Military mission

“ We can be sure that the combat units of our Army and Navy are well manned, well equipped, and well trained. Their effectiveness in action will depend upon the quality of their leadership, and upon the wisdom of the strategic plans on which all military operations are based. ”

“ You may ride into a hole, over a precipice, to perdition, if it’s your luck on this night, but is not the general in front? You follow the general—that’s the grand idea—that is the military idea. If the United States army was strung out in line with its general ahead, and if he should ride out into the broad Atlantic and swim to sea, the whole United States army would follow along, for that’s the idea, you know. ”

“ From the hour of enlistment to the hour of return, the United States soldiers and sailors have had with them, throughout the war, the advantage of intelligent, sympathetic help from various civilian organizations, co-ordinating with the military. ”

“ Large numbers of untrained men, without organization to embody them in, add little to actual military strength.
Armies of First Line
The Army which will take the field at the outbreak of war is the Regular Army, which is organized, kept up, and trained, year by year, in peace. The War Army will be this Peace Army mobilized, or brought up to war strength and completed in every essential, by calling up reserve officers and men to fill its ranks. ”

“ A military organization is needed with an Army in the field, so as to ensure regular postal communication to and from home. This is a modern innovation in war, but one of importance to the comfort and spirits of the troops, and is a service demanded by their friends at home and by the nation in general. ”

“ Never before in time of peace has our country maintained so large and effective a military force. as it now has. The Army, Navy, Marine Corps, National Guard, and Organized Reserves represent a strength of about 558,400 men. These forces are well trained, well equipped, and high in morale. ”

“ There is perhaps no operation of war more difficult than that which this country has to undertake in the embarkation of its army for a continental campaign. It is not merely as regards its personnel; but large reserves of ammunition and stores, and the armaments and equipments of the artillery, engineers, [Pg 11] medical, commissariat, clothing, and other departments have to be embarked, and all so arranged as to be prepared for rapid landing after a long voyage, and possibly in the face of an enemy. ”

“ Then, again, on entering on a foreign expedition, we have at once to undertake a most difficult operation in the rapid embarkation [Pg 250] of men, horses, guns, munitions, engineer, medical and commissariat stores; so that from every point of view a strong administration is required, and one in which the unrivalled experience of our officers should be fully utilised and trusted. ”

“ Army and Navy.—The general principle of the military defence of the Empire in the 4th century consisted in large forces stationary on the frontiers, and reserve forces, stationed in the interior provinces, which could be moved to any point that was in danger. ”

“ Base of Operations.—In military language represents the original line on which an offensive army forms, whether it be the frontier of a country, river, or safe position, whence it takes the field to invade an enemy’s country. ”

“ The Armed Forces are composed of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force and have as their mission, to defend the national independence, territorial integrity of the state and the existing political and social system against any insidious attempt. ”

“ Our staff corps and regular army are insignificant, compared with those of European nations, in which the average strength of the standing armies is from 250,000 to 300,000 men on the peace footing, and 400,000 to 600,000 on the war footing, with immense magazines of equipage and material, numerous military schools, and extensive organizations in all the departments incident to an army. ”

“ Train teams on the order of battle--enemy warfighting doctrine and the integration of outside military influences on enemy doctrine, philosophies, and ideology. Additionally, key vehicles and equipment placement in organizations and formations. ”

“ Accordingly, this understanding is an essential in the study of that aspect of command training which has as its purpose the development of ability to reach sound decision.
The ideal of military command combines the best of human qualities with sound knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of the armed forces. It recognizes in war a form of human activity whose conduct, like that of all other human activities, is subject to natural law. ”

“ We will suppose war to be declared, and the army to be just entering upon a campaign. The political and military authorities of the state determine upon the nature of the war, and select the theatre of its enterprises. The chief selects certain points, on or near the borders of the seat of war, where his troops are to be assembled, and his materiel collected. These points, together, form his base of operations. ”

“ First and Second Lines.—The organization into arms and units is of course maintained in peace as well as for war. Military forces are further organized, in peace, into active and reserve troops, first and second lines, &c., according to the power possessed by the executive over the men. Broadly speaking, the latter fall into three classes, regulars, auxiliary forces and irregular troops. ”

“ The Armed Forces and the unified commands have achieved a remarkable degree of integration in organization and operations and remain the best-trained, best-equipped, and best-prepared fighting force in the world. ”

“ The military organizations, such as companies, regiments, brigades, divisions, corps d'armée, are always kept up; the officers are ever ready, and in case of war it is only necessary to call in the men. ”

“ Preparation for war among such nations requires not only the forming and training of the army, but vast provision in many various ways of the means and matériel of war. Much science and skill are also applied to the conduct of military operations, and the principles upon which they ought to be conducted have been carefully investigated and theories tested by an examination of the history of the most important campaigns. ”

“ All the efficient parts of an army that may be brought into action are called effective, and generally consist of artillery, cavalry, and infantry, with their necessary appendages, such as hospital staff, wagon-train, etc. Effective forces of a country; all the disposable strength, vigor, and activity of any armed proportion of native or territorial population. The navy of a country must be looked upon as part of the effective force of the country, to which is added the marines.
Forcing. The operation of making a bullet take the grooves of a rifle. ”

