  We report on results of a 96.7 ks Chandra observation of one of the youngest,
most embedded and massive young stellar clusters studied in X-rays - RCW 38. We
detect 460 sources in the field of which 360 are confirmed to be associated
with the RCW~38 cluster. The cluster members range in luminosity from ~10^30
ergs s^-1 to 10^33.5 ergs s^-1. Over ten percent of the cluster members with
over 100 counts exhibit flares while about 15% of cluster members with over 30
counts are variable. Of the sources identified as cluster members, 160 have
near-infrared (NIR) counterparts either in the 2MASS database or detected via
VLT observations. Of these about 20% appear to have optically thick disks. An
additional 353 members are identified through NIR observations of which at
least 50% possess optically thick disks. We fit over 100 X-ray sources as
absorbed Raymond-Smith type plasmas and find the column to the cluster members
varies from 10^21.5 to 10^23 per sq cm. We compare the gas to dust absorption
signatures in these stars and find Nh= A_v x 2 x 10^21 cm^-2. We find that the
cluster contains 31 candidate OB stars and is centered about 10" (0.1 pc) west
of the primary source of the ionization, the O5 star IRS 2. The cluster has a
peak central density of about 400 X-ray sources pc^-2. We estimate that the
total cluster membership exceeds 2000 stars.
