Part 9

Time on furlough not to count for retirement or increase of pay, and men on such furlough not to be counted in strength of company.

Recruits on foreign service should have the privilege of the furlough only after two years service, and men with regiments in the U. S. who wish to remain in the service, after one year’s service should be encouraged or required to transfer to foreign service for the next two years.

Men whose service in their first year has not been satisfactory and who are not fairly trained should be required to serve two years before being granted a furlough. The law should also provide that men, whose conduct is found unsatisfactory by a board of officers and the finding is approved by the colonel, may be furloughed at any time after two years service whether the man desires it or not.

It is believed the plan would work if no pay were given men on furlough, but if each be paid ten dollars each six months on reporting his address by mail to the adjutant of the post it would help in finding him when wanted and might be an inducement to some to enlist.

An effort should be made to get young men as recruits. Boys of eighteen or over if physically strong should be encouraged to enlist. Young men are easier to train and for a longer time afterwards are available for service.

We need a reserve but no men should be enlisted directly for it. The reserve for the regular service should be our men on furlough. Men too long out of service and advanced in years are not what is needed for the regular service which must be ready at short notice to face serious war.

[Sidenote: Reasons for enlistment plan]

The reasons for the foregoing recommendations as they appear to the author are:

1. Five years is as long as the average man is willing to pledge his future for military service unless he means to make it a life occupation. The latter class is not the best for the government. Young men are the best for the ranks in time of war. Men who serve only long enough to be trained for the work are to be desired. It results in a much greater number of trained men being available in time of war and is much cheaper, for it reduces current pay and the retired list.

2. The great importance of having as many trained men as possible and having them dispersed through the country to help in the formation of the new regiments at the outbreak of war is apparent to any one who thinks on this subject.

3. If recruits be received during the winter months only, the organizations can follow a prescribed course of instruction and complete it annually. If recruits dribble in throughout the year a proper course of instruction cannot be satisfactorily given in that time.

4. At the outbreak of war, it is of vital importance that we have as strong a force as possible of men fully ready trained and equipped. The losses at first in this force will be heavy. If green recruits, enough to fill the regular organizations to war strength and to make good the early losses, be poured in on them they will cease to be trained organizations. A reserve is a necessity. This will provide it at small cost.

5. Many excellent and patriotic young men are willing to serve a short time in the army for the experience and training. Four years, however, is longer than they are willing to postpone settling down to their real life’s work. These are the men it is most desirable to get into the army, not as professional soldiers, but as a trained reserve for war. For the first years they are a reserve for the regular companies, then they become available for officers or non-commissioned officers of volunteers. This class of young men will enlist much more freely when they can do so and lose only one year from civil pursuits.

6. Enlisting men as young as they are physically fit interferes less with their civil careers, hence will get us more desirable recruits. The physical and mental discipline a boy thus gets will help him in his future work and the younger he gets it, so long as it does not interfere with his schooling, the more it will be worth to him. Taking the recruit young, the five years while his military service is with the regulars are the five best for that purpose. Later when older, more developed mentally and matured in judgment he is best in higher rank than private with the volunteers. If he enters at 18 he is available at 23 for the volunteers or national guard and has at least seven years left in which he can be considered at his best.

7. The provision for letting men out at the end of one year, provided their conduct has been good and they are fairly instructed, will be a great aid to discipline and a preventative of desertion. A good many young men enter the service thoughtlessly and find after a few weeks that the life is different from what they expected. They look ahead to over three years more of it and the weak ones desert. They are not vicious nor criminal as a rule but this step injures them seriously; they become prisoners or fugitives, and either will decrease the man’s moral stamina and self respect. This provision will greatly reduce this. The man will see that he has only to behave himself for the rest of the year to return to civil life with a clean record. The great expense resulting from desertion will be largely eliminated. The men will be more contented, they will feel they can leave in a short time if they wish, which will tend to decrease the desire to quit. This does not prevent those staying in the service who wish to do so. A few old soldiers are desirable.

Less than one year’s training is not sufficient in which to cover properly the course the infantry soldier should have. Two years is necessary to make a good job of it. But we need more men who can be used in war. With some thoroughly trained men in the ranks it is believed better to have 100 others of one year’s training than fifty of two or more.

[Sidenote: Enlistments for the national guard]

The national guard should have the same period of five years for enlistment with a provision for inactive service, except in war, after two years of service, unless the man has had service in some other organization, as a college battalion. Less than two years is not enough training to be of value where so little time per year is devoted to it.

While it has nothing to do with training, there is another provision that should be in the enlistment law; that is, that every man who enlists for five years, and is in service when war breaks out, shall be liable for service for at least one year thereafter no matter when his term expires. At the outbreak of a great war is no time to discharge trained men.

XII

IN CONCLUSION

[Sidenote: Relative values]

Time is wasted at most posts on some things that are of little value compared with the time spent on them.

