The Army between the two World Wars is the best-remembered Old Army. It was horse-drawn and very traditional. When mechanization arrived in 1938 and the horses left the stables, it was more traumatic than trading in brown boots for black ones and campaign hats for overseas caps. Massed battalion, marching formations replaced individual squad drill; and the Garand M-1 rifle replaced the legendary Springfield. With the demise of the Old Army went wrap leggings, hand-powered telephones, washpan helmets, and afternoons off for athletics. The mood of the Army changed as the war plans, locked in the orderly room safe, changed from repelling an invasion of Texas from Mexico to defending overseas areas from the threat of global war brought on by Oriental and European enemies.

   At the beginning of World War I, some generals had served during the Civil War. Retirement soon forced them off the active lists, but it was difficult for the Army to abandon old customs and adjust to new machines. For example, there is a story about one company commander who did not trust typewriters and required his officers to proofread carbon copies of documents to ensure that they were correct copies. General Carl Spaatz, commander of the Eighth Air Force in England during World War II and first Chief of Staff of the new US Air Force after World War II, was a member of the fledgling Air Service at Fort Sam Houston, Texas after World War I. His future father-in-law was an old cavalry colonel who did not want his daughter going out with young Spaatz because the Air Service was a fly-by-night outfit and Spaatz would never amount to anything.

   Long-service regulars were the trademarks of the Old Army as soldiers gathered around the company bulletin board to see who made private first class after only six years’ service. Ordinary privates got $21 per month, privates first class $30, and corporals $42. A second lieutenant started out at $125 per month, one dollar less than a master sergeant. Apparently, it was not the pay that kept men in the Old Army.

   It was something called “The Outfit” that probably kept men in the Old Army. It was the self-contained company, troop, or battery that took care of the soldiers’ mess, supply, and personnel management. It provided everything a man needed -- food, clothing, shelter, and security from the civilian world where no one was in charge. This was especially true of the Army during the post World War I and Depression Years in the 1920s and 30s.

 could “shoot and salute.” That was good enough for the Old Army.

 The Old Army did not do as much as the Army does today, but what it did do was done very well indeed. Enlisted men hardly ever saw an officer because NCOs were perfectly capable of running things. There was no need, as today, to first examine insignia closely before saluting.

   An officer’s uniform was distinctive. It was usually Class A, never fatigues, with “pink” trousers or riding breeches and boots, and a Sam Browne belt. In the Old Army, it was a pleasure for soldiers to lay a salute on an officer from a hundred yards away.

   The Old Army was designed for single men. The system stressed maximum performance of military duty with a minimum of outside distractions. The pay of the lower ranks was not enough to support a family. The Old Army did not enlist married men. Any enlisted man wanting to marry had to obtain permission from his company commander or he could not reenlist. This saved the Old Army a great deal of trouble when it came to solving soldiers’ domestic problems. It also saved the Army money in dependent allowances because few regular soldiers would give up military service for a wife.

   Most soldiers lived in the barracks and took their fun where they could find it in bars, dance halls with nice women or women not so nice, or at games of chance as long as their pay lasted. When a soldier’s pay ran out, he stayed on post, went to the movies on credit, played pool in the dayroom, or fired small-caliber weapons on the unit’s indoor range. Some even read books.

   Sightseeing tours of the Orient and Latin America for those who could afford them were deemed beneficial for professional education, experience, and information gained. In short, overseas travel in the Old Army was considered broadening and of professional value. Also, overseas stations were generally “wet” meaning that the prohibitions against alcohol consumption of the Volstead Act of Congress (1919-1933) did not apply. Barracks checks and restricting soldiers to garrisons without passes were liberalized a great deal to further enhance the lure of the Far East or Caribbean. Because of the nice, tropical weather overseas, soldiers stationed in the tropics were called “Sunshiners.”

   Athletics were king and constituted a large part of the soldiers’ daily program. It could be fairly claimed that World War II was won on the playing fields of army posts between the Great Wars. The quality of athletics was high and competition between individuals and units was keen. Most soldiers played baseball, but football and boxing were also popular. Jogging had not been invented yet. A man out running was probably a boxer, and he was not jogging. He was doing “road work.” Officers played golf, tennis, and polo to improve their hand and eye coordination and to be considered gentlemen. During periods when units were in garrison, athletic activities were scheduled almost every afternoon and off-duty soldiers participated or rooted for their favorites.

   Field duty consisted of long road marches at two and one-half miles an hour. That equated to about 15 miles a day. There was little motor traffic on the dusty road around military posts in those days. At night, soldiers pitched two-man pup tents and camped along the roadside. Maneuvers in such places as Texas sometimes were no more than chasing jackrabbits through the cactus and mesquite. In the tropic it meant chasing monkeys through the trees and avoiding jungle reptiles. Field duty acquainted officers and men with tactical operations, field communications, supply procedures, and the experience of hardship living in the open. But it did not teach soldiers what it was like to face a well-armed and determined enemy. General “Vinegar Joe” Stillwell was known and admired for his ability to walk long distances and live in the Spartan environment of the field. This came in handy when he had to lead his corps’ command group out of Burma back to India on foot after the Japanese defeated his forces in 1942. The Old Army gave way to the New Army with the Draft, Selective Service Act of 1940. Another big milestone for the Army was when the Draft expired in January 1973 and the Army went back to being a long-service, professional force. Did Old Army practices creep back into the current Army? I will leave that to the reader and his own memories of what the Old Army was really like.

   LTC Thomas D. Morgan, Retired, graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1958. He has served as an Artilleryman and in other positions throughout the United States, Germany, Panama, Vietnam, and Belgium. He currently works for a Defense Contractor where he continues to observe the Army at close range.