CHAPTER IV
SIGNALING
Signals and Codes
General Service Code. (International Morse Code.)
861. Used for all visual and sound signaling, radiotelegraphy, and on cables using siphon recorders, used in communicating with Navy.
| A | · | – | |||||
| B | – | · | · | · | |||
| C | – | · | – | · | |||
| D | – | · | · | ||||
| E | · | ||||||
| F | · | · | – | · | |||
| G | – | – | · | ||||
| H | · | · | · | · | |||
| I | · | · | |||||
| J | · | – | – | – | |||
| K | – | · | – | ||||
| L | · | – | · | · | |||
| M | – | – | |||||
| N | – | · | |||||
| O | – | – | – | ||||
| P | · | – | – | · | |||
| Q | – | – | · | – | |||
| R | · | – | · | ||||
| S | · | · | · | ||||
| T | – | ||||||
| U | · | · | – | ||||
| V | · | · | · | – | |||
| W | · | – | – | ||||
| X | – | · | · | – | |||
| Y | – | · | – | – | |||
| Z | – | – | · | · | |||
| NUMERALS | |||||||
| 1 | · | – | – | – | – | ||
| 2 | · | · | – | – | – | ||
| 3 | · | · | · | – | – | ||
| 4 | · | · | · | · | – | ||
| 5 | · | · | · | · | · | ||
| 6 | – | · | · | · | · | ||
| 7 | – | – | · | · | · | ||
| 8 | – | – | – | · | · | ||
| 9 | – | – | – | – | · | ||
| 0 | – | – | – | – | – | ||
| PUNCTUATION | |||||||
| Period | · | · | · | · | · | · | |
| Comma | · | – | · | – | · | – | · |
| Interrogation | · | · | – | – | · | · | |
THE MORE IMPORTANT CONVENTIONAL FLAG SIGNALS
For communication between the firing line and the reserve or commander in rear. In transmission, their concealment from the enemy's view should be insured. In the absence of signal flags the headdress or other substitute may be used.
(See par. 96 for the signals.)
Wigwag
Signaling by flag, torch, hand lantern, or beam of searchlight
(without shutter)[6]
862. 1. There is one position and there are three motions. The position is with flag or other appliance held vertically, the signalman facing directly toward the station with which it is desired to communicate. The first motion (the dot) is to the right of the sender, and will embrace an arc of 90°, starting with the vertical and returning to it, and will be made in a plane at right angles to the line connecting the two stations. The second motion (the dash) is a similar motion to the left of the sender. The third motion (front) is downward directly in front of the sender and instantly returned upward to the first position. This is used to indicate a pause or conclusion.
2. The beam of the searchlight, though ordinarily used with the shutter like the heliograph, may be used for long-distance signaling, when no shutter is suitable or available, in a similar manner to the flag or torch, the first position being a vertical one. A movement of the beam 90° to the right of the sender indicates a dot, a similar movement to the left indicates a dash; the beam is lowered vertically for front.
3. To use the torch or hand lantern, a footlight must be employed as a point of reference to the motion. The lantern is more conveniently swung out upward to the right of the footlight for a dot, to the left for a dash, and raised vertically for front.
4. To call a station, make the call letter until acknowledged, at intervals giving the call or signal of the calling station. If the call letter of a station is unknown, wave flag until acknowledged. In using the searchlight without shutter throw the beam in a vertical position and move it through an arc of 180° in a plane at right angles to the line connecting the two stations until acknowledged. To acknowledge a call, signal "Acknowledgment (or) I understand (——front)" followed by the call letter of the acknowledging station.
Notes on Wig-wagging
5. In order to avoid the flag wrapping itself about the staff, stand facing the receiving station, with feet apart. Hold the staff with the left hand at butt and right hand 24 inches from end. In moving flag to the right, bring it down with an outward and inward sweep, and then return it to the vertical. When the tip is farthest down the staff inclines to the right front and as the flag is brought upward it is swept inward and upwards and as it approaches the vertical position it sweeps forward slightly. In moving to the left the motion is similar,—at the lowest point the staff inclines to the left front. A combination of right and left is made with a figure-of-eight motion.
In making "front" the flag is lowered and moved very slightly to the left front and then swept slightly to the right front, making a figure-of-eight.
The body should be twisted and bent at the waist in making the light and left motions.
Care should be exercised in keeping the flag in front of the body in making "front," the figure-of-eight is necessarily very flat.
Do not make letters in a careless slipshod manner.
The Two-arm Semaphore Code
863. Semaphore signaling may be done with or without flags. Without flags it is rarely dependable beyond 600 yards.
In sending stand with feet apart, squarely facing the receiver.
In making letters which require the use of both arms on the same side of body, twist the body to that side and bend at waist, so as to throw both arms well away from body. But be careful to keep arms in plane of original position of body.
