the men’s muscles in proper condition by physical drill, in
theoretical instruction as outlined above, and actual practice. Most
of the actual practice is and should be gained at the regular daily
drills and exercises. In these, if they are properly conducted, the
man gets enough preparation.
[Sidenote: Practice marches]
Devoting one day each week to a practice march is believed a mistake.
In many of our posts a command going out on the roads can not leave
them, there is no chance for instruction except very imperfect
instruction in advance and rear guard work and practice in marching.
The physical part, the mere practice in marching can be just as well
gained in the regular exercises, and to devote one-fifth of our field
training period to the other instruction is excessive. It prevents
some of the other necessary training being given and it ignores
relative values.
What are wanted are men physically fit. Four to six hours a day of
correct and rational training will make them as much fit without this
weekly practice march as with it and give more time, all of which is
needed, for necessary work.
[Sidenote: Yearly march]
There should, however, be one march every year of from 200 to 300
miles. This is necessary for instruction in camp expedients, to train
the men to care for themselves on long marches and to give them
experience in field service.
It would be better could it be held late in the season. The command
should march to some point where they could have maneuver work and
training in the larger units and on the ground more unfamiliar than
their home reservation. But the march should be held, if it be only
out and back.
[Sidenote: The officers]
Even with the men well prepared much of the success of the march
depends on the officers. They must understand how to conduct a march
and care for their men and conscientiously perform their duty. They
must try to get the man’s point of view, think of the man’s comfort
and health.
[Sidenote: Marching gait]
[Sidenote: Halts]
Every officer who may be responsible for the uniformity and rate of
march should carefully train himself to take a suitable gait and
strictly maintain it. No one thing is more trying than an unsteady
pace and many good officers are unable properly to lead a column on
on the march for this reason. The halts must be regulated to suit
conditions. In very hot weather or when climbing steep hills they
must be more frequent than once an hour.
Discipline must be strict, no straggling allowed. Running to catch
up, “backing and filling” is productive of a big sick report.
Whenever conditions permit the intervals between units should be
increased, especially when the weather is hot and roads dusty. It
renders a steady, uniform pace easier to maintain, and thus tires the
men less.
The other rules for marches given in our service regulations should
be carefully observed.
[Sidenote: The first few days]
Much of the success of a long march depends on the first two or three
days, until the men get into the swing. Where practicable the first
day’s march should be a little less than average, the second a short
one, after that our trained regulars can keep up the average march
six days a week. On starting out it is the second day’s march that
is the most trying to the men. This should be borne in mind and all
practicable allowances made.
An excessively long march should never be made just for practice. It
does not fit the man for another but the reverse.
VIII
THE NATIONAL GUARD
In training the infantry of the national guard we have a very
different problem from that of the regular regiments.
In these regiments the same proportional attention should be given to
those things that should be habits as in training the regulars and
the necessity for varied instruction in order to keep the interest of
the men is even greater.
[Sidenote: Scope of the instruction]
My observation leads me to believe that the greatest weakness of
many of our national guard captains lies in the narrow scope of the
instruction given and in its monotony. There is a lack of variety at
each meeting. The men lose interest.
When the recruit first joins the guard he generally does it for the
best of reasons and is interested in the work. But after going to
the armory for a few times and drilling in a few movements over and
over again he loses interest, then he cuts drill and possibly ends by
trying to get discharged.
There are many things that should be taught, and you can only hope
for success by varying the work and holding the interest of your men.
Do not put more time than necessary on non-essentials.
[Sidenote: The recruit]
Of course the recruit must first be taught the school of the soldier
and he must have the necessary instruction in close order drill. But
even early in his course there is a chance for variety; early in the
game give him a rifle for part of the time and as soon as he has had
a little drill in the manual of arms teach him sighting and then
pointing and aiming drill. As soon as he is far enough along let him
fire a score at gallery practice each drill. At first devote the most
time to drill without arms but increase the time with arms until all
the drills are with arms and you get him in the company for close
order drill.
The following should be taught as carefully as practicable:
[Sidenote: Essentials for the guard]
1. Target practice on the range. If the gallery practice and pointing
and aiming drill recommended below be well done, comparatively little
of this will answer. But it cannot be omitted, every man should
have some practice. Where possible some of this practice should be
in “field firing.” In many cases there is a tendency to give known
distance firing an exaggerated value to the neglect of other training.
2. The mechanism of the deployments, the advance by rushes even after
the line is mixed, control of fire, and all these directed by signals
only; verbal commands should not be used.
