Field officer

“ In the British service, regimental and staff officers are allowed the indulgence of a steady and well-drilled soldier for a servant; and field-officers, keeping horses, two each. These soldiers are to take their share of any duty on which the officer to whom they are attached is employed, and they must fall in with their respective troops and companies at all reviews, inspections, and field-days. In the U. S. service, officers are not permitted to employ soldiers as servants. ”

“ The bureau or department which assists the general in these matters is the general staff of the army corps. It consists of a colonel or lieutenant-colonel as chief, one field officer, and two captains. [1] The functions of the general staff of a division or army corps during war may be summarised under the following heads: [2] —
(1) Elaboration in accordance with the situation from time to time of all arrangements concerning the fighting, marching, repose, and safety of the troops. ”

“ The following regulations will explain the nature of that duty when troops are encamped:—
The officers for daily duty in camp, independent of guards, will be a general or generals of the day, according to the circumstances and strength of the camp. In large camps there will be a lieutenant general of the day, and a major general for each wing, or one major general of cavalry, and one of infantry; and majors of brigade in the same proportion: a field officer per brigade, and a captain and subaltern of the day per regiment, and an adjutant and quarter master of the day per brigade. ”

“ The commander of an army; a military officer of high rank in France, Germany, and other nations, and the highest military officer in England. Formerly a captain-general was occasionally appointed, who had rank higher even than a field-marshal.
Field-officer. Is a colonel, lieutenant-colonel, or major of a battalion or regiment, as distinguished from general officers, who are superior to field-officers in rank; from line-officers, who are inferior; and from staff-officers, general or regimental, who may be of rank superior, equivalent, or inferior to that of field-officers. ”

“ Indeed, it is scarcely possible for any but those who have been in action, to have any idea of the wonderful effects which are occasionally produced by a kind word or look from a general or officer, at the head of a battalion on the field of battle, or with what ardour a private soldier will run into danger, when he conceives that his conduct is observed by his officers. A little attention from officers, similar to that bestowed on the 50th by their colonel at Almarez, will always be more than repaid by their troops on every occasion, when they are called into action. ”

“ He was for a long [Pg 112] time a clerk at General Gregg's Hd. Qurs., and after I was given a Division transferred to my Head Quarters. He is energetic, well educated, and a Gentleman, and possessing as he does a thorough knowledge of all papers, accounts, and reports which pertain to a regiment, brigade, or division, acquired by one or two years' service in the field, he is better qualified to discharge the duties of a subordinate officer than many of our West Point graduates on leaving the Academy. ”

“ But these make slow progress, for there is always an officer in sight—either a boy officer just out from England riding to the polo field near the Neutral Ground, or a commanding officer in a black tunic and a lot of ribbons across his breast, or an officer of the day with his sash and sword ”

“ There must also be an administrative officer at home, whose function will be to procure and convey to the army in the field all that it requires—food, ammunition, clothing and pay, fresh men and fresh horses to replace casualties. ”

“ The existence and maintenance of fair promotion, assignment, and command opportunities for ethnic- and gender-specific members of the Armed Forces at the levels of warrant officer, chief warrant officer, company and junior grade, field and mid-grade, and general and flag officer. ”

“ Stone says if you want a taste of the real thing, to apply for orders to report for duty to the commanding officer at Fort Niobrara until the arrival of your regiment. I have begged the Chief of Engineers to let me have a few weeks in the field with General Miles, and am assured that the general will apply for me. Not that I can be of any value as Engineer Officer, but just to get the experience, and perhaps see what we've been reading of a dozen years—a real Indian campaign. ”

“ At a post or camp where the headquarters of more than one regiment are stationed, or in the case of a small brigade in the field, if but one guard be necessary for the whole command, the details will be made from the headquarters of the command.
If formal guard mounting is to be held, the adjutant, sergeant major, and band to attend guard mounting will be designated by the commanding officer.
11. When a single organization furnishes the guard, a roster of organizations will be kept by the sergeant major under the supervision of the adjutant. ”

“ Field Officers, are such as command a whole regiment; as the colonel, lieutenant colonel, and major.
Staff Officers, are all those officers who are not attached to companies in a regiment; whose duties extend over the whole; or a large section, such as a brigade or division; such as the quarter master general, and the adjutant and inspector general, brigade officers, and aids-de-camp, also the quarter masters, adjutants, the physicians, surgeons, and chaplains. ”

“ And, as it is the imperative duty of every officer to be prepared to make a brave and successful defence, or to effect a safe and honourable retreat, one and all of them should be instructed in the best and most expeditious way of felling trees;—arranging them for the defence of their posts, and raising little field-works, or other obstacles for similar purposes. ”

“ As I have already noticed that the Field Officers of my Corps are peculiarly calculated for maintaining discipline and good order throughout, it is a matter of surprize that the establishment should have been so very low at this time, and that their situations should have been more generally considered as posts of sinecure than of active duty. ”

“ For fighting, you require, besides the field officers, at least two Englishmen, or better still, three per company. It is, I own, possible to increase the normal complement by free borrowing from the staff corps, and from the rest of the army, but every soldier will tell you that this is a mere shift; the officers must know their men, and the men their officers. ”

“ As the day advances the light grows stronger; gleams of sunshine send the purple shadows of masts and rigging dancing fitfully over the wide deck, which is practically deserted. There is the marine sentry over the life-buoy aft, look-outs aloft and at various corners of the superstructures, and the figures of the officer of the watch, signalmen and others are seen in movement up in the triangular platform dignified by the name of the "fore-bridge". ”

