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few chances to operate like fully functional organizations. Unlike
Regular Army or National Guard units, Organized Reserve and RAI units possessed few enlisted men and were essentially officer cadres. Therefore, the Citizens Military Training Camps provided superb opportunities for these units' officers to conduct the training of organizations and exercise effective command from the squad to regimental level. These camps also gave the units' staffs a chance to wrestle with realistic personnel, training and planning challenges as well. In this way, the CMTC also substantially contributed to preparing tens of thousands of Organized Reserve officers for the leadership demands of military command and staffs. Additionally, the military training provided by the Reservists and their Regular Army counterparts, introduced hundreds of thousands of young men to military discipline, order, and training. Many of these men would later serve in World War II as volunteers, draftees, and, for a substantial number, as officers. In at least these two ways, the CMTC was partially responsible for the U.S. Army's ability to rapidly mobilize for, and fight in, World War II.
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White Course. The White Course consisted of intermediate military training (small unit tactics, marksmanship, basic aspects of the arm or service of the camp). Completion of this course made a candidate eligible for promotion to non-commissioned officer rank in the
Organized Reserve and for attendance at the Blue Course. The Blue Course consisted of advanced military training (leadership, officership, advanced aspects of the arm or service of the camp). Completion of this course made a candidate eligible for commissioning as a second lieutenant in the arm or service in which he was qualified at the three camps. Ideally, a CMTC candidate attended one of these courses each summer over a three-year period. Upon conclusion of the third course, and after the candidate had taken the required pre- commissioning examinations, he would be offered a commission as a second lieutenant in the Organized Reserve.
66:, private citizens organized what were known as the "Plattsburgh camps", a volunteer pre-enlistment training program. The camps were set up and funded privately. The group recognized that the standing U.S. Army was far too small to help the Allies and would have to expand immensely if the U.S. went to war. The Movement established the camps to train additional potential Army officers during the summers of 1915 and 1916.
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The program was divided into three four-week courses designated “Red,” “White.” and “Blue.” The Red Course consisted of preliminary and practical military training (school of the soldier). Completion of this course made a candidate eligible to enlist in the
Organized Reserve and for attendance at the
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Some 40,000 men (all college graduates) attended the
Plattsburgh camp and other sites. They became physically fit, learned to march and shoot, and provided the cadre of a wartime officer corps. Enlistees were required to pay their own expenses. Suggestions by labor unions that talented working-class
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directed that
Organized Reserve units (rather than individual Reserve personnel) be used in the actual running of CMTC camps and the conduct of training for CMTC cadets. These camps gave Organized Reserve and "Regular Army Inactive" (RAI) units that were staffed with Reserve personnel one of their
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Organized Reserve officers; only 5,000 such commissions were awarded over the 20-year history of the CMTC. No records appear to have survived that document total participation, but it is estimated that 400,000 men had at least one summer of training. Among known participants were
38:. In its nearly two decades of operation, the CMTC trained some 400,000 men in at least one season from 1921 to 1940. Overall the program was disappointing, as only 5,000 officer commissions were awarded to men who completed the required four summers of training.
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set up what were known as the "Plattsburg camps" to build a reserve of qualified men. These provided at least one summer of training in 1915 and 1916 to some 40,000 men, who were all college graduates and largely drawn from elite social classes.
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U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941, Volume 4. The
Services: Quartermaster, Medical, Military Police, Signal Corps, Chemical Warfare, and Miscellaneous Organizations, 1919-41
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U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941, Volume 4. The
Services: Quartermaster, Medical, Military Police, Signal Corps, Chemical Warfare, and Miscellaneous Organizations, 1919-41
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training in that the program allowed male citizens to obtain basic military training without an obligation to call-up for active duty. The CMTC were authorized by the
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At their peak in 1928 and 1929, about 40,000 men received training annually, but the camps were considered disappointing in achieving stated goals, especially in the
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22:(CMTC) were military training programs of the United States. Held annually each summer during the years 1921 to 1940, the CMTC camps differed from
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As tensions increased and war broke out in Europe, some
Americans concerned about United States participation organized the
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The Red, White and Blue Manuals: ... a Text Book for the Citizens' Military Training Camp
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Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941
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Forgotten summers : the story of the Citizens' Military Training Camps, 1921-1940
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Forgotten Summers: The Story of the Citizens' Military Training Camps, 1921–1940
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The Plattsburg Movement: A Chapter of America's Participation in the World War
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The Lost Battalions: The Great War and the Crisis of American Nationality
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393:. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press. p. 2,696.
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Before the United States entered World War I, private citizens of the
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Lost Battalions: The Great War and the Crisis of American Nationality
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Citizen Soldiers: The Plattsburg Training Camp Movement, 1913–1920
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the
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Summer military training programs of the United States, 1921–1940
58:, made up of a group of influential Americans who supported the
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Between the Wars: Citizens' Military Training Camp (CMTC)
112:. (In 1922, the magazine was acquired by and folded into
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Military education and training in the United States
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101:youth be invited to Plattsburgh were ignored.
108:, which in 1917 launched a monthly magazine,
607:1940 disestablishments in the United States
597:United States home front during World War I
69:The largest and best known camp was near
602:1921 establishments in the United States
554:The Plattsburg Movement and its Legacy,
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491:. San Francisco, CA: Two Decades Pub.
460:"National Register Information System"
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104:These camps were formalized under the
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465:National Register of Historic Places
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191:National Register of Historic Places
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359:"Magazine to Push National Service"
166:In December 1928, Secretary of War
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417:, Two Decades Publishing (1995),
20:Citizens' Military Training Camps
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316:. University Press of Kentucky.
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208:American entry into World War I
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533:. Johns Hopkins Press. 1921.
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73:under the command of Captain
284:Perry, Ralph Barton (1921).
203:Presidency of Woodrow Wilson
32:National Defense Act of 1920
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487:Kington, Donald M. (1995).
310:Clifford, J. Garry (1972).
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36:universal military training
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177:, a CMTC camp located on
434:Clay, Steven E. (2010).
389:Clay, Steven E. (2010).
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568:, New York: Holt, 2005
348:(New York: Holt, 2005)
238:, Random House, 2013,
179:Fort Benjamin Harrison
470:National Park Service
213:Preparedness Movement
71:Plattsburgh, New York
60:Allies of World War I
56:Preparedness Movement
43:Preparedness Movement
576:Fort George G. Meade
566:, by Richard Slotkin
413:Kington, Donald M.,
189:, was listed on the
77:. Trainees included
175:Camp Edwin F. Glenn
149:Walter S. McIlhenny
95:James De Wolf Perry
91:John Purroy Mitchel
370:. February 5, 1917
367:The New York Times
344:Slotkin, Richard.
145:Robert Penn Warren
256:Colonel Roosevelt
50:Plattsburgh camps
28:Organized Reserve
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219:References
517:. 1917.
193:in 1995.
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197:See also
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