3. Estimating distance must be taught.
4. Pointing and aiming drill and gallery practice, so that the man
will always bring his piece up properly, look through the sights and
pull the trigger only after careful aim, must be practiced until the
necessary habit is formed.
5. There must be frequent close order drill. Knowledge of this is
necessary for the orderly movement of troops and it is our greatest
aid to discipline. But to be an aid to discipline it must be exact,
otherwise it has a reverse effect. It is just as easy to do it
correctly as to do it approximately if you only teach it so at the
beginning and then give the subject attention ever afterward and do
not allow the drill to become sloppy.
6. The use of the bayonet must be taught and practiced.
7. The men must be taught simple intrenching and the various uses of
sand bags.
8. First aid and personal hygiene.
9. Patrolling; especially the combat patrols and those with advance
and rear guards and outposts. As many as possible should know how to
read a map.
10. The company musicians and two or three privates should know the
flag signalling.
But the captain may say: all these are practicable with the regulars
who have all the time needed and daylight in which to work and ground
to work on; but how are we to do these in an armory at night?
[Sidenote: Required equipment]
Every armory should have a place fixed for gallery practice if it is
only a backing for the target against the wall in one of the corners.
And no company should be without a sand table; a relief map is also
very desirable.
With this equipment let us see what we can do.
The ordinary drills of course are on the armory door.
[Sidenote: Estimating distances]
The principles of estimating distance should be taught the company
and the men urged to practice it for themselves. Groups are formed
and go anywhere it is convenient for this purpose. Occasionally,
if found practicable, the company goes out. Officers and
non-commissioned officers in this same way should learn to use the
range finder.
[Sidenote: Patrolling]
Patrolling can be well taught on the sand table or relief map. Pile
up your sand, forming any desired terrain; with yellow strings mark
the roads and with blue ones the streams, little bridges, etc., can
be made with a jackknife, houses represented by blocks, forests with
little pieces of evergreen—you have your outdoors.
A scale must be provided and one end of the table marked as north.
The instructor takes a squad to the table and starts out, for
instance, by stating: “Smith, your regiment has reached this point
(just off the table) moving north in hostile territory. The colonel
sends for you and gives you this order—‘Corporal, I have heard rumors
that there is a force of the enemy in that village northeast of here.
I want to know whether that is true. Take your squad and move along
in the general direction of this main road, find out and report. The
regiment will remain here for several hours. Be back here by 3 P.
M., it is now 10 o’clock.’” The instructor tells Smith to do just
as if he were on the ground. Smith inspects his squad, gives his
instructions to his men and then proceeds. He can tell the instructor
his formation, and what he does from time to time, or each of the
men, provided with a match and a scale, may be required to move his
own match. There are many ways of doing it. The instructor must give
information of the enemy, either orally or at certain points place
lead soldiers or something to represent the enemy.
The thing aimed at is to find out how Smith and the other men would
act under various conditions, point out their errors and show them
how to correct these, and give the reasons. An infinite number of
such problems can be devised.
This sand table is especially good for teaching the work of a
combat patrol. Form your field of battle and along one flank have a
varied terrain with houses, clumps of trees, little hills, etc. The
instructor moves a light rod along to represent the firing line and
the patrol leader solves his problem. Whenever any error is made the
movement stops until the mistake is pointed out and explained.
[Sidenote: Security]
In the same way are treated advance and rear guards of the strength
of a company and a company as advance or rear party. Outposts are
established, the sentinels being represented, and routes of the
patrols selected.
[Sidenote: Entrenching]
Entrenching can be taught by constructing trenches to scale on the
sand table terrain. I have seen elaborate field works with bomb
proofs constructed in this way by the men of one company, but this is
not recommended for any but the officers; it is better to limit this
work to the simpler trenches. With a round piece of stove wood for
a log and with a good jack knife, or better a hatchet, you can make
your loop holes for the head log. With a lot of small Bull Durham
tobacco sacks, filled with sand, you have your sand bags, the varied
uses of which should be taught.
The officers should have a war game map for their patrol problems and
for war games.
[Sidenote: Bayonet fencing]
Bayonet fencing should be practiced if you have the necessary
equipment. If not, and a place is available for it, suspend by a rope
something to represent a man, a sack full of straw will do, so that
it can be made to swing through a small angle back and forth and to
right and left. Let the men practice the thrusts, lunges, cuts, etc.,
against this, another man giving the dummy a motion. This should come
after training in the bayonet exercise.
I would propose a system something like the following for your
company drills:
Recruits by themselves until they can be put in the company; their
work has already been discussed.
