Training Camps

After rudimentary training, the army shipped overseas to receive advanced training under the guidance of the commanding general, General Pershing. However, at the start of the war, the United States was not prepared to provide even rudimentary training for the large number troops required for war.

In March 1917, the War Department began building 32 new training camps: 16 for the National Guard and 16 for the regular Army. Although the United States had been manufacturing war supplies for European countries, there was a shortage of equipment for training their own soldiers at the start of the war. When they arrived in France, some soldiers had never fired a rifle and had only drilled with broom handles. In Europe, the soldiers received instruction specific to trench warfare from seasoned British and French officers. They learned how to build trenches, throw live grenades, clean after a gas attack, and other necessary skills to survive in the trenches.