“ First, as an organisation, as the amazing product of English patriotic intelligence devoted to one sole end—the defence of civilisation against the immoral attack of the strongest military machine in the world. And then, so to speak, as a moral entity, for my mind was full of the sights and sounds of the preceding days, and the Army appeared to me, not only as the mighty instrument for war which it already is, but as a training school for the Empire, likely to have incalculable effect upon the future. ”

“ Within the military organization itself, we may note the increasing assimilation of the volunteer forces to the regular army, now going to the extent of a movement for making them available abroad, so that, instead of defensive action for which they were created, they can be used for offensive action ”

“ Lastly, let our army be also perfectly organized, and in all respects prepared for a new and more rapid mode of warfare; and, under Providence, we may not only be still the most powerful of maritime nations, but also the means of promoting the tranquillity and happiness of the world in general. ”

“ Area Unified Commands have been established to facilitate force aug­mentation and complementation within and across the major services, particularly in areas where military operations are either imminent or ongoing. ”

“ The duties and responsibilities of the officers were always put upon a high plane. They had, during all military service with troops, to dress like the men, to live among them in the trenches, to share their hardships and privations, and to be responsible for their welfare. ”

“ Military Forces are of two distinct categories: Fighting Troops, which carry out the actual operations; Administrative Services, whose function is to provide the Fighting Troops with all that they require to keep up their strength and efficiency. ”

“ I wish to draw your attention to the need for maintaining at least the nucleus of the Armed Forces whose primary mission should be the training of our manpower potential not only to defend our territory but also to meet such minimum defense requirements as a consequence of commitments with our friends and allies. ”

“ The military service near his person, that which takes place in time of war, and, in general, all the jobs or escorts, are performed by the subjects at their own expence, and they are obliged to execute his orders, and follow him wherever he chooses to lead them. ”

“ The preparation for a complicated operation against the formidable defenses in front of us included the assembling of divisions and of corps and army artillery, transport, aircraft, tanks, ambulances, the location of hospitals, and the molding together of all of the elements of a great modern army with its own railheads, supplied directly by our own Service of Supply. ”

“ He knew just enough of military science, as he expressed it himself, to measure the extent of his ignorance, and with a handful of men he was marching, in rough winter weather, into a strange country, among a hostile population, to confront a largely superior force under the command of a distinguished graduate of West Point, who had seen active and important service in two preceding wars. ”

“ All the business of preparing for the military registration of 10,000,000 men, of providing quarters and instructors for nearly 50,000 prospective officers, for finding arms and equipment for millions of troops yet to be organized, of expanding the regular army to full war strength, of preparing and recruiting the National Guard for war was at hand. ”

“ Pioneers must be sent forward to clear the roads, preceded by small detachments of light and select troops, together with estaffettes or mounted messengers and vedettes, who are to reconnoitre in front, rear, and round the wings of the army. To these must be added appropriate guards and escorts to accompany the artillery, and to protect the baggage. ”

“ The great improvements made in the art of war in modern times, in weapons, drill, discipline, etc., has made warfare more of a science and less of a trial of brute force than formerly, and hence the necessity for a body of trained officers capable of moving, directing, and bringing into effective operation all the appliances of war with which modern armies are furnished. ”

“ An army of three million men was organized, and more than two million soldiers, fully equipped, well officered, and indomitable in spirit, was safely transported across three thousand miles of seas, where it turned the tide of battle, won imperishable glory, and triumphed in the greatest war that the world has ever known. ”

“ War not only put into the hands of the sovereign the power over a whole nation, but his army served as his model on which to organize his nation. It is one of the plainest lessons of history that through military discipline mankind were taught to submit to authority and act in masses under command. ”

“ Civil officers should discharge diplomatic duties, and military officers the conduct of war. And the collection of information is one of the most important of military duties. Our Pathan Sepoys, the Intelligence Branch, and an enterprising cavalry, should obtain all the facts that a general requires to use in his plans. ”

“ And I am sure that no one can get a much better training for the battle of life that he gets in the peace loving, hard working, honor seeking, duty following, never failing, hard fighting service of the United States—on sea or shore. I have been in both, worn the Army and also the Navy blue, and I know. We all deprecate the necessity for armies, but if we must have them, let us thank God for an army like that of our beloved country. ”

“ As command ascends the scale, its viewpoint broadens. Experience and added knowledge, with increasing authority and responsibility, lead to a concept of war more and more comprehensive, with the resultant growth in ability to evolve and put into effect a [12] general plan for the effective control of collective effort.
Unity of Effort. An objective is best attained by effective application of properly directed effort, exerted by a single individual or by groups of individuals. ”

“ The fundamental plans, the strength and composition of the forces, the training of officers and men, the collection of the necessary material of all kinds, the arrangements for supplies and munitions of all sorts—the very principles on which war strategy conducts its operations—are the fruit of the tedious work of preparation strategy. ”

“ To meet situations of less than general nuclear war, we continue to maintain our carrier forces, our many service units abroad, our always ready Army strategic forces and Marine Corps divisions, and the civilian components. ”

“ A major purpose of military organization is to achieve real unity in the Defense establishment in all the principal features of military activities. Of all these, one of the most important to our nation's security is strategic planning and control. ”

“ As troops, moreover, in the service of the Government they would have had to drill, to do regular military duty, to subject themselves, in short, to discipline, for which, as a rule, they had no taste. ”