https://kiakimamuseum.org/files/original/a0cf0f66261b2cf69f87a3401443ac94.pdf 4f3bb38955e4a40d385a9aee5ffc2f64 PDF Text Text -l Stgnal Corps U. S. AX},IY AlR 3OR :S lrake Wailes, !'1a. l,larch 19, 1944 Dear Mr. Morris: Irve hesitated to write this note because my conscience has always troubled. ne about the-little Irve done to repay my debt to Scouting. Itm always afrairl yout1l say, ttloo]< u,ho's talking.rl I guess my natural laziness has put, me in the class of those r*ho give only Iip service a.nd. lea.ve the rcal work to the rest of you. lleIl, take it any Hay you like - hcrers whatts rrp, During tho past year or so I have been a.way from home. Irve enjoyed. the Pr"ess Scimitar a,ncl one of the rnost enjoyable features is the Scout Press Scimitar about every two weeks or so, it seems. In the paper I received. yesterrlay was an article about a new Commando course at Camp Curricr, and it ce,":me at a time when I rvas thinking of how very practical a.nd useful somc of the things we learned a"t Currier turned out to be. Ior quite a r,rhile yesterd-e.y I was thinking over meny of the things tau6ht in Army basic a.nd. regimental tra.lning and. considering how fortunate I was the,t I had at lcast an introduction to many of them way back in Scouting d.ays. I was thinking about my boy I hope to have some d.ay - a"nd how i'iI trtr' 1e persuade him to do a. littl-e of everything he possibly ca.n. I mean such things a.s d.elivoring pe,pers on a route, being a Scoirt, being interested. in evcrythi-ng thet ha::i:ens - or thet docsnrt hanpen. You know what lrm trying to say; whon the or6an grind.er comcs e.long, try to find out what males the monkey clanco, ancl why the mrsic iomes out of the box, antL why the orgen grind,er hinsclf. It seems thn,t no natter wha.t the experience or whcre you learned it, there is sor,":e point in this Army training where that little bit of knor,,rlcdge is ver5' useful. As for this Seouting expe.ricnce, Itm still going to school in the Army e"nd. the great majority of tinie is spent in stuCying something other than regimcntal training; but no matter where Irve bcon or r,'hat I'vc bcen doing, this business of knouring how to take care of yourself, by yourself, is contimrally stressccL aad some point is taught every d.ay. The thin,is we took so casually in Scouting: cooiiing, pitching a tent, narching, mdcing a. pa.ck, making an overniE):rt bed., using an axe and- e. knife, Iirst Aid, O'Gredy drill, e.nd a, hr:a,lreo others I ca.nrt recall now. Thcse things nre all done in the Army, but on a. J-r.rgcr scale; and no m*ttt:r i,rhat elsc you F,re doing or studyind, you never get a.luay fron thcrn. There are hundred.s of littIc thin;;s learncd in Scouting a,nd pra.ctically forgotten until a situation suddcnly br"ini;s the:i f orvre.rd. �\ \ -2?or oxample, e few ueeks ago ue were on a bivoul.c for a couple of nights in the Iverglo.d.cs, and one nan decidcd to hea.t somc of bris potted neat rations to give it * t"ttcr taste. I,(any years ago I attenpted. to heat e. can of spa0f course it blew up Eirclti at Curricr without pirnching a hole in the ean, more of it, and could ncvcr no I thought spaghetti. and spre.yed me with warn that can in tho fire, man rut this but when have recn-I1ed it if I he.d. lried.; We the can out ancl punched' a hole took Currier. at I renenbered. that spa;:hctti so comnonplace are tent a. d.itchinE e.nd pitching in it. l,ittlc things like it over end practice to ha.ve v,'ho nen nally .you are grcr.tly Surprised. tl fino so Any for. is the ditch what a.nd a.sk in whispcrs lver to g:;et a iieirt- tcnt, whcn a. bivouP"c yet one bed", on pine needle Tend.erfoot }rrcgs enou6;h to meJce a platoon tho throuS.hout spread idea the few of us bcgan to rnke up the ncedles, rtl' got nil]ion a" sa,ys, As Jinn;'Durante and rvc wcre considercd reil wood.sn,en. learnedremtr, we things little a;id. nct the learst are thc ha"rd-to-explain of about going through und.erbrush, crossing creeks, taking cover and concealr:cnt, reariin.; a trail , using a Corlpass a.nd. reading e nap, and" goin6 oYer a wall. na.tter what the technicrr.l job you a.re tra.inlng to do, as you 60 thrcugh the Infiltration course, the Connando course, and the obstacl-e coursc, and. practice di6;gin6 fox holes, Xotr rea,lize very well tha.t you'rc just plain dunb if you donrt appreciate every littlc thing tha.t nay hei.p you to kcep away fror:i thosc bullcts sore day. ITolv that our trainln6 ls over and we are a.lmost ready to ship out; and vre 6ive a qulck thor&;ht to thet trainin6, neny of us reelizc it was a lot bettcr and a lot easier because Scouting gave us a little head. sta.rt. ITo loes all this sound like a proposal that Scouting help train eflothcr future Arny? Not at all. We never expected this war, &nd. v,'e clonrt expcct nnotlrer onl; but the thin;- i.ra.