“Butt’s Manual” is fine callisthenic drill and at proper times should be practiced. It would be just as valuable and even more so if, instead of having the men learn to go through it all without command, an instructor gave the movements and the men executed them purely for physical drill. The cadence amounts to little, but executing them so as to exercise properly the desired muscles is important.

Many captains spend a great deal of time practicing this so that their companies can go through the whole series without command and to music. It is pretty, and for the chorus in a musical comedy act might be a success, but for soldiers it is a waste of valuable drill time that could and should be put to better use.

Our inspectors have had something to do with this, and county fairs and similar shows, more. The narrow scope of instruction followed in some companies, and the seeking for the easiest way to kill the drill hour by a few, has helped to give this its prominence in our training.

[Sidenote: Target practice]

Our target practice is open to criticism in some respects. Its importance can not be overestimated and it must not be slighted, but rational methods should be followed. It is necessary to appreciate fully what is required and wanted.

The individual man must be a fairly good marksman for two reasons: so that he can place his shots in a designated locality, and to give him confidence in himself. The better the men can shoot, other things being equal, the more confidence they have in themselves and in each other. For practical results on the battlefield an expert rifleman is of little if any more value than a marksman. Good, fair shooting by every man in the company is what is desired.

On the battlefield much depends on the confirmed habit, this habit-forming can not be done on the target range, but throughout the year’s work. Not to exceed two weeks a year should be allowed to any company for known distance practice on the range. If its work during the rest of the year has been properly done, this is sufficient. The rest of the time is needed for other work. But the time put on field firing, where done in the solution of correct tactical problems, cannot well be excessive. The more of this the better.

[Sidenote: Extra pay]

The law granting extra pay to expert shots, sharpshooters and marksmen is not believed good in its effect; it gives undue importance to range firing. An expert rifleman without other training and discipline is of but little value on the battlefield, while even a second class shot, well trained and disciplined, is infinitely his superior as a soldier. This law should be amended so as to divide the men into two classes: the best men in each company to be rated as 1st class. To be so rated the man must be thoroughly well trained in _all_ his duties, of excellent character and 1st classmen or better in target shooting. The extra pay for 1st classmen to be so alloted as to cost the government no more than is now paid for higher classifications. Men have drawn this extra pay for qualification as shots who were of but little account as soldiers.

[Sidenote: Rifle firing competitions]

Rifle firing among young men in civil life should be encouraged. It is a necessary _part_ of a soldier’s training and is that much accomplished toward making efficient soldiers of them if the occasion arises.

Our rifle competitions take too much time and are allowed to interfere too much with regular training. Officers should not be allowed to compete. Their work during this season is with their companies; they should be learning the duties of an officer not that of the private in the ranks. It is undoubted that a man can not make much of a success teaching what he does not know. The officer must know how to shoot well enough to be an instructor, he must know the theory and have the knack of instructing. He does not need to neglect his regular work for weeks at a time several summers to acquire this at competitions.

The best company instructor in rifle firing the author ever saw on a target range was a first sergeant who himself never made better than marksman. The company was very short on sharpshooters and experts but was still shorter on 3d class men. The poorest instructor he ever saw was an officer whose breast on state occasions was covered with big medals for shooting. He had to spare his own eyes so as to make phenomenal scores; the instruction of the new men in the company was of little importance compared with the former.

[Sidenote: Proper garrisoning]

The proper garrisoning of the army, to avoid so much necessary labor and afford better opportunities for training, has been given great attention by the War Department. May it soon meet with success. But much can be done even under present conditions to help in this matter. This beautiful parking perfectly kept is pretty, but it takes ground needed for other purposes and requires an immense amount of “fatigue” labor. This labor could be reduced: the parks would not be so pretty but military efficiency would be greater. For which does the government spend its money?

[Sidenote: Strength of the company]

Our companies should be increased in size to 100 men in peace, in war to 150. Our companies are now too small for good training; it requires too many new men to raise them to war strength, and the present strength is wasteful of money and effort.

With the companies at a fixed peace strength of 65 it means much of the time still less. There are not enough men to drill in the regular platoon formations. In our extended order work the captain is reduced to the capacity of a platoon commander and platoon commanders are out of a job. These men do not get practice in the handling of their proper units and it can not fail to diminish their interest and enthusiasm and result in poorer work as well as in incomplete work.

In the case of war we shall need our regular organizations very promptly and as efficient as possible. At the same time these organizations are certain to lose many officers taken for other duties. The addition of much more than one man to each two then in ranks, even if they have been previously trained, is a serious blow to efficiency. The new men must either be untrained or men from a reserve. If from a reserve they are rusty on many points and are apt to be strange to the officers who change in a company so frequently. Adding 50 reservists to a company of 100 men will do no harm; adding 85 to a company of 65 will be very different and, if the men added in the second case be untrained recruits, we shall not have a trained unit but a school of instruction.

A great objection to our present strength is the fact that it is so wasteful of money and effort.