When a letter repeats—bring both hands (if a two-armed letter) to chest after first, then make second.
Do not try to send rapidly so as to exhibit your ability. Remember that the receiver's ability determines the speed to be used. Anyone can send faster than he himself can receive. If you want to display your skill have some one send rapidly to you.
In receiving, if you miss a letter—let it go and get the others. If you miss a word signal—"O" (waving flags or arms) and signal the last word you have received.
Rapidity is secondary to accuracy.
Take the positions for the various letters accurately. The horizontal position should not incline upward nor downward. In making an "L," for example, if the left arm is midway between its proper position and the horizontal it is difficult to tell whether it is L or M.
In making D, J, K, P, T, and V, the arm in the vertical position should be brought exactly in front of the body by carrying the shoulder in almost under the chin, twisting the elbow in until it is directly before the eyes, and the forearm held in the vertical position with the palm to the rear. When so done there is no possibility of this position being mistaken for any other.
"Manila Milkman" may be sent without changing the position of the right hand. In making I, be sure to twist body well to the right in order that the left arm may be seen in the upper slanting position to the right. City and similar words may be so made.
D may be made with either hand.
Be sure how next letter is made before moving hands. Make no false motions.
Acquire accuracy; then try for speed.
"CHOP-CHOP." The "chop-chop" signal is made by placing both arms at the right horizontal (that is, by bringing the left arm up to the position of the right arm as in the figure for letter "B"), and then moving each up and down, several times, in opposite direction, making a cutting motion.
END OF WORD. After each word the "Interval" signal is made.
END OF SENTENCE. After each sentence the chop signal is made twice.
END OF MESSAGE. At the end of a message the chop signal is made three times.
ERROR. Signal "A" several times quickly, followed by interval; then repeat the word.
TO BREAK IN. Signal "Attention."
NUMERALS. Numbers are always preceded by the signal, "Numerals." After "Numerals" has been signaled, everything that follows will be numbers until "Interval" is signaled, after which what follows will be letters.
Signaling with heliograph, flash lantern, and searchlight (with shutter)[7]
864. 1. The first position is to turn a steady flash on the receiving station. The signals are made by short and long flashes. Use a short flash for dot and a long steady flash for dash. The elements of a letter should be slightly longer than in sound signals.
2. To call a station, make the call letter until acknowledged, at intervals the call or signal of the calling station.
3. If the call letter of a station be unknown, signal a series of dots rapidly made until acknowledged. Each station will then turn on a steady flash and adjust. When the adjustment is satisfactory to the called station, it will cut off its flash, and the calling station will proceed with its message.
4. If the receiver sees that the sender's mirror needs adjustment, he will turn on a steady flash until answered by a steady flash. When the adjustment is satisfactory, the receiver will cut off his flash and the sender will resume his message.
5. To break the sending station for other purposes, turn on a steady flash.
Sound Signals[7]
865. 1. Sound signals made by the whistle, foghorn, bugle, trumpet, and drum may be used in a fog, mist, falling snow, or at night. They may be used with the dot and dash code.
2. In applying the code to whistle, foghorn, bugle, or trumpet, one short blast indicates a dot and one long blast a dash. With the drum, one tap indicates a dot and two taps in rapid succession a dash. Although these signals can be used with a dot and dash code, they should be so used in connection with a preconcerted or conventional code.
Morse Code. (American Morse Code)[7]
866. Used only by the army on telegraph lines, on short cables, and on field lines, and on all commercial lines in the United States.
| A | · | – | ||||
| B | – | · | · | · | ||
| C | · | · | · | |||
| D | – | · | · | |||
| E | · | |||||
| F | · | – | · | |||
| G | – | – | · | |||
| H | · | · | · | · | ||
| I | · | · | ||||
| J | – | · | – | · | ||
| K | – | · | – | |||
| L | — | |||||
| M | – | – | ||||
| N | – | · | ||||
| O | · | · | ||||
| P | · | · | · | · | · | |
| Q | · | · | – | · | ||
| R | · | · | · | |||
| S | · | · | · | |||
| T | – | |||||
| U | · | · | – | |||
| V | · | · | · | – | ||
| W | · | – | – | |||
| X | · | – | · | · | ||
| Y | · | · | · | · | ||
| Z | · | · | · | · | ||
| & | · | · | · | · | ||
| NUMERALS | ||||||
| 1 | · | – | – | · | ||
| 2 | · | · | – | · | · | |
| 3 | · | · | · | – | · | |
| 4 | · | · | · | · | – | |
| 5 | – | – | – | |||
| 6 | · | · | · | · | · | · |
| 7 | – | – | · | · | ||
| 8 | – | · | · | · | · | |
| 9 | – | · | · | – | ||
| 0 | —— | |||||
| PUNCTUATION | ||||||
| Period | · | · | – | – | · | · |
| Comma | · | – | · | – | ||
| Interrogation | – | · | · | – | · | |
FOOTNOTES:
[6] Extracts from Signal Book, United States Army.
