With Hawaii's Aja Boys at Camp Shelby Mississippi

              CHAPTER VII
Heat and Chiggers
CAMP SHELBY, Miss., Aug. 12.
—On the surface there seem to be
two chronic complaints here among
Hawaii troops with the 442nd combat team. Neither cause of complaint
can be seen, but each can be felt
after   its'  fashion.
One is the heat, and the other is
the chigger, that malevolent insect
which digs its way into the skin
and sets up the devil's own itch
a few hours later.
Talk with any Hawaii boy here
about army life, and without variation comes the answer, "Plenty
hot—plenty."
It is. Compared with Hawaii's
temperature of 70 and low 80's,
plus humidity, the thermometer
here is in the 90's or over the 100
degree mark, with humidity. The
boys tell of one day when it was
122  in  the  sun.
It is a steaming heat. The humid
Gulf of Mexico lies less than 100
miles to the south. There are a few
alligators in some of the streams in
these parts, so they say.
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Many of the islanders and main-
landers visit New Orleans on weekend pass, and go swimming in Lake
Ponchartrain there. They like it—
especially the girls, who seem to
have made a great impression. But
they say Lake Ponchartrain is too
warm—not cool like Waimanalo.
The heat provides them with an
obvious,    surface    complaint,    and
thereby may serve a good purpose.
It is a medical  fact, however,
that   they   have   adjusted   themselves   physically   to    the    heat,
however   much   they  may   gripe
about it.
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At first some of them had to fall
out on marches. Water "control," as
it is called, was not the best during
the first days here. Some of the
soldiers gulped down cold water
and became sick.
That doesn't happen now. Their
own experience and the advice of
their officers have changed that.
Regimental doctors say that heat
cases almost never occur. Nobody
dropped out when the combat team
marched in review the other day
under a baking afternoon sun. Nobody dropped out on yesterday's
march into the field.
This is the hottest time of the
year here. Winters are cool, and
sometimes uncomfortably cold.
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As for chiggers—well, the Hawaii
contingent will take centipedes any
time in preference.
People here say that the minute
the Hawaii troops stepped off the
train on their arrival last April,
they started looking around the
station for snakes. They are still
on the lookout for them, and they
find them.
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Aside from heat and chiggers,
there is a third standard remark
about army life. "Plenty tough,"
they say.
It isn't easy. The men were up
at 5 o'clock yesterday, preparing
to march into the field for five days
training. The day's work did not
end until long after dark. At 5 this
morning, with stars still shining,
they were routed out by bugle call
for  another  day.
In camp the day is not as long.
Right now the troops in the field
are training under "tactical conditions." In other words, they are
working at war in earnest—and,
supposedly, there is an enemy
nearby who doesn't observe the
eight hour union day when he directs his artillery fire and times
his assaults.
And so the day in the field is
long—a 24 hour day for the organization, though less for the individual soldier.
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The training day is not one of
ceaseless activity. A platoon may
be sprawled on the ground, resting,
or listening to a talk by the second
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