The character and efficiency of officers and the manner in which they perform their duties are reflected in the conduct and deportment of their men.

Of course, courage is a prerequisite quality for a good officer, and every officer should seek to impress his men that he would direct them to do nothing involving danger that he would not himself be willing to do under similar circ.u.mstances.

If a company officer be ignorant of his duties, his men will soon find it out, and when they do they will have neither respect for, nor confidence in, him.

Company officers should take an active interest in everything that affects the amus.e.m.e.nt, recreation, happiness and welfare of their men.

An officer just joining a company should learn without delay the names of all the men. A roll of the organization should be gotten and studied.

While an officer can gruffly order a soldier to do a thing and have his orders obeyed, it should be remembered that, as a rule, human nature, especially American human nature, responds best to an appeal to pride, fairness, justice, reason, and the other n.o.bler instincts of man. It is only in rare instances that the average man will give the best there is in him under coercion or pressure of authority.

There are but few men who have not some good in them, and this good can generally be gotten at, if one only goes about it in the right way. Study your men and try to arouse in them pride and interest in their work.

The soldier first learns to respect, then to honor and finally to love the officer who is strict but just; firm but kind--and this is the officer who will draw out of his men the very best there is in them.

=872.= Treat your men like men, and remember there is nothing that will so completely take the spirit out of a man as to find fault with him when he is doing his best.

Young officers sometimes run to one of two extremes in the treatment of their men--they either, by undue familiarity, or otherwise, cultivate popularity with the men; or they do not treat them with sufficient consideration--the former course will forfeit their esteem; the latter, ensure their dislike, neither of which result is conducive to commanding their respect.

Treat your soldiers with proper consideration, dignity, and justice--remember they are members of your profession, the difference being one of education, rank, command, and pay--but they are men, like yourself, and should be treated as such.

Under no circ.u.mstances should you ever swear at a soldier--not only is this taking a mean, unfair advantage of your position, but it is also undignified, ungentlemanly, and unmilitary. It is even more improper for you to swear at a soldier than it is for a superior to swear at you--in the latter case the insult can be properly resented; in the former, it must be borne in humiliating silence.

Remember, that if by harsh or unfair treatment you destroy a man's self-respect, you at the same time destroy his usefulness.

Familiarity is, of course, most subversive of discipline, but you can treat your men with sympathetic consideration without being familiar with them.

In dealing with enlisted men, do not use the same standard of intellect and morals that apply in the case of officers. And remember, too, that a thing that may appear small and trivial to an officer may mean a great deal to an enlisted man--study your men, learn their desires, their habits, their way of thinking, and then in your dealings with them try to look at things from their standpoint also.

In other words in your treatment of your men be just as human as possible.

The treatment of soldiers should be uniform and just, and under no circ.u.mstances should a man be humiliated unnecessarily or abused.

Reproof and punishment must be administered with discretion and judgment, and without pa.s.sion; for the officer who loses his temper and flies into a tantrum has failed to obtain his first triumph in discipline. He who can not control himself can not control others.

Every officer should study himself carefully, he should a.n.a.lyze himself, he should place himself under a microscopic gla.s.s, so as to discover his weak points--and he should then try with his whole might and soul to make these weak points strong points. If, for instance, you realize that you are weak in applied minor tactics, or that you have no "b.u.mp of locality," or that you have a poor memory, or that you have a weak will, do what you can to correct these defects in your make-up. Remember "Stonewall" Jackson's motto: "A man can do anything he makes up his mind to do."

The Progress Company, Chicago, Ill., publishes "Mind Power," "Memory,"

"The Will," "The Art of Logical Thinking" (all by W. W. Atkinson), and several other books of a similar nature, that are both interesting and instructive. "The Power of the Will," by Haddock, for sale by Albert Lewis Pelton, Meriden, Conn., is an excellent book of its kind.

THE FIRST SERGEANT

=873.= It has been said the captain is the proprietor of the company and the first sergeant is the foreman.

Under supervision of the captain, he has immediate charge of all routine matters pertaining to the company.

In some companies in the Regular Army, it is customary for soldiers, except in cases of emergency, to get permission from the first sergeant to speak to the company commander at any time. In other organizations soldiers who wish to speak to the company commander away from the company quarters must first obtain the first sergeant's permission, but it is not necessary to get this permission to speak to the company commander when he is at the barracks.

The first sergeant is sometimes authorized to place noncommissioned officers in arrest in quarters and privates in confinement in the guardhouse, a.s.suming such action to be by order of the captain, to whom he at once reports the facts. However, with regard to the confinement of soldiers by noncommissioned officers, attention is invited to the Army Regulations on the subject.

THE NONCOMMISSIONED OFFICERS

=(The status, duties, etc., of noncommissioned officers are covered in greater detail in Noncommissioned Officers' Manual, by the author.

General agents: George Banta Publishing Co., Menasha, Wis.)=

=874.= The efficiency and discipline of a company depend to such an extent on the noncommissioned officers that the greatest care and judgment should be exercised in their selection. They should be men possessing such soldierly qualities as a high sense of duty, cheerful obedience to orders, force of character, honesty, sobriety and steadiness, together with an intelligent knowledge of drills, regulations, and orders.