[7] Extracts from Signal Book, United States Army.
PART II
COMPANY COMMAND
CHAPTER I
THE GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION OF A COMPANY
867. The proper performance of the duty of COMPANY COMMANDER, like the proper performance of any other duty, requires work and attention to business.
The command of a company divides itself into two kinds of duty: government and administration.
The government includes the instruction, discipline, contentment, and harmony of the organization, involving, as it does, esprit de corps, rewards, privileges, and punishments.
The administration includes the providing of clothing, arms, ammunition, equipage, and subsistence; the keeping of records, including the rendition of reports and returns; and the care and accountability of Government and company property, and the disbursement of the company fund.
System and care are prerequisites of good administration.
The efficient administration of a company greatly facilitates its government.
THE CAPTAIN
868. With regard to his company the captain stands in the same light as a father to a large family of children. It is his duty to provide for their comfort, sustenance, and pleasure; enforce strict rules of obedience, punish the refractory and reward the deserving.
He should be considerate and just to his officers and men and should know every soldier personally and make him feel that he so knows him.
He should by word and act make every man in the company feel that the captain is his protector.
The captain should not be indifferent to the personal welfare of his men, and when solicited, being a man of greater experience, education, and information, he should aid and counsel them in such a way as to show he takes an interest in their joys and sorrows.
When any men are sick he should do everything possible for them until they can be taken care of by the surgeon. He can add much to the comfort and pleasure of men in the hospital by visiting them from time to time and otherwise showing an interest in their condition.
In fact, one of the officer's most important duties is to look after the welfare of his men—to see that they are well fed, well clothed and properly cared for in every other way—to see that they are happy and contented. The officer who does not look after the welfare of his men to the best of his ability, giving the matter his earnest personal attention, neglects one of the principal things that the Government pays him to do.
The soldier usually has a decided feeling for his captain, even though it be one of hatred. With regard to the higher grade of officers, he has respect for them according to regulations; otherwise, for the most part, he is indifferent. At the very most, he knows whether his post or regimental commander keeps him long at drill, and particularly whether he has any peculiar habits. The average soldier looks upon his captain as by far the most important personage in the command.
There is no other position in the Army that will give as much satisfaction in return for an honest, capable and conscientious discharge of duty, as that of captain. There is a reward in having done his full duty to his company that no disappointment of distinction, no failure, can deprive him of; his seniors may overlook him in giving credits, unfortunate circumstances may defeat his fondest hopes, and the crown of laurel may never rest upon his brow, but the reward that follows upon the faithful discharge of his duty to his company he can not be deprived of by any disaster, neglect or injustice.
He is a small sovereign, powerful and great, within his little domain.
869. Devolution of Work and Responsibility. The company commander should not attempt to do all the work—to look after all the details in person—he should not try to command directly every squad and every platoon. The successful company commander is the one who distributes work among his subordinates and organizes the help they are supposed to give him. By War Department orders, Army Regulations and customs of the service, the lieutenants and noncommissioned officers are charged with certain duties and responsibilities. Let every one of them carry the full load of their responsibility. The company commander should not usurp the functions of his subordinates—he should not relieve them of any of their prescribed or logical work and responsibility. On the contrary, he should give them more, and he should see that they "deliver the goods." Skill in distributing work among subordinates is one of the first essentials of leadership, as is the ability to get work out of them so that they will fill their functions to the full within the limits of their responsibility. Not only does devolution of work and responsibility cause subordinates to take more interest in their work (it makes them feel less like mere figure-heads), but it also teaches them initiative and gives them valuable experience in the art of training and handling men. Furthermore, it enables the company commander to devote more time to the larger and more important matters connected with the discipline, welfare, training, instruction and administration of the company.
The captain who allows his lieutenants to do practically nothing makes a mistake—he is doing something that will rob his lieutenants of all initiative, cause them to lose interest in the company, and make them feel like nonentities—like a kind of "fifth wheel"—it will make them feel they are not, in reality, a part of the company—it will prevent them from getting a practical, working knowledge of the government and administration of a company.
By allowing his lieutenants to participate to the greatest extent possible in the government and administration of the company, and by not hampering and pestering them with unnecessary instructions about details, the captain will get out of his lieutenants the very best that there is in them.
The captain should require RESULTS from his lieutenants, and the mere fact that a lieutenant is considered inefficient and unable to do things properly, is no reason why he should not be required to do them. The captain is by Army Regulations responsible for the efficiency and instruction of his lieutenants regarding all matters pertaining to the company, and he should require them to perform all their duties properly, resorting to such disciplinary measures as may be considered necessary. The lieutenant who can not, or who will not, perform his duties properly is a drag on the company, and such a man has no business in the Army, or in the Organized Militia.