“ But the spotting officer is busy in the control-platform aloft, passing down corrections for transmission to the various gun-stations, and when a second explosion roars from the starboard turret, the enemy's cruiser, after disappearing for some seconds in a black and inky cloud of smoke, bursts into flames. Her consort and our scouting vessel draw farther and farther away to the northward, fighting fiercely. ”

“ Vern was his specialist in the care and feeding of Arthur and I was his chief of office routine—and, as such, I delighted his fussy little soul, because by adding what I remembered of Navy protocol to what he was able to teach me of Army routine, we came up with as snarled a mass of red tape as any field-grade officer in the whole history of all armed forces had been able to accumulate. Oh, I tell you, nobody sneezed in New York without a report being made out in triplicate, with eight endorsements.
Of course there wasn’t anybody to send them to, but that didn’t stop the Major. ”

“ I don't believe in a chief of staff at all, and any general commanding an army, corps, or division, that has a staff-officer who professes to know more than his chief, is to be pitied. Each regiment should have a competent adjutant, quartermaster, and commissary, with two or three medical officers. Each brigade commander should have the same staff, with the addition of a couple of young aides-de-camp, habitually selected from the subalterns of the brigade, who should be good riders, and intelligent enough to give and explain the orders of their general. ”

“ Later I came to know of the difficulty that confronts the young men, raw from the Officers' Training Corps, when they take up their preliminary duties as commanders of trained soldiers. No "rooky" fresh to the ranks is the butt of so many jokes and such biting sarcasm as the young officer is subjected to when he takes his place as a leader of men. ”

“ We both of us have hopes, sir, if we can get into the Army, that we may be able to rise to be commissioned officers. We have learned that there is less to do in the infantry, ordinarily, and that we would therefore have more time in the infantry for study to fit ourselves to take examinations for officer's commissions. ”

“ The officers may be all taken from the ranks, or they may be “officers and gentlemen” in the military sense, or have only temporarily done work with the rank and file when in training. There could also be a combination of these two systems. Only the captain and deputy-captain might be officers in the military sense, the sections or divisions being officered by “non-coms.” Some cities have an officer to every thirty “non-coms” and men, whilst others put a division of as many as two hundred under a fireman who has risen from the ranks. ”

“ But it is not in the power of any captain of a company, or other subordinate officer, to reduce a serjeant without the sentence of a general or regimental court-martial.
General Officers, are those whose command is not limited to a single company, troop, or regiment; but extends to a body of forces, composed of several regiments: such are the general, lieutenant general, major general, and brigadier general; on the United States establishment we have three brigadier generals; and the territory of the United States consists of three districts, over each of which a general presides. ”

“ The officer in charge is in regimentals, erect, apparently looking straight ahead, but the side glance of his eye is on the recruit on his right, his hands in trouser pockets, a nonchalant upward tilt of his head, while a stub of a pipe lends companionship as he steps into a new and compulsory chapter of his life. ”

“ Thus, no inspector-general was allowed to a brigadier, but when commanding a division or other organization larger than a brigade, he was permitted to detail an officer of the line for the very necessary and responsible duty. The aides are authorized to carry oral orders and to explain them, to call for and to bring oral reports, and as the general's confidential and official representatives they should be of the most intelligent and soldierly men of their grade. ”

“ Each brigade has a lieutenant-commander, and each battery a sub-lieutenant, chief petty officer, first and second-class petty officers, buglers, &c., while the staff includes a lieutenant-instructor, first-class petty officer instructor, surgeon, bugle-major, and armourer. ”

“ The officers were plain, farmerly planters, merchants, lawyers, and the like—energetic, determined men, but utterly ignorant of the most rudimentary parts of military science. It is this want of knowledge on the part of the officer which renders it so difficult to arrive at a tolerable condition of discipline among volunteers, as the privates are quite well aware they know as much of soldiering as the great majority of their officers. ”

“ The department consists of 1 brigadier-general, 3 colonels, 4 lieutenant-colonels, 10 majors, 20 captains, 16 first lieutenants, and 350 enlisted men. It is the duty of the senior officer of the ordnance department to direct the inspection and proving of all pieces of ordnance, shot, shells, small-arms, and equipments procured for the use of the armies of the United States; and to direct the construction of all cannon and carriages, and every implement and apparatus for ordnance, and all ammunition-wagons, traveling-forges, and artificers’ wagons ”

“ In all formations and movements a noncommissioned officer commanding a platoon or company carries his piece as the men do, if he is so armed, and takes the same post as an officer in like situation. When the command is formed in line for ceremonies, a noncommissioned officer commanding a company takes post on the right of the right guide after the company has been aligned. ”

“ If, upon marches, guards, or in quarters, different corps of the Army happen to join or do duty together, the officer highest in rank of the line of the Army, Marine Corps, or militia, by commission, there on duty or in quarters, shall command the whole, and give orders for what is needful to the service, unless otherwise specially directed by the President, according to the nature of the case. ”

“ He is detailed from the army, and has the temporary rank of colonel. The corps of cadets is organized as a battalion, and is commanded by an officer detailed from the army, having the title of commandant of cadets. He has the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel. An officer of engineers and of ordnance are detailed as instructors of practical military engineering and of ordnance and gunnery respectively. The heads of the departments of instruction have the title of professors. They are selected generally from officers of the army, and their positions are permanent. ”