West Point: An Intimate Picture of the National Military Academy and of the Life of the CadetRichardson, Robert C. (Robert Charlwood)
History
West Point: An Intimate Picture of the National Military Academy and of the Life of the Cadet
Richardson, Robert C. (Robert Charlwood)
United States Military Academy
Portions of the Cavalry instruction are devoted to hippology and to
packing. In hippology the cadets study a text-book upon which they
recite, but in addition they are frequently taken to the stables where
all types of horses are trotted out for their inspection and criticism.
They must be able to tell all of the horse’s good and bad points and
must be conversant with the remedies for the ordinary diseases. The
packing is entirely practical. A pack train is kept at West Point for
the use of the cadets, and they are drilled in putting up an aparejo
and packing the mules. They must be experts in throwing the diamond
hitch.
The branch of the Service, however, that is more closely allied to the
Infantry than the Cavalry is the Field Artillery. They are indeed
brother arms. In the fight the Artillery must prepare the way for
the Infantry, using its powerful explosive shells to demoralize and
decimate the enemy so that the Infantry’s task, hard enough at best,
may be made easier. Among the cadets the Field Artillery is a popular
branch of the training almost rivaling the Cavalry. The course of
instruction is splendidly progressive. During Fourth-Class year, the
plebes learn all about the instruments, how to set the sights, to
read the scales, the use of the quadrant, and to perform the duties
of cannoneer. By the time that they go into their Yearling camp each
individual is sufficiently trained to be a good gunner, so that the
class is ready to receive instruction both in the squad acting alone,
and as part of a battery. During the fall and drill periods of the
Third-Class year, the Yearlings are called upon to perform the duties
of driver, sometimes wheel driver and again lead driver. As in the
Cavalry instruction, the cadets must learn all of the duties of
enlisted men. Their experience as drivers will teach them how hard
it is to bring horses and carriage to a stop at a designated place,
how difficult it is to estimate the ground correctly, and how a man’s
patience can be tried by fractious and unruly beasts.
The members of the Second Class are taught in the fall the technique
of the mountain battery, and in the spring they act as officers at the
drill of the field battery while the First Classmen who have already
passed through this stage of the training are detailed to command the
organization. The First Classmen also spend a great deal of their time
upon the theory of artillery fire, and practice accumulating firing
data. During the First-Class camp they conduct regular target practice
with the battery.
[Illustration:
_Photo White Studio_
At Target Practice on the Flats]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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