 It looks like a city, and in every way except name, it is one, a very sizable city. But it is more than a city, much more. Again, except in name, it is a university, really a multi-versity. And it is an infantry training center. America's probably the world's largest. This is Fort Benning, Georgia, the United States Army Infantry Center and home of the infantry school. Fort Benning is vast, over 182,000 acres, 620 square miles of forest, underbrush and open country. The Chattahoochee River gives it an amphibious dimension for water crossing problems. Plus 23 firing ranges and 1,222 problem sites. On any working day, its population hovers at the 60,000 miles, 50,000 military and 10,000 civilians. Another 50,000 people linked to Fort Benning live in its environs, Phoenix City, Alabama and Columbus, Georgia, making the total population serve over 110,000 people. Many are the families of active and retired military personnel. The fort itself is named after a distinguished Confederate general, Henry L. Benning of Columbus. So there is good reason why local ties with Fort Benning are strong. This closeness is actively expressed by a monthly meeting of representatives of Fort Benning, Phoenix City and Columbus. This is the civilian and military council. The commanding general of Fort Benning sits with the civilian counterparts, the mayors of Columbus and Phoenix City, the provost marshal with the chiefs of police, the fort Benning information officer with newspaper publishers, radio and television executives and educational leaders, the post chaplain with local representatives of the church, and there is a cross section of leaders in the business, industrial and civic communities as well. Fort Benning moves to a military beat, but there is a strong family heartbeat as well. It shows in its recreational life and in its social activities. A community feeling makes itself helpful in many ways. Faith is a powerful ingredient in the spirit of Fort Benning regardless of creed or denomination. It is particularly meaningful and sustaining to many families that live in the vicinity of Fort Benning. Families of husbands and fathers who serve in a foreign land. Fort Benning trained infantrymen are skilled and resourceful soldiers. They rightly claim a lion's share of this nation's combat successes. The Benning mission is simple but lofty. To produce the world's finest infantrymen and combat infantry leaders, a mission symbolized by its towering statue of a rifleman and the traditional cry of the infantry soldier, follow me. The heart of the training effort is lodged in the new six-story infantry hall. The Fort Benning complex and its huge educational plant are under the direct control of a major general, who is both commanding general of a post and commandant of the school. He is aided by an assistant commandant for school activities and a chief of staff who coordinates the activities of a large directorate and a special staff. On any given school day, approximately 12,000 officers and men, including students from 57 allied countries, throng corridors and classrooms with another 2,000 engaged in outside studies. They study a wide-ranging spectrum of subjects, 240 grouped in 27 courses, whose effectiveness is constantly being evaluated by the director of instruction and his staff. There is every type of visual aid, including closed circuit television. Two TV studios are kept busy turning out video training tapes. All grades are computerized to record and evaluate the progress of the students and the effectiveness of teaching methods. But more important than any computer or teaching device is the human relationship between students and teachers, most of whom are veterans of Vietnam. They are aware that the students, often of senior commissioned rank, have come to learn and are eager to be challenged. This huge complex teaching program produces over 56,000 highly trained infantry specialists and leaders each year. The largest group of graduates is turned out by the school's Airborne Department, over 25,000 annually. Despite its rigorous training and hazardous mission, there never is a shortage of volunteers. In three crammed weeks, they learn the fundamentals of military parachuting, how to exit a plane, the correct positions for body and feet, and the proper landing technique. A high point, literally, is the jump from the 250-foot tower where the student has the experience of controlling a parachute during an actual descent. He is taught how to follow through on the ground by controlling the parachute despite adverse winds. In the final week, the student must make five jumps to qualify. On the last jump, he carries a full combat load. There is tension in the jump plane, but training, conditioning, and the presence of an experienced jump master calms the students. Whatever hesitation they feel, there is none when they jump. It is a memorable