain Wolf that the ranks were to be brought up to the strength required by the addition of a number of men from the 1st Vermont regiment of infantry. This organization had been split up to complete units forming the 26th Division. Leaving the impression that he had been called to attend an officers' school, Lieutenant Condren left the following day, and the end of his journey found him in France, one of the first National Guard officers to reach his goal. Within a few days Lieutenant Nelson arrived with the Vermont contingent, and Lieutenants Carroll and Bacharach were assigned to duty with the Company by Major Howard, so that nearly a full complement of officers was available for duties mainly of an ornamental nature.