[Sidenote: Essentials at every drill]
After the company is formed give 15 or 20 minutes of snappy, precise
close order drill then a little manual of arms. Then have the company
deploy, two or three times at least, from different formations. Then
go through an attack formation the best you can, all the company in
the line, no support, an advance of 40 yards being represented by one
of five, etc. Then try it holding out a support and putting it in so
as to mix squads and advance as before. Remember, no verbal commands,
all this to be done by signals.
Have little posters on one wall of your armory at the proper height;
have a few minutes pointing and aiming drill, impressing on the men
the importance of always taking careful aim.
[Sidenote: Group work]
Then divide your company into small groups. One group at the sand
table, one receiving first aid instruction, another bayonet work,
another gallery practice, etc. The group at the sand table may be
larger than the others and may stay there for the rest of the
evening, the others should change every 15 or 20 minutes. The sand
table group should change each drill and once during the night if
practicable, that is, if there is time for one group to finish its
problem and give another a chance that same evening, it should be
done. Nearly all the company should fire a score at the gallery every
night.
If there are a few men in the company who are poor at the manual of
arms they can be put in one group and be given one of their turns in
drill in the manual.
One group may have to be taught how to make the pack. Instruction
in guard duty may be necessary for another. Verbal instruction can
be given in several subjects with great advantage where a good
instructor is available; in that case all except the group at the
sand table can be assembled.
The whole course cannot be covered at one drill. The captain should
so arrange his groups that all in turn get instruction in the whole
course, that all get a variety each night, that where men have a
special deficiency it receives attention, that the first part, the
essentials for the whole company, be never slighted, and that as many
as practicable of the company get gallery practice at every drill—one
score will answer fully.
Owing to the time it takes to complete a problem or task on the sand
table, often but one group can use it in an evening. The size of the
group working should not, however, be increased. Only small parties
can be advantageously instructed. For this reason the sand table must
be worked to the limit and because of this and the number of things
to be taught on it and because some officers are not very expert in
forming suitable terrain on the sand table, it is an advantage to
have the relief map also. The latter can then be used for patrolling
and work of covering detachments and the sand table for the field
engineering.
[Sidenote: Brush work]
At most stations small twigs can be collected and used to make hurdle
revetments, fascines and gabions for use on the sand table. They
can be constructed to the reduced scale and this brush work learned
nearly as well as outside with normally sized faggots.
Have the officer or non-commissioned officer best qualified give
the instruction in each class. The instructor has much to do with
success; some are specially good at one thing but poor at another.
With such a course of instruction well given throughout the year and
with a week or ten days of good camp work annually, and suitable
school work for the officers, there is no reason why the national
guard should not possess the efficiency required of it to be a
valuable military asset.
[Sidenote: No callisthenic drill]
Sufficient of the callisthenic or setting up exercises for the proper
development of the soldier should be shown the recruit and the latter
told of the advantages of practicing them for a few minutes every
morning or evening, or both. Tell him what it will do for his health
and appearance and urge him to get busy. There is no use drilling
these exercises in the armory. A few minutes once a week or less
often will do no good and wastes drill time of which the guard has
none to spare.
The detailed sergeants should help in all drill work but especially
should be valuable in teaching camp expedients, care of equipment,
etc.
[Sidenote: Use of schools for N. C. O.]
I believe that in nearly every state the officers pursue
a theoretical course each winter and generally there is a
non-commissioned officers’ school as well. In the latter school there
should be thoroughly taught, giving importance and precedence in the
order stated:
Infantry Drill Regulations,
Manual of Guard Duty,
Small Arms Firing Regulations, and parts of Field Engineering.
Parts of the Field Service Regulations should be read carefully in
connection with the study of the same subject in Infantry Drill
Regulations. If more time is available map reading should be taught,
and, if time remains, then applied minor tactics on the map. Attempt
no more than you can _thoroughly_ do in the time available and make
the course progressive.
[Sidenote: Schools for officers]
The school for officers should first cover thoroughly the above
course but take more of Field Service Regulations and include the
Manual of Courts Martial. Map reading should be thoroughly learned
by all and the remaining time put on tactics. Beginning with minor
tactics study some good problems with their solutions, then solve
others to be criticised by some competent person. I have found it
satisfactory to use problems in this way in connection with the drill
regulations. Study a subject, for example an advance guard, then read
a few tactical problems on the same subject, then try solving one,
and so on.
As you progress use larger and larger forces. But do not attempt the
brigade until you can handle the regiment correctly. Do not cover
too much ground in one season and acquire only confusion. Each term
get something positively fixed in your mind so that you can use it;
there will be more winters.
Much attention should be given to acquiring facility in giving
correct verbal orders.