moment for each newborn paratrooper. He has proved himself to be a superb embodiment of the spirit of Fort Benning. A member of a fighting elite emerges from the Ranger Training Command of the Infantry School. It not only graduates some of the world's toughest, most resourceful fighting men, it also develops combat leaders. They are capable of operating for an extended period over any type of terrain in either a conventional or counter-guerrilla environment. The training is deliberately severe and challenging in order to toughen the Ranger's body and mind. A series of confidence tests develop control of normal human fears, such as fear of water, height, and bodily injury. Engineers estimate the trainee hits the water with an impact of 50 miles an hour. Hand-to-hand combat teaches him aggressiveness and confidence in his ability to defend himself with his hands and feet. He learns a basic lesson for the Ranger, how to kill silently. He moves to the mountains of Georgia for training and mountaineering skills and conventional warfare. He becomes adept at handling rope, using it to scamper up and down sheer walls with ease, employing it as a lifeline for litter evacuation, building rope bridges so that he can cross difficult terrain with a minimum of time and effort. The emphasis is on patrols, day and night, of exhausting length and intensity. They continue in the swamps of Florida, where training shifts to counter-guerrilla warfare. This part of the course teaches the Ranger to operate in thick underbrush and in water. The hunger, fatigue, sleeplessness, and other hardships he must endure often exceed those he will have in combat. The course concludes with an offensive operation against jungle-trained experienced troops who simulate a guerrilla force. Superbly trained, daring, and resourceful, it is no wonder the Ranger was given the accolade of the Army's ultimate soldier. The Army's need for highly trained small unit leaders has long been answered by Fort Benning's superb officer candidate school. The candidates move through a rigorous 23-week course, striving for the gold bars of a second lieutenant. Each man becomes proficient in the operation and maintenance of all infantry weapons. Most important, he learns how to handle troops in combat. He is confronted with a variety of realistic battlefield situations which tax his skill and command ability to the utmost. The grueling months of training are climaxed by the most strenuous exercise of all, a company assault on an enemy position supported by combined arms. During the exercise, each candidate rotates through different command positions in the squad, platoon, and company. Only when he proves to the satisfaction of watchful officers that he has the quality of leadership can the candidate hope to win a commission. This is only a part of the immense and complex training effort carried on by the infantry school. The large numbers of men, weapons, and vehicles necessary to stage over 320 instructional problems performed approximately 12,000 times annually are provided by the 197th Infantry Brigade. This brigade is the world's largest, over 7,000 men strong. To stage these demonstrations, the 197th draws foot soldiers from three infantry battalions. Tank and artillery from armored and artillery battalions. Combat engineer companies and a chemical platoon from Brigade Headquarters Company. And a scout dog detachment. Every skilled infantryman and infantry leader was once a beginner, and these recruits are raw beginners indeed. Every week, nearly 900 inductees enter Fort Benning's Infantry Training Center to receive eight weeks of basic combat training. The transition from civilian life is abrupt for these youngsters, but they are helped to adjust by their drill sergeant. These experienced sergeants are hand-picked non-coms, all volunteers. There are three per platoon, and they stay with the same platoon all the way through basic training. The fledgling soldier learns how to use and care for his weapon. He learns the ways of the army, and is toughened mentally and physically for rough bodily contact by training exercises like the use of the Pugelsteck. In eight fast-moving weeks, the awkward rookie has taken on considerable polish and self-confidence. He has become impugned with the spirit of the infantry. He is now ready for advanced individual training as an infantryman or schooling as a technician. Fort Benning is the birthplace of air mobility. The large numbers of helicopters and crews required for training in this type of warfare are provided by an aviation group, one of the largest tactical army aviation organizations in the United States. It teaches gunship pilots and door gunners the art of suppressive fire. It also conducts a variety of transitional training programs for helicopter crews and gives aviation mechanics the maintenance skills for direct and general