september - october - Fort Sill

WITH A JAPANESE ARTILLERY REGIMENT
remarkably clean all the time. The fact that one of the punishments for
minor offenses is to deprive a man of some of his baths shows the genuine
popularity of bathing. From private to general, undoubtedly the Japanese
Army is personally the cleanest army in existence.
As noted above, there were four gun sheds facing on the central parade.
The three battalion gun sheds on the south of the parade were each divided
into three sections, of which the two batteries in each battalion occupied
the end sections, while the central sections which would be occupied by
Batteries Nos. 3, 6, and 9 (not organized in peace-time) were used as
storage space for extra equipment and matériel. The gun shed on the west
was similarly used as a storehouse.
The battery stables in rear of the gun sheds were conventional singleaisle,
concrete-floored, frame stables with exits at the ends and on both
sides at the middle. Harness and horse equipment of individually mounted
men were disposed, respectively, on heel post pegs and racks in battery
saddle rooms.
All horseshoeing in the regiment was done in an open shoeing shed,
with attached forge room, under the supervision of the regimental
veterinarian, whose hospital was conveniently located in rear of the
shoeing shop. The treatment of practically all sick and injured horses was
performed at the veterinary hospital; only the simplest cases were treated in
the batteries.
In a manner similar to the above, all repair work or alterations of
matériel, and the repair of shoes and clothing, were performed in
regimental shops under the supervision of officers belonging to regimental
headquarters.
(To be continued in our next issue.)
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