Official Correspondence includes official letters, rolls, returns, estimates, requisitions, and routine reports.
The Official Letter includes (1) letters to persons in the military service, (2) letters to persons outside the military service, and (3) official telegrams.
Number 1 has its particular military form which must be precisely followed. It consists of
{ The Brief
{ The Body
{ The Ending
{ Indorsements
{ Enclosures
The Brief consists of the following in the order
{ The Heading
{ From Whom Sent
given { To Whom Sent
{ The Subject
An example of a Brief would be:
Hq. Eastern Department,
Governors Island, N. Y., May 21, 1940.
From: The Adjutant.
To: Captain James L. Douglas, 99th Inf.
(Through C. O. Madison Barracks, N. Y.)
Subject: Delay in submitting report.
Another example would be:
Company A, 99th Infantry,
Madison Barracks, N. Y., Jan. 9, 1940.
From: Commanding Officer, Co. A, 99th Inf.
To: The Commanding Officer.
Subject: Insufficiency of shoes.
Another example of a Brief would be:
Madison Barracks, N. Y.,
Jan. 10, 1940.
From: Captain James L. Douglas, 99th Inf.
To: The Adjutant General of the Army
(Through C. O. Madison Barracks, N. Y.)
Subject: Request for leave of absence.
The heading consists of the name of the office, place, and date. In the first example the name of the office was “Headquarters, Eastern Department.” In the second, “Company A, 99th Infantry.” In the third, there was no office named because the letter was written by an officer as an individual and not as an executive of an organization. The place is the post-office address of an officer’s station in any case. “Indefinite expressions of locality, which do not indicate where the letter was written,”[19] should never be used. The date is written on the same line as the place, except where no office is designated; and it is written not as in communications dealing with combat, but in the ordinary way.
The “From” in the From Whom Sent begins one line (if typed, two lines) below the heading and at the left-hand margin. It is followed by the official designation of the writer, or in the absence of any official designation, the name of writer with his rank and regiment, corps, or department. The rank is written before the name; and the regiment, corps, or department after the name.
Directly below the “From” is placed the “To” in To Whom Sent, followed by the official designation or name of the person addressed. What follows “To” is written in the same manner as what follows “From.”
Directly below the “To” comes the word “Subject” which is followed by an expression which will give the gist of the Body of the letter. This expression will be boiled to a minimum and will not exceed ten words.
The words “From,” “To,” and “Subject” will be immediately followed by colons, and the “F,” “T,” and “S” will be on the same vertical line.
The Body of the letter will comprise one subject only. A leave of absence and a decision, for instance, will not be requested in the same letter. Two separate communications will be written. This procedure is merely that of carrying out the principle of unity in the whole composition. A violation in this regard causes endless worry to the receiving office and a deserved rebuke for the writer.
When typewritten, the body of the letter will be single-spaced. Double spaces will be used between paragraphs. The body should begin on the second fold of the paper.
The paragraphs will be numbered, will each contain one topic, and will be arranged in a logical sequence of topics.
Thus if we were to write out the Body of the letter for the last illustration of the Brief, we should have it appear about as follows:
1.—I request a leave of absence for five months to take effect on or about February 1, 1940.
2.—My reasons for this request are very urgent at this time. I have had ten years of continuous service without a leave of any kind, and I feel the need of more than an ordinary rest. Besides, my private affairs are in such shape that the matter of straightening them out will require at least all of the period requested.
3.—My address while on leave will be care of Astor Hotel, New York City.
The Ending
{ The Signature.
consists of { The Rank.
{ The Regiment, Corps, or Department.
“Official communications will be signed or authenticated with the pen and not by facsimiles, and if written by order, it will be stated by whose order. Signatures will be plainly and legibly written. By virtue of the commission and assignment to duty, the adjutant of any command transacts the business or correspondence of that command over his signature; but when orders or instructions of any kind are given, the authority by which he gives the order must be stated.”[20]
“The Body of the letter will be followed by the Signature. If the Rank and the Regiment, Corps or Department of the writer appear at the beginning of the letter, they will not appear after his name; but if they do not appear at the beginning of the letter, they will follow under his name.”[21]
To illustrate fully what we have said, let us write the Body and Ending of the first illustration of the Brief:
The Department Commander directs that you submit without delay the report of your recent inspection of the Organized Militia of the State of New York, and that you also submit an explanation of your failure to comply with par. 6, S. O. 25, c. s., these headquarters.