THE LIEUTENANT
870. To be able to perform well the duties of captain when the responsibility falls upon him, should be the constant study and ambition of the lieutenant.
He is the assistant of the captain and should be required by the captain to assist in the performance of all company duties, including the keeping of records and the preparation of the necessary reports, returns, estimates and requisitions. The captain should give him lots to do, and should throw him on his own responsibility just as much as possible. He should be required to drill the company, attend the daily inspection of the company quarters, instruct the noncommissioned officers, brief communications, enter letters in the Correspondence Book, make out ration returns, reports, muster and pay rolls, etc., until he shows perfect familiarity therewith.
Whenever told to do a thing by your captain, do it yourself or see personally that it is done. Do not turn it over to some noncommissioned officer and let it go at that. If your captain wants some noncommissioned officer to do the thing, he himself will tell him to do it—he will not ask you to do it.
It is customary in the Army to regard the company as the property of the captain. Should the lieutenant, therefore, be in temporary command of the company he should not make any changes, especially in the reduction or promotion of noncommissioned officers without first having consulted the captain's wishes in the matter.
It is somewhat difficult to explain definitely the authority a lieutenant exercises over the men in the company when the captain is present. In general terms, however, it may be stated the lieutenant can not make any changes around the barracks, inflict any punishment or put men on, or relieve them from, any duty without the consent of the captain. It is always better if there be a definite understanding between the captain and his lieutenants as to what he expects of them, how he wishes to have certain things done and to what extent he will sustain them.
If the lieutenant wants anything from the company in the way of working parties, the services of the company artificer or company clerk, the use of ordnance stores or quartermaster articles, he should always speak to the captain about the matter.
THE CAPTAIN AND THE LIEUTENANTS
871. The company officers should set an example to their men in dress, military bearing, system, punctuality and other soldierly qualities. It should be remembered that the negligence of superiors is the cue for juniors to be negligent.
If the men of a company are careless and indifferent about saluting and if they are shabby and lax in their dress, the company commander is to blame for it—company officers can always correct defects of this kind, if they will only try.
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 circumstances.
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 amusement, 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 nobler 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 circumstances 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 circumstances should a man be humiliated unnecessarily or abused. Reproof and punishment must be administered with discretion and judgment, and without passion; 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 analyze himself, he should place himself under a microscopic glass, 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 "bump 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, assuming 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 Saturday 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 titles, 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 assist 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 associate 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 substitution 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
877. The officers of the company should do everything possible to make the organization contented and harmonious. Contentment and harmony are not only conducive to good discipline and efficiency, but they also make the government of the company easy and reduce desertions to a minimum.
The showing of favoritism on the part of the captain is always a cause of great dissatisfaction amongst the soldiers in the company. Soldiers do not care how strict the captain is, just so he is fair and impartial, treating all men alike.
878. The Mess. The captain should give the mess his constant personal attention, making frequent visits to the kitchen and dining-room while the soldiers are at meals so as to see for himself what they are getting, how it is served, etc.
It is not saying too much to state that, in time of peace, a good mess is the real basis of the contentment of a company.
Ascertain what the soldiers like to eat and then gratify their appetites as far as practicable.
Be careful that the cook or the mess sergeant doesn't fall into a rut and satiate the soldiers day after day with the same dishes.
Give the ration your personal attention—know yourself what the company is entitled to, how much it is actually getting, what the savings amount to, etc.
879. Library and Amusement Room. A library and an amusement room, supplied with good books, magazines, papers, a billiard or pool table, and a phonograph, are a source of much pleasure and contentment.
880. Athletic Apparatus. A judicious investment of the company fund in baseballs, bats, dumb bells, Indian clubs, boxing gloves and other athletic goods, and the encouragement of baseball, basketball, quoits, etc., are in the interest of harmony and happiness.
Rewards and Privileges
881. 1. Deny all passes and requests for privileges of men whose conduct is not good, and on the other hand grant to men whose conduct is good, as many indulgences as is consistent with discipline.
2. Judicious praise in the presence of the first sergeant, a few noncommissioned officers, or the entire company, depending upon circumstances, very often accomplishes a great deal. After the according of such praise, let your action toward the man show that his good conduct is appreciated and that it has raised him in your estimation, and make him feel you are keeping your eye on him to see whether he will continue in his well doing.
3. Publication of commendatory orders, desirable special duty details, etc.
4. Promotion, and extra duty details which carry extra pay.
5. Meritorious conduct of importance should be noted in the soldier's military record and also on his discharge.
6. At the weekly company inspection, each chief of squad picks out the neatest and cleanest man in his squad—the captain then inspects the men so selected, the neatest and cleanest one being excused from one or two tours of kitchen police, or some other disagreeable duty; or given a two days' pass.