*** Source: Record of Eighty-sixth Company California Military Reserve; San Francisco?: unknown, 1920?, 37 pgs. Notice: This data is donated to the Public Domain by TAG, 2004, and may be copied freely by anyone to anywhere. *** ---page 15--- If the Officers Association had been organized as soon as sufficient companies had been licensed to make an effective association, it is safe to say that many, if not all, of the disagreeable incidents which served only to impair the efficiency of the Home Guard would not have occurred. With the headquarters of the association at Sacramento, the Executive Committee would have acted as a means of communication between the companies and The Adjutant General and the fullest co-operation would have been assured. ACHIEVEMENT. If it be true that "they also serve who only stand and wait", the Eighty-sixth Company may well be proud of its record. Its members were at all times ready to perform any service that might be required of them, and instead of merely marking time endeavored in every way to fit themselves for the emergency which was feared but did not occur. It drilled once a week for fourteen months, except for a period of three weeks, when the "flu" was prevalent. During a part of this time there were extra drills at the armory. The field exercises, including the work of constructing the trenches, occupied not less and often more than six hours of each of eight Sundays. All this, however, was in performance of the service required by the Home Guard Regulations. Its proudest achievement is that it helped to train eight young men who entered the military service of the United States. That it did not do more is due entirely to the failure of the authorities to recognize the value of the training that could be given by such organizations as the Home Guard, to men about to enter service. *** end ***