J. L. Thurst,
Lieut. Col., 24th Cav.
One-half inch below the Ending of the letter comes the first of the Indorsements, and the succeeding Indorsements follow one another serially, with a space of about one-half inch between Indorsements.
Letters in the military service are not answered in the sense in which we use the term in civilian life. In other words, the person who receives a letter does not retain it and reply thereto by another. Instead he states what he has to say in an Indorsement, which is put down in continuation of the original letter. Thus everything which has been written in regard to the contents of a letter appears as a part of the letter when it is finally filed.
When Captain Douglas’ request for leave of absence, for example, reaches the headquarters of his regiment, it has added to it the Colonel’s indorsement which appears as follows, provided the Colonel wishes the Captain to obtain the leave:
1st Ind.
Hq. 99th Inf., Madison Barracks, N. Y., Jan. 11, 1940—
To the Comdg. Gen., Dept. of the East.
Approved recommended.
E. F. Hush,
Colonel, 99th Inf., Comdg.
The serial number of indorsements, the place, the date, and to whom written, will be written as shown above. When typewritten, they will be written single-spaced, with a double space between paragraphs.
Should one or more additional sheets be necessary for the Body or Indorsements, sheets of the same size as the first will be added. Only one side of the paper will be used for writing.
Indorsements of a routine nature such as referring, transmitting, forwarding, and returning papers, will not be signed with the full name, but with initials.
When the letter of the Department Commander to Captain Douglas reaches the Commanding Officer, Madison Barracks, N. Y., who is also Commanding Officer, 99th Infantry, the latter may do either of two things. He may simply forward the letter to Captain Douglas without comment, because he deems the letter sufficient for the purpose; or he may add a disciplinary word also.
In the first case the indorsement would appear as follows:
1st Ind.
Hq. 99th Inf., Madison Barracks, N. Y., May 23, 1940—
To Captain James L. Douglas, 99th Inf., Forwarded,
A. D. T.
In the second case the indorsement would appear as follows:
1st Ind.
Hq. 99th Inf., Madison Bks., N. Y., May 23, 1940—
To Captain James L. Douglas, 99th Inf.
For compliance.
By order of Colonel Maish,
A. D. Thomas,
Capt. 99th Inf.,
Adjutant.
The Body and Indorsements of letters are signed by the Adjutant when the letters are addressed to those lower in rank than the Commanding Officer. They are signed by the Commanding Officer himself when addressed to those higher in rank than the Commanding Officer. Letters are never addressed to adjutants.
In connection with indorsements it might be well to quote what Army Regulations say in their regard.
“Communications, whether from a subordinate to a superior, or vice versa, will pass through intermediate commanders. This rule will not be interpreted as including matters in relation to which intermediate commanders can have no knowledge, and over which they are not expected to exercise control. Chiefs of War Department bureaus are intermediate commanders between higher authority and the officers and enlisted men of their respective corps or departments, who are serving under the exclusive control of themselves and their subordinates. Verbal communications will be governed by the same rules as to channels as written communications. When necessity requires communications to be sent through other than the prescribed channel, the necessity therefor will be stated.
Communications from superiors to subordinates will be answered through the same channels as received.
Except as provided above, all communications, reports, and estimates from officers serving at a military post, and communications of every nature addressed to them relating to affairs of the post, will pass through the post commander.
Officers who forward communications will indorse thereon their approval or disapproval, with remarks. No communication will be forwarded to the War Department by a department commander or other superior officer for the action of the Secretary of War without some recommendations or expression of opinion.”
It may often be necessary to enclose other letters, certain documents, or even bulkier material with a letter. Such addition to a letter is called an Inclosure and is submitted as part of the letter. Inclosures to the original communication will be noted on the face of the letter at the left-hand margin opposite the signature, thus:
2 Incls.
J. L. Douglas,
Capt. 99th Inf.
The inclosures themselves will be numbered on the outside. The two inclosures of the above example would be marked 1 and 2.
If others are added when an indorsement is made, their number will be noted at the foot of the indorsement and upon themselves, as just described for the original communication.
If few in number or not bulky, inclosures may be kept inside the original paper; otherwise they should be folded together in a wrapper marked “Inclosures.” If kept within the paper they lie between folds a and b below.
Now that we have discussed in order the different parts of an official letter to a person in the military service, let us see how the various parts appear when assembled.