Huachuca Illustrated: Buffalo Soldiers at Huachuca, Part III

the Commanding Officer’s Quarters.
The last year I was at Huachuca as a CMTC student, we camped in pyramidal tents
down at the end of the [east?] parade ground just on the other side of the railroad tracks.
Bonnie Blink was Enlisted Married Quarters. It was on the north side of the post.
The old powderhouse housed the post tailor. He was good. He got sick and could not
make the uniform I ordered when I was a 2d Lt. 155
In the early 1930s the Bisbee Chamber of Commerce made a case for the retention and
enlargement of Fort Huachuca. In a package for members of Congress and the War Department,
they pointed out the value of the post as a training area.
Fort Huachuca, no doubt, has the best year-round climate of any post maintained by the
United States Army, as indicated by the enclosed climatological chart. This affords not only
an opportunity for the Army to be in the field every day of the year, but likewise offers an
opportunity for those members of the Army forces who have families in poor health to
recover their health under most favorable conditions.
The military reservation at Fort Huachuca is the third largest reservation belonging to
the War Department today 156 and every type of field training is obtainable. There is level
land, rolling country, woody and rocky areas, some with desert growths of cactus and
mesquite, deep ravines and high hills, in fact every type of combat country excepting
swamps and rivers. The reservation is sufficiently large to permit the training of all
branches of the service. The largest field pieces used by the Army may be fired entirely
within the boundaries of the reservation. The size of this military reservation, its terrain and
the unexcelled climate permit officers today to get actual experience in the field with men,
which is preferable to the combat principles worked out on paper. Comparatively few
officers in the Army today have had experience in the World War, or have they been in
command of large units. Fort Huachuca affords the Army an opportunity to give officers
practical field training. Fort Huachuca is likewise conveniently located, so that civilian
components in the southwest area may take in their training there. As most of this civilian
training takes place in the summer months, it is known that Fort Huachuca is many degrees
cooler than any other post in the 8th Corps area, with the possible exception of Colorado,
which is not readily accessible. These favorable conditions permit:
1. The training of officers and men of the regular Army in active field problems every
day of the year.
2. Affords the C.M.T.C. Reserve Officers and the R.O.T.C. unusual training opportunities
at a most convenient location. 157
The lobbying efforts of the Bisbee Chamber of Commerce paid off. On July 26, 1933,
the Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Douglas McArthur, wrote, “After carefully reviewing the entire
subject of new construction at Fort Huachuca I have directed that the Army building program
be amended to raise the amount desired there for $372,478. This I know will give you satisfaction.”
158
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HUACHUCA ILLUSTRATED