$ colie whether or not rue expect it. Since Scoutin5; is tynicaL of the thin6:s h,e Aricricans thinlt worth fiShting for, it is no diJ5ra.ce to Scou.ting, but rather to Scor:.tingrs honor and glory that its progrro bc uscd- tn hc3-p cmsh those r,rho deny the prineiples of Scou-ti:rg. "u, l:erLraps the surorise at find.in,; that prograll sc practical cones fro:'t thinking toa r,lch cn its:.toral v,.,lue - chara-cter and citizcnship - ruhich of scurse is the rea.I neet of the r,ihole business, and, takin5 as incidental thc little pra.itica.I tirin,,s le:,,rncd a,1on6,; the v.ray. itlel1, they a.rentt ineid"ental et all when sone day they nay hclp you sta,6, allve - e.nd nay help kccp Scoutint alivc. - - - I lmow the Ca;-p Curnier Co;,.iando course will be a s;-rr.11 scaLc nffair so thc [i:nd.erfoot cr.n nake it - but it certainly is thc ri.,ht iclea, and I r^;ant to ac1C. ny best rvishes and hopes of success to the ra.ny you alread.y irave. Givc r:ry re6erd's to xd' Dr"lstron if you ever see hin' So Gilnon Hennon (Note; Mr" Hennon 1,ras a Iirst Class Scout in troop I'ir. !a.1stron w&s Scoutne,ster. ) 14 during 1925-27. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Camp Currier Description An account of the resource This collections contains pictures and documents relating to the Chickasaw Council's camp in Eudora, Mississippi. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Text Any textual data included in the document -l Stgnal Corps U. S. AX},IY AlR 3OR :S lrake Wailes, !'1a. l,larch 19, 1944 Dear Mr. Morris: Irve hesitated to write this note because my conscience has always troubled. ne about the-little Irve done to repay my debt to Scouting. Itm always afrairl yout1l say, ttloo]< u,ho's talking.rl I guess my natural laziness has put, me in the class of those r*ho give only Iip service a.nd. lea.ve the rcal work to the rest of you. lleIl, take it any Hay you like - hcrers whatts rrp, During tho past year or so I have been a.way from home. Irve enjoyed. the Pr"ess Scimitar a,ncl one of the rnost enjoyable features is the Scout Press Scimitar about every two weeks or so, it seems. In the paper I received. yesterrlay was an article about a new Commando course at Camp Curricr, and it ce,":me at a time when I rvas thinking of how very practical a.nd useful somc of the things we learned a"t Currier turned out to be. Ior quite a r,rhile yesterd-e.y I was thinking over meny of the things tau6ht in Army basic a.nd. regimental tra.lning and. considering how fortunate I was the,t I had at lcast an introduction to many of them way back in Scouting d.ays. I was thinking about my boy I hope to have some d.ay - a"nd how i'iI trtr' 1e persuade him to do a. littl-e of everything he possibly ca.n. I mean such things a.s d.elivoring pe,pers on a route, being a Scoirt, being interested. in evcrythi-ng thet ha::i:ens - or thet docsnrt hanpen. You know what lrm trying to say; whon the or6an grind.er comcs e.long, try to find out what males the monkey clanco, ancl why the mrsic iomes out of the box, antL why the orgen grind,er hinsclf. It seems thn,t no natter wha.t the experience or whcre you learned it, there is sor,":e point in this Army training where that little bit of knor,,rlcdge is ver5' useful. As for this Seouting expe.ricnce, Itm still going to school in the Army e"nd. the great majority of tinie is spent in stuCying something other than regimcntal training; but no matter where Irve bcon or r,'hat I'vc bcen doing, this business of knouring how to take care of yourself, by yourself, is contimrally stressccL aad some point is taught every d.ay. The thin,is we