It is hard to be herded in with a lot of raw material, ranked as a low private

Stuck in camp at Sandricourt, Grant continued to be frustrated by his initiation into army life...

Sunday, November 4, 1917:

No details for me today. Laid around and read this A.M. up to 10 o’clock when I went over to YMCA for the morning service. It is the first religious service I have been to since May 13 when I went to church with Dot in Ambler. I must confess that I felt out-of-place and nervous, but I’m very glad I went. The Doctor gave us a very nice short talk with the text “Know ye not that I must learn my Father’s business” as a foundation. He applied it to this camp by saying in brief that what sacrifices and hardships we are undergoing here are merely training us for the hardships and sacrifices yet to come. It is our duty as educated, well-bred men to take hold like men and do our work willingly in order to get as much out of it as possible and come out stronger and bigger men than we were before we got into this thing.

There has been a good deal of dissatisfaction among the boys here at Sandricourt. The details have been long and hard and accommodations have not been of the best. We are paving the way for a permanent base here and much has to be done for the large numbers of ambulance drivers who are expected soon.

As for myself and those who have experienced front work, especially those of us who were formally attached to the Norton-Harjes Corps, can’t help feeling that we have been stepped on. After being treated as 2nd Lieut. for six months and having gone through six months of active service it is hard to come back and be herded in with a lot of raw material, ranked as a low private, with officers over us who have never seen the front. Is it right or not? Maybe our time is coming, but this intermediary step is not helping our opinion of the American army in France very much.