Life Goes to a Wac Bivouac
THE GIRLS OF COMPANY E HAVE A ROUGH WEEK
To the 900 Wacs at Fort Lee, Va. the big event of the first "weeks of Army life is a five-day bivouac where they live under what the Army calls, "field conditions." Like any soldier, a Wac must learn to live where there are no houses, no plumbing and no modern kitchens. These Army women soldiers, who now number 9,400, learn the hard way by living in the open, rain or shine, winter or summer. Lisa Larsen, one of LIFE'S heartier female photographers, found that they not only thrive on it but really enjoy it. Her pictures on these and the following pages are eloquent testimony to the stamina and sportsmanship of the 142 girls of Company E, whose average age is 19.6 years.
The bivouac was held a few miles from Fort Lee's main post in the late Virginia winter. Neither the weather nor the work daunted the girls.They lived in squad tents and even mastered the art of pitching a pup tent. They went through gas drill (page 152), learned field sanitation, camouflage, and fired carbines on the range. They ate with a lumberjack's appetite but after marching back to the post found they still could get into their "lady clothes" -skirts and blouses they wear on dates.
OFF TO CHOW with their mess gear, Wacs march snappily past 20 tents in which they live.
OFF TO CLASS in character guidance, three Wacs carry chaplain's heavy field equipment.
AT CHOW Wacs turn backs on dog that wandered out from post and eat their fill. Company E brags that it has the best mess in the training center, and the Wacs' appetites substantiated boast. For breakfast one morning 180 girls put away 37 dozen fried eggs (2.5 each), 35 pounds of bacon and 24 gallons of coffee.  |
| continued on page 152 |
BEDDING was picked up at bivouac area and carried to tents. To keep warm on cots, Wacs discovered that they had to sleep on top of blankets as well as under them.
DRINKING WATER had to be carried by bucket 50 yards to canvas Lister bag set up in the living area.
A WINCING WAC (right) finds first lesson in camouflage an ordeal. Wacs later learned to camouflage whole buildings with rolls of netting covered with pine needles and twigs.
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