support. Entirely separate from the aviation group is the Lawson Army Aviation Command. It is primarily a service and support operation for the infantry senate. Lawson easily ranks among the top 20 of the most active airports in the United States, civilian as well as military, with over 200,000 takeoffs and landings yearly. Thus, in many ways, Fort Benning operates as a major and very active metropolitan area, self-sustaining to an extraordinary degree. Like any large city, it must have a large number of municipal services to keep it running smoothly. These are provided by personnel of the center troop command, which includes a women's army corps detachment. There are police and fire protection services, transportation facilities, fuel, finance, communications, engineering services of an unlimited variety, and an army field printing plant. This giant plant operates around the clock to meet the instructional needs of Fort Benning and the 360,000 students and instructors in the ROTC, National Guard, Army Reserve, and Army Infantry non-resident programs. One of Fort Benning's most vital installations is Martin Army Hospital, a modern nine-story structure. It offers a complete range of medical, surgical, diagnostic, and pathological services. Martin has a 930-bed capacity and can be expanded to meet future needs. One of the hospital's happiest functions is the output of brand-new Americans, as many as 2,000 babies are born here each year. Hardly less impressive in size and specialization is the Army Dental Clinic. Its dispensaries and laboratories provide a complete range of dental services. Scattered throughout Fort Benning are a host of tenant units, all concerned with improving the combat capabilities of today's and tomorrow's infantrymen. Among them are the infantry board, which tests and evaluates newly developed weapons and equipment. The Infantry Agency, whose concern is the development of future combat material and doctrine. The Human Resources Research Unit, whose personnel study training needs and human factors that determine combat effectiveness. A marksmanship training unit, which promotes individual effectiveness with weapons and prepares Army shooters for Olympic and international competition. Fort Benning is huge and marvelously complex in its varied activities, but its spirit is not to be found in its massive educational plant or in its overwhelming statistics. Its spirit is alive, vibrant, warming the blood of the fighting men who train there. It is in the young recruit who attains manhood in the rigors of combat training. The officer candidate who discovers in himself the magic power of leadership. The ranger who makes the wilderness his home. The airborne men of steel who learn to assault the enemy from the sky. Their spirit is found in the families of these men who share their trials and triumphs and give them tireless devotion. There are very special words for these people at Fort Benning, words expressed by the President of the United States. You are a family of patriots. You are a community of courage. The spirit of Fort Benning finds its most exalted expression in the epic poem, I am the infantry, which is a stirring climax to graduation exercises held in infantry hall. I was there from the beginning, meeting the enemy face to face. For two centuries I have kept our nation safe, purchasing freedom with my blood. I am the infantry, follow me. From bull run to apomanics, I fought and bled. Both blue and white were my colors then. Two masters I served and united them strong, proved that this nation could right a wrong and long endure. I am the infantry, follow me. At Chateau Thierry, first over the top, it was I who cracked the Hindenburg line. In the arcane I broke the Kaiser spine and did not come back till it was over, over there. I am the infantry, follow me. A generation older at Batan, I took a beating, then bowed to return. I invaded Tunisia on the African shore, dug into the sand at Anzio. The English Channel, stout beach defenses, and the hedgerows could not hold me. I broke out at Saint-Laus, unbent the bulge, bolted the Rhine and stormed into the Nazi heartland. Hitler's dream and the Third Reich were dead. In the Pacific, I hopped from island to island. I did return to hit the beaches and to set the rising sun. I am the infantry, follow me. In Korea, I gathered my strength around Busan, crossed the frozen Han, outflanked the Reds at Incheon, and marched to the Yalo. Follow me. A bayonet and the wings of power keeps the peace worldwide. My allies in the mountains and forests, in the jungles and rice paddies, I teach, I aid, I lead. Follow me. Where brave men fight, there fight I in freedom's cause. From conquered bridge to heartbreak ridge, from the Arctic to the Mekong, the Queen of battle always ready, then, now, and forever. I am the infantry, follow me. Follow me. Follow me. Follow me.