The object of the army is to have a trained force ready for action and to help train the great mass of men that will be called out in case of war. We want as many trained men as possible, both for the ranks and to help prepare others. Since we cannot have a large army we should do all we are able with what we have.

We have in the regular army an expensive plant; the interest on cost and overhead charges form a large part of the annual cost, the cost for privates is relatively small. There is a demand and need for the output, trained soldiers; yet we produce less than half of what we could for the same cost, except pay of privates. With no increase in interest on plant and pay of officers and senior non-commissioned officers and administration, we could more than double our output of trained men and more than double our efficiency for war, and the training would be much better.

A private corporation doing business this way would probably go into bankruptcy.

[Sidenote: New organization in war]

One thing should be made a fixed policy and made positive law now so that in case of a real war it will be carried out. All organizations received into the service for the war must be at full strength.

We shall require in such a war a very large army which means the utilizing of all the organizations we now have and forming many new ones. By filling all existing organizations to war strength we reduce the number of new ones to be formed and utilize their training capacity to the best advantage; they can not be taken at their existing strength and state of training and have much value in battle. We shall need so many men that must be trained that we must use what means of training we have to its utmost.

By reducing the number of new organizations, more and better officers can be used for their training; there will be more chance of getting the necessary instructors for them. A few of the right kind of men can fit for service a full strength regiment as well as one of half strength and better officers and non-commissioned officers can be found for it, for there will be fewer required and the average can be higher.

Besides the difference in cost, administration, road space on the march, and the tactical handling when massed in great numbers, are of great importance and are much better done with fewer organizations.

[Sidenote: The army’s responsibility]

Upon the army today rests a great responsibility. With our small numbers and many faults in organization and stations we must be as nearly ready for a great war as possible; not only personally ready but do what we can to make the organization of a great and efficient army, if it ever becomes necessary, a possibility.

This means we must study and know our profession thoroughly, give a helping hand to the national guard when and where we can and to any other organization that does something toward the military training of men who may make up this great army if it has to be raised. We must remember that there are many things to be taught a man before he is an efficient soldier; all he learns before he joins a volunteer regiment is that much of a help.

But our chief duty, after personal qualification, is to make the best soldiers possible out of the men under us. This is what we are paid for and this is worth much more to our country than anything else we can do in peace. We should make the best we can of the conditions as they exist at our post, they may not be favorable for getting the best results but that is no reason for our not getting the best possible.

The quitter, the man who does as little as possible, who always wants to be away from troops because things are not as he thinks they should be, or who does nothing because he cannot do it exactly as laid down, is a curse to the army; he should leave the service and sell ribbons.

Rational, systematic training besides producing the greatest military efficiency will keep the men interested in their work and will occupy more of their time; the men will be more contented. Interested and contented men will furnish a smaller sick report and fewer deserters. There will be less dissipation hence less punishment.

Discontent, ennui, a constant grouch, injure digestion and bring on other physical ills. This is another responsibility resting on officers—that for the men under them. With young men we have a great influence on their characters and future careers. We make men better fit for life’s work or turn them back worse than we found them.

To the credit of the army it can be said that in most cases an enlistment served therein is a benefit to the majority who so serve. The men are physically and mentally better for a short service and I believe morally. There is certainly less excessive drinking among our soldiers in nearly all regiments than in a corresponding number of civilians in the same vicinity, and the same is true as to other vices. In personal cleanliness, decency and politeness they are far ahead of the average man of the same social standing as that from which they come. Many employers have recognized this, and are giving preference to discharged soldiers in employment. The uniform makes the man conspicuous and one drunken soldier in a thousand will call for more attention than ten drunken civilians out of five hundred.

The duty of trying to improve the men morally is a military as well as a moral duty. It is in line with what has been said before: the better the man, the more valuable the soldier, the more he can be taught, the more he can help to train others, and the more likely is he to remain in physical condition to be fit for service in the field.

“We have a profession not a trade.” Let us take it seriously, appreciate our responsibility, make the best of conditions as we find them, improving them where we can, and train ourselves and those under us to be THE BEST INFANTRY.

Transcriber’s Notes

pg 21 Changed: Minature bridges were constructed to: Miniature bridges were constructed

pg 41 Changed: take each major’s target and divided to: take each major’s target and divide

pg 62 Changed: with fire must be largely theorectical to: with fire must be largely theoretical

pg 72 Changed: The high explosive shel to: The high explosive shell

pg 77 Changed: if the enemy is enountered to: if the enemy is encountered

pg 94 Changed: it will not gain the necesary to: it will not gain the necessary

pg 96 Changed: Having gone through such an exercies to: Having gone through such an exercise

pg 98 Changed: When a recontre engagement occurs to: When a rencontre engagement occurs

pg 107 Changed: very loose, should be unbottoned to: very loose, should be unbuttoned

pg 110 Changed: The command should march to come point to: The command should march to some point

pg 173 Changed: for officers or non-commisioned to: for officers or non-commissioned