Throughout these three months the training proceeded by platoons, each platoon of recruits living, messing and working together, with the object of impressing on them, from the earliest days of their service, the importance of the platoon as a unit in action. The latter part of the "individual" training period saw the sub-division of each platoon into Lewis Gun and bombing sections, training being arranged for in accordance with the particular requirements of each. The "individual" training having been completed, the final fortnight was devoted to platoon "combined training" in field work as a properly organised platoon, the men working in full marching order, loaded to the weight which they would be called upon to carry in the field. The physical strain of the last fourteen days was undoubtedly considerable, but the results attained by it were amply justified, not only from the point of actual instruction imparted, but also from that of the highly important question of selection of N.C.O.'s, for each section of the platoon in "combined training" was in charge of a recruit N.C.O., the specialist instructor being attached merely for the purpose of supervision. On completion of this final and most interesting period in the recruit's training, he proceeded on "draft-leave" for four clear days, on return from which he was reported as ready to proceed overseas, was medically inspected and finally fitted out; and as a rule his departure overseas ensued within a few days. Such was the course of life in a Reserve Battalion, and it will not be disputed that the duties of an instructor were both multifarious and exceedingly onerous, while the degree of personal application and physical endurance which the recruit himself was called upon to display was severe to a degree. Owing to the frequent changes of personnel among the N.C.O. instructors, it is impossible to record the names of all those who were in turn employed in this manner, but it would be unjust not to acknowledge the splendid devotion of the training staffs or to recognise with gratitude the extreme importance of the rôle played by them in the War. Neither can we refrain from remarking that, however complete the scheme of training, and however efficient the instructors, it would have been nearly impossible to carry it into effect in the short period allowed but for the intense keenness and willingness to learn displayed by the vast majority of the many thousands of recruits who were trained in accordance with it.