In order to expedite the training of the new officers, advantage was taken of the law providing for a Marine Corps Reserve, and successful candidates were immediately enrolled as second lieutenants in the reserve and ordered to Marine Corps posts for instruction pending the issuance of their commissions in the regular service. Candidates designated for the examination held July 10, 1917, were authorized upon designation to enroll as privates in the Marine Corps Reserve, with the understanding that upon the completion of their examination they would be ordered to the Recruit Depot at Parris Island, S. C., for training pending the receipt of the report of the examining board. This policy was carried out, and the successful candidates were commissioned second lieutenants in the Marine Corps, while the unsuccessful candidates were given the option of continuing in the service as enlisted men or of being discharged therefrom. Owing to the unusually large number of young men of excellent education and fine attainments who had enlisted in the Marine Corps after the outbreak of war, it was decided that no further appointments of civilians to the rank of second lieutenant would be made during the continuance of the war, and that all vacancies occurring in that grade, not required for graduates of the Naval Academy, would be filled by the promotion of meritorious noncommissioned officers. This decision was promulgated to the service in Marine Corps Orders No. 25 (Series 1917). HOW OFFICERS WERE TRAINED. The officers appointed from civil life, as soon as enrolled, were ordered to the Marine barracks, Mare Island, Calif.; San Diego, Calif.; Parris Island, S. C.; and the Marine Corps rifle range, Winthrop, Md., for instruction, pending the completion of the buildings for their use at the Marine barracks, Quantico, Va. Early in July, 1917, the buildings being in readiness, the newly appointed officers, about 345 in number, were assembled at Quantico, where an officers’ camp of instruction was held, and the course completed in October, 1917.