_The Director_: “This is a point I want to bring out. The platoon
commander will seldom have time to write messages. He must depend upon
his men, and especially his runners, to see for themselves what is going
on so that when it is desired to send information back all the platoon
commander has to do is to turn to one of his runners, give him a few
words of a message, and the runner is off to make his report. He will
not only carry the message, but he will give accurate information of
what is going on. The careful training of runners will repay the trouble
in large dividends when the time comes.
“In the present situation I think it would be well for Lieutenant F to
send one of his trained runners back to the captain with Private Bailey
so that he can hear the captain’s orders and see just what he does to
meet the situation. The runners will then return to Lieutenant W and
tell him about it.”