The National Guard had its own officers. There was none, however, to
spare for the national army. The regular military establishment could
provide only a handful. Two classes at West Point were graduated in
advance of the usual time, but they were not enough to affect the
situation. The new army was, therefore, provided with carefully
selected, specially trained officers, chosen by merit rather than on the
old system of political appointments, by the general adoption of the
Plattsburg training camp system, initiated in 1915. When war was
declared there were already in the United States some 20,000 graduates
of the Plattsburg, Fort Oglethorpe, and other training camps, who had
undergone at least one month's intensive military training, supplemented
by military studies when out of camp.
The Plattsburg organization was taken over by the War Department, and a
series of sixteen training camps for officers, in which most of the
earlier Plattsburg graduates were commissioned as subaltern and company
officers, was opened at advantageous points, and continued until the
middle of August, 1917. Of 40,203 candidates enrolled in these camps
27,341 qualified for commissions. Sufficient officers were thus at the
cantonments to receive and command the national army when the men
arrived. A second series of officers' training camps was begun in
August, to add to the line and staff. Approximately 23,000 candidates
attended, of whom 17,237 obtained commissions. Many who failed have
since been enlisted and appointed noncommissioned officers in the
national army. A third series was instituted in January, 1918, to create
an officers' reserve force. Only enlisted men were admitted, except for
a limited number of students who had received military training in
schools under army officers during the last ten years. About 18,000 are
in attendance, and the problem of officering the new armies has
practically been solved.