The Rainbow

The Beginning

When the declaration of war was announced against Germany in April 1917, the United States found itself just as lacking in trained and equipped soldiers as at the beginning of the Spanish-American War. While maintaining a well-trained, small peacetime Regular Army, the United States government had allowed the reserve troop strengths to fall well below the level needed to fight a war of the scale then being fought in Europe. The United States War Department was then faced with the question of how to raise a thoroughly trained and fully equipped army.

The War Department developed a plan to send Regular Army divisions to Europe immediately, but military leaders were opposed to the use of the National Guard as combat troops in Europe. Despite being outnumbered, some military leaders believed that for the United States to be successful in Europe, the National Guard would have to be augmented in some manner.

As time passed, those who supported the use of National Guard troops were able to formulate very detailed plans on the implementation of those troops into the war. Overall, the National Guard units were not prepared to go to war. Many different factors effected the combat-readiness of the National Guard units. Some National Guard units were still on the Mexican border fighting Mexican revolutionaries, while others had just returned from border duty and had been mustered out of the service. Still other National Guard units suffered the same problem as the Regular Army: being at peace strength with no trained reserves.

Major General Charles T. Menoher, Commanding General and Major Douglas A. MacArthur, Chief of Staff, 42nd Infantry Division, from Ohio in the Rainbow, p. 214-215.