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PAGE TWO
Academics Teach
Code With Tape
Machines, Records
Operating from the “ca;
Room of the Communications S
from A Company work in tw<
deeds of soldiers every day. f
employ “mass production” ma
tention to each student's prog
ress. The Infantry School’s sys
tem of instruction, based on the
use of phonograph records, has
been so successful that it is now
standard for the entire Army.
Even the Signal Corps, the
branch specializing in commu
nications, has adopted the code
teaching methods developed by
the Section. t
INTRODUCE STATIC
When the students enter the
Code Room they take their as
signed seats at one of the 34
long tables, which are divided
into individual booths by means
of partitions. Each booth is
equipped with a key and a set
of ear-phones, through which the
soldier receives code sent from
the “cage” by means of phono
graph records or code tape ma
chines, or in the earlier stages,
by an instructor tapping ala
key Frequently code copy sent
by other stations is picked up
off the air and rerouted to the
tables, to give the students prac
tice* in hearing messages punc
tuated with static and outside
interference.
In the cage the Academics in
charge use a control panel con
taining 2,448 electric switches,
to send as many as 36 different
types of code messages at differ
ent speeds to the outgoing lines
hooked up to the students' ta
bles Thus a fast student, sit
ting in a booth next to a slow
student, is getting a different
message, and is not held up by
his slower class-mate, who in
turn is not shoved ahead until
he has mastered the lesson he is
working on. Tests are given at
TEAM B OF THE FIELD NETS COMMITTEE, COMMUNICATIONS
Section, The Infantry Schoo!, checking on the main points to he stressed
in the day’s instructions before taking their students out to man four
“regimental stations” scattered about the post. (Left to right) Cpl. James
Kafalas, Cpl. Bernard Langella, Sgt./McKinley Cook, Cpl. William Bobo,
ige” in the center of the Code
section, 23 Academic non-coms
o shifts to teach code to hun-
Strange as it may seem, they
ichinery to give individual at-
the end of every hour, and those
who pass move on at once to the
next lesson.
Many of the enlisted commu
nications students—who spend
about 200 hours altogether in
the Code Room—attain a speed
of 18 or 20 words per minute by
the end of their twelve-week
course. Although 13 words is
the minimum requirement for
graduation, "the long-time aver
age for enlisted students is slight
ly better than 16 words p^r min
ute. (Since the Section’s basic
word is almost twice as long as
the basic word used at most
schools, 16 words per minute
handled by a student here is
equal to 29 words at other
schools of communication.)
The enlisted “rostrum instruc
tor" for radio procedure is
T Sgt Stephen A. Sawyer, who
is assisted in the radio proced
ure classes by most of the other
Academics who work the Code
Room. T Sgt. Hans Ledermann,
who has charge of all enlisted
personne., coordinates the work
of the A and B shifts, and super
vises the keeping of all the rec
ords of tile students Group A
is headed by T. Sgt Joe McNeil,
while S Sgt. Guy Foltz is the
ranking npn-com in Group B.
The two crews shift their hours
every two weeks. In each group
there is a/ corresponding man
with a corresponding job — in
outlining the work of each pair
we shall name the A crew man
first:—
AUTOMATIC MACHINERY
S. Sgts. Steve Gabuzda and
(Continued on Page 3)
REGIMENTAL MIRROR
THREE COMPANY A COMMUNICATIONS INSTRUCTORS AT WORK IN THE
“cage” of the Code Room, Communications Section, The Infantry School. (Left to right)
S. Sgt. Guy Foltz is checking the speed of clear text copy on a Boehme teletype ma
chine tape. Sgts. Louis Peltier is sending a 16 word-per-minute test, also on a Boehme. T.
Sgt. Hanns Ledermann is getting set to send intentional interference on a phonograph rec
ord to jam what Foltz is sending, thus giving the students (receiving code outside the
“cage”) a chance to hear code under field-receiving conditions. (Official U. S. Army Pho
to—TSe Infdntry School.)
Field Nets Academics Teach
Operators To “Keep In Net"
At the conclusion of eight
weeks of instruction in the Com
munications Section the enlisted
students are taken over for a
solid month by the Academic
non-coms who staff the Field
Nets Committee. They teach, in
the field, the practical applica
tion of all that the students have
learnt in the classroom and
coderoom, and except for work
under fire, these final weeks of
training (cover every problem
that the Infantry radio man will
encounter in the field.
On a typical day the class will
be broken up into four groups
manning the four stations of a
combat Infantry requirement—
the Net Control Station at regi
mental headquarters, and one
station with each of the three
battalions. About 40 students
comprise each group, working
under the supervision of two
non-coms. As soon as their re
spective stations are set up, each
student must get into the net
(contact other stations) as soon
as possible The instructors in
charge see to it that the keys
are “kept hot.”
Sgt. Julius Farkas, Cpl. Anthony Pirrello, T. Sgt. Garrett Fyffe (enlisted
chief of Team B), Cpl. Manuel Urrutia, and Sgt. Joseph Galla. All are
members of A Company. (Official U. S. Army Photo—The Infantry
School.)
Thursday, March 30, 1944
Enciphered messages are sent
in CW (international code) The
students begin by sending and
receiving at fixed stations, and
then go on mobile problems,
keeping in the net while travel
ing in jeeps over a 60 mile
course. Later problems include
movement by night of the com
mand posts, setting up in one lo
cation. getting in the net. and
then moving out on orders and
setting up all over again. Some
students go up in an airplane
and contact the rest of the net.
(Continued on Page 3)
