_The Director_: “Lieutenant Barry, what do you estimate the mission of
our battalion to be?”
_Lieutenant Barry_: “We are an element of the force sent out to cover
the concentration of the Blue forces and prevent the enemy from
interfering with it.”
_The Director_: “We have not yet gained contact with the enemy. Why do
we halt at this time?”
_Lieutenant Barry_: “There may be one or more reasons for it. In the
first place, we are a detachment of a larger force (our regiment), and
it is probable that before we started out, instructions were given our
battalion commander to halt in this locality, so as to be on the general
line of all the covering troops.”
_The Director_: “That is correct. Our battalion must conform to the
general plan of the operation.
“Before going further let us consider the process by which our battalion
commander arrived at his decision to halt and make the disposition
indicated in his order. He has sized up the situation with respect to
his mission, the enemy, our own troops; considered the plans of action
open to him and the enemy; and the terrain. Based on all of this he
decides to halt for the night with the advance guard as the outpost and
the other companies bivouacking as indicated in the order. Now, let us
see how well this order conforms to the form laid down in Field Service
Regulations. Captain Hall, what are the elements of an order as applied
to the halt of a command on the march?”
_Captain Hall_: “The first part contains information of the enemy and
our own troops. The next is the plan of the commander in general terms.
In this case it is merely to halt for the night, with the added sentence
to the effect that march conditions cease. Next comes the tactical
dispositions in which each element of the command is given orders as to
just what it is to do. The last section of this paragraph tells what
action is to be taken in case the enemy should make an attack. Then
comes the disposition of the trains or administrative arrangements, and
finally the location of the battalion C. P. is indicated by telling
where messages are to be sent. All of this is included in the order, and
I should say that every essential point has been covered
satisfactorily.”
_The Director_: “Lieutenant Baker, why is Company E detailed to furnish
the outpost?”
_Lieutenant Baker_: “It is the general rule that troops are detailed on
covering duty for a period of twenty-four hours. Company E has been our
advance guard for today’s march. If the battalion continues the march
again tomorrow morning, another rifle company will be detailed to form
the advance guard. It will get into advance guard formation before it
reaches Company E’s outpost line, and when the advance guard support
crosses the line of outpost supports it assumes responsibility for the
protection of the column, the outpost troops are withdrawn and take
their proper place in the column. Then, too, the advance guard is in the
best position to continue the protection of the battalion. It has merely
to change its formation from an advance guard to that of an outpost,
which involves the least marching on the part of the troops.”