took so casually in Scouting: cooiiing, pitching a tent, narching, mdcing a. pa.ck, making an overniE):rt bed., using an axe and- e. knife, Iirst Aid, O'Gredy drill, e.nd a, hr:a,lreo others I ca.nrt recall now. Thcse things nre all done in the Army, but on a. J-r.rgcr scale; and no m*ttt:r i,rhat elsc you F,re doing or studyind, you never get a.luay fron thcrn. There are hundred.s of littIc thin;;s learncd in Scouting a,nd pra.ctically forgotten until a situation suddcnly br"ini;s the:i f orvre.rd. \ \ -2- ?or oxample, e few ueeks ago ue were on a bivoul.c for a couple of nights in the Iverglo.d.cs, and one nan decidcd to hea.t somc of bris potted neat rations to give it * t"ttcr taste. I,(any years ago I attenpted. to heat e. can of spa- Eirclti at Curricr without pirnching a hole in the ean, 0f course it blew up and spre.yed me with warn spaghetti. I thought no more of it, and could ncvcr have recn-I1ed it if I he.d. lried.; but when this man rut that can in tho fire, I renenbered. that spa;:hctti at Currier. We took the can out ancl punched' a hole in it. l,ittlc things like pitching e.nd d.itchinE a. tent are so comnonplace .you are grcr.tly Surprised. tl fino so nally nen v,'ho ha.ve to practice it over end lver to g:;et a iieirt- tcnt, a.nd a.sk in whispcrs what the ditch is for. Any Tend.erfoot }rrcgs enou6;h to meJce a pine needle bed", yet on one bivouP"c whcn a. few of us bcgan to rnke up the ncedles, the idea spread throuS.hout tho platoon and rvc wcre considercd reil wood.sn,en. As Jinn;'Durante sa,ys, rtl' got a" nil]ion of remtr, a;id. nct the learst are thc ha"rd-to-explain little things we learnedabout going through und.erbrush, crossing creeks, taking cover and concealr:cnt, reariin.; a trail , using a Corlpass a.nd. reading e nap, and" goin6 oYer a wall. ITo na.tter what the technicrr.l job you a.re tra.inlng to do, as you 60 thrcugh the Infiltration course, the Connando course, and the obstacl-e coursc, and. practice di6;gin6 fox holes, Xotr rea,lize very well tha.t you'rc just plain dunb if you donrt appreciate every littlc thing tha.t nay hei.p you to kcep away fror:i thosc bullcts sore day. ITolv that our trainln6 ls over and we are a.lmost ready to ship out; and vre 6ive a qulck thor&;ht to thet trainin6, neny of us reelizc it was a lot bettcr and a lot easier because Scouting gave us a little head. sta.rt. loes all this sound like a proposal that Scouting help train eflothcr future Arny? Not at all. We never expected this war, &nd. v,'e clonrt expcct nnotlrer onl; but the thin;- i.ra.$ colie whether or not rue expect it. Since Scoutin5; is tynicaL of the thin6:s h,e Aricricans thinlt worth fiShting for, it is no diJ5ra.ce to Scou.ting, but rather to Scor:.tingrs honor and glory that its progrro "u, bc uscd- tn hc3-p cmsh those r,rho deny the prineiples of Scou-ti:rg. l:erLraps the surorise at find.in,; that prograll sc practical cones fro:'t thinking toa r,lch cn its:.toral v,.,lue - chara-cter and citizcnship - ruhich of scurse is the rea.I neet of the r,ihole business, and, takin5 as incidental thc little pra.itica. I tirin,,s le:,,rncd a,1on6,; the v.ray. itlel1, they a.rentt ineid"ental et all when sone day they nay hclp you sta,6, allve - e.nd nay help kccp Scoutint alivc. So - - - I lmow the Ca;-p Curnier Co;,.iando course will be a s;-rr.11 scaLc nffair so thc [i:nd.erfoot cr.n nake it - but it certainly is thc ri.,ht iclea, and I r^;ant to ac1C. ny best rvishes and hopes of success to the ra.ny you alread.y irave. Givc r:ry re6erd's to xd' Dr"lstron if you ever see hin' Gilnon Hennon (Note; Mr" Hennon 1,ras a Iirst Class Scout in troop 14 during 1925-27. I'ir. !a.1stron w&s Scoutne,ster. ) Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1944 Title A name given to the resource 1944 Letter re Commando Course at Camp Currier Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Andrew Schrack Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Dalstrom Papers, Special Collections Department, University of Memphis Libraries Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Licensed for use by the Kia Kima Alumni Association in this historical display. https://www.memphis.edu/libraries/special-collections/ Camp Currier Letters