They should exact prompt obedience from those to whom they give orders, and should see that all soldiers under them perform their military duties properly. They must not hesitate to reprove them when necessary, but such reproof must not be any more severe than the occasion demands.

The company officers must sustain the noncommissioned officers in the exercise of their authority, except, of course, when such authority is improperly or unjustly exercised. If they do wrong, they should be punished the same as the privates, but if it be simply an error of judgment they should merely be admonished. A noncommissioned officer should never be admonished in the presence of privates.

Judicious praising of noncommissioned officers in the presence of privates is not only gratifying to the noncommissioned officer, but it also tends to enhance the respect and esteem of the privates for him.

In addition to dividing the company into squads, each squad being under a noncommissioned officer as required by the Army Regulations, the company should also be divided into sections, each section being in charge of a sergeant. The squads and sections should, as far as possible, be quartered together in barracks, and the chiefs of squads and the chiefs of sections should be held strictly responsible for the conduct, dress, cleanliness, and the care of arms of the members of their respective squads and sections. Not only does this throw the corporals and the sergeants upon their own responsibility to a certain extent, but it also impresses upon them the importance of their position, and gets the privates in the habit of realizing and appreciating the authority exercised by noncommissioned officers.

When practicable, the noncommissioned officers should have separate rooms or tents, and should mess together at tables separate from the privates; for, everything that conduces to familiarity with inferiors tends to lower the dignity of the noncommissioned officers' position.

Throw your noncommissioned officers upon their own responsibility--throw them into deep water, so to speak, where they will either have to swim or sink. You can never tell what a man can really do until you have given him a chance to show you--until you have put him on his mettle--until you have tried him out. And very often men who seem to have nothing in them, men who have never before been thrown upon their own responsibility, will surprise you.

Do all you can to make your noncommissioned officers realize and appreciate the importance of their position. Consult them about different matters--get their opinions about various things. When going through the barracks at Sat.u.r.day morning inspection, for instance, as you come to the different squads, have the squad leaders step to the front and follow you while you are inspecting their respective squads.

If you find anything wrong with a man's bunk, speak to the squad leader about it. Also ask the squad leaders various questions about their squads.

Not only does such treatment of noncommissioned officers make them appreciate the importance, responsibility and dignity of their position, but it also gives them more confidence in themselves and raises them in the eyes of the privates.

Noncommissioned officers should always be addressed by their t.i.tles, by both officers and soldiers.

Noncommissioned officers are forbidden by regulations to act as barbers, or as agents for laundries, or in any other position of a similar character.

Everything possible should be done by the company officers to instruct the noncommissioned officers properly in their duties.[8]

So far as the company is concerned, the noncommissioned officers are expected to a.s.sist the company commander in carrying out his own orders and those of his superiors--they should see that all company orders are obeyed and that the known wishes of the captain are carried out. If, for instance, the captain should tell the first sergeant that the men in the company may play cards among themselves, but that noncommissioned officers are not to play with privates and that men from other companies are not allowed to take part in, or to be present at the games, then it is the duty of the first sergeant to see that these instructions are carried out--it is his duty to make frequent inspections of the tables at which the men may be playing to see that no noncommissioned officers are playing and that no outsiders are present. The first sergeant who confined himself to publishing the order to the company and then doing nothing more, would be neglectful of his proper duty.

Noncommissioned officers clothed in the proper uniform of their grade are on duty at all times and places for the suppression of disorderly conduct on the part of members of the company in public places. Men creating disorder will be sent to their quarters in arrest and the facts reported to the company commander without delay.

Noncommissioned officers can do much to prevent the commission of offenses by members of their commands, both when on and when off duty, and such prevention is as much their duty as reporting offenses after they are committed; in fact, it is much better to prevent the offense than to bring the offender to trial.

Company commanders should drill their noncommissioned officers thoroughly in the principles of discipline.

=875. Noncommissioned Officers Authorized to Confine Enlisted Men.= A company or detachment commander may delegate to his noncommissioned officers the authority to confine enlisted men in the guardhouse and to place them in arrest in quarters, provided the case is immediately reported to the company or detachment commander, who confirms the act of the noncommissioned officer and adopts it as his own.--W. D.

decision, December, 1905.

=876. Reduction and Resignation.= A noncommissioned officer should never be reduced to ranks, except for grave and sufficient reasons.

Nothing demoralizes the noncommissioned officers of a company so much and upsets discipline to such an extent as the feeling that upon the slightest pretext or fancy one is to be sent back to the ranks, to a.s.sociate with the privates he has been required to discipline.

In some regiments noncommissioned officers are permitted to send in formal resignations, while in other regiments they are not, but, with the approval of the company commander, they may ask for reduction, giving proper, satisfactory and specific reasons. Of course, resignations submitted in a spirit of accepted insubordination or pique should not be considered, nor should they ever be in subst.i.tution for deserved disciplinary punishment. If a noncommissioned officer has good reasons for requesting reduction and the granting of the request would not result in detriment to the company, there is no reason why his application should not be favorably considered. However, in such a case, the noncommissioned officer should consult his company commander before submitting his request in writing. It is thought the preponderance of custom is against considering formal resignations.

Contentment and Harmony