Studying tactical problems correctly solved and solving others
for yourself is the best way to learn tactics after you know the
principles laid down in your manuals. Beware of “normal form”
solutions, they are misleading and apt to be wrong. Apply general
principles with common sense. Advantage should be taken of the
officers detailed as inspector-instructors to plan and conduct
this work as well as to help in the instruction of the men. Only
those thoroughly competent for this instruction work should ever be
detailed with the national guard.
There should be a camp of instruction each year. If properly
conducted this is very valuable.
[Sidenote: Camps of instruction]
Nearly all national guard infantry needs training for individual men
and officers and work in the company, battalion and regiment. When
formed in divisions or larger forces for maneuver campaigns the men
in ranks and junior officers get but little instruction. Except a
little camp experience, it is chiefly walking, the object of which
they know nothing, and most of the officers are not yet ready for
this class of work. It is a camp of instruction, not a campaign, they
need. They must apply on the ground what they have learned in the
armory.
I believe the best results can be obtained from camps of not more
than three regiments. The special needs of each regiment should be
considered in forming the program. The work should be planned so as
to give instruction to each in the most important things in which it
is deficient. Special consideration should be given to what can not
be learned in the armory and must be done out of doors.
Most of the program should be made up of practical drills and
exercises in which all get instruction from private to colonel, and
where their interest can be held and the best instruction given.
Small maneuvers of company, battalion and regiment are what are
needed.
Tactical walks for officers and non-commissioned officers are an
excellent means of instruction—these supplement the other exercises.
The big maneuvers are very largely for general officers and very
little for regimental officers. We need the foundation before we
build the superstructure.
As much ground should be covered during the camp as is consistent
with efficient instruction. No attempt should be made to cover the
whole art of war in a week as it only results in confusion of ideas
and gives little or no benefit.
[Sidenote: Service with regular companies]
If the law would permit a few national guardsmen to serve for short
periods in the regular army it would help greatly towards uniformity
of training and improve the non-commissioned personnel of the guard.
These men should be allowed to so serve for three months during the
company’s field training period or for one month during the indoor
season; not more than five should be assigned to any one company.
They should receive the regular’s pay and rations and, if joining for
the three months period, one complete service uniform; the one-month
men should bring their uniforms with them.
This privilege should be granted only to men who have still one
year more to serve in their enlistment in the guard and who are
recommended by their captains. They should be excused from post
guard and all fatigue duty and in place of that receive additional
instruction work each day. In order to obtain the most benefit, these
men should be attached to those companies whose training is the best;
in an indifferently trained company they would get some benefit but
it would be little in comparison with what they would receive in the
other class.
This recommendation is made from having recently seen the results
of having a few men of the national guard join an excellent regular
company for a short period. These men came without pay and themselves
paid their board while with the company.
There would probably be no large number who would so serve, but there
are some and we are in no condition in this country to overlook even
small helps that will contribute towards fitting us for war.
[Sidenote: Value in war]
Owing to the small peace strength of most of these regiments and the
large number of recruits they must take in on the outbreak of war,
their value will depend on the time they will require to be fit for
the field at war strength. They have the organization in working
shape. Their officers will, in the majority of regiments, be men who
have had considerable training. If they will follow a logical and
systematic course of training in peace, the officers will be familiar
with it and will be experienced instructors, and all their old men
will have the instruction to a certain degree so that they can help
drag up the recruits. All this will help to shorten the time required
to fit them for the field and every day thus cut off adds greatly to
their value.
Without such training their value is small, for no regiment should
be accepted except at war strength and a national guard regiment so
filled up, without experienced instructors who know the course, will
take nearly as long to become efficient as would a new regiment.
IX
INSPECTIONS
Much can be done to improve the training of our infantry by the
inspections. Most officers greatly dislike to have an adverse report
made by an inspector on their commands. Fear of such a report
sometimes works to the detriment of sound training and sometimes to
its improvement.
[Sidenote: Influence of inspections]
A captain once asked why he put so much time on exercises of
obviously little consequence and so little time on others more
important, replied: “Blank will inspect this year. He always pays
great attention to such and such an exercise and never examines the
company in the others. I want a clean record on this inspection.”
We have all been influenced as was this captain. Even if we do not
care personally, loyalty to our colonel or to the post commander
leads us to consider what the inspector will require.
The author has no intention of criticizing adversely the Inspector
General’s Department; its inspections have steadily improved
in recent years and become more rational and consequently more
beneficial. His aim is rather to point out the place of the
inspections in the year’s training and to suggest how, in connection
with the methods of training proposed, they may be made both
searching and helpful toward real proficiency.
[Sidenote: The annual inspection]