Operative

“ The homes of operatives have steadily improved in character; and wherever there is an intelligent class of operatives, regulations are obeyed, and sanitary conditions are fair and often perfect, while the tendency is toward more and more care in every respect. ”

“ There must be at the head of it a man of character, of intellectual force, of administrative ability, and all his subordinate officers must be fitted for their special task, exactly as they should be for a hospital, or a military establishment, for a college, or for a school of practical industries. And when such men are demanded, they will be forthcoming, just as they are in any department in life, when a business is to be developed, a great engineering project to be undertaken, or an army to be organized and disciplined. ”

“ To be an officer required a nobility of four descents, and the private, once enlisted, became a mere machine in the hands of his superiors. But let us study this victim of a barbarous usage somewhat more in detail, for it is only by getting close to a subject that we can form a correct idea of it. These details bring into strong relief the difference between the present and the past, enabling us to measure for ourselves the progress and the effects of civilization. ”

“ I don't mean the bright-eyed grads of our technical schools, like the ones on my squad downstairs. I mean the full agents. The men who plan the operations, do the preliminary fieldwork and see that everything comes off smoothly. They're crooks. All crooks. The better they were on their own, the better a job they do for the Corps. It's a great, big, brawling universe and you would be surprised at some of the problems that come up. The only men we can recruit to do the job are the ones who have already succeeded at it. ”

“ Neither is it of very great moment to me whether a successful experiment be of more or less doubtful propriety, that speedily returns a soldier from a sick report to effective service of the government, be he private, non-commissioned or commissioned officer ”

“ Recognising the immediate necessity for action, and the danger of leaving the flank of the unit on our left exposed, I was compelled to act on my own initiative, being the only other officer in the company.{17} The difficulties of commanding a full company in action, without any other officers in the company, are great; but when that action takes place in the dark, over unknown ground, it becomes mere luck if things go well. ”

“ For, when you come to analyze, you will find the divisions of labor and of authority quite corresponding to similar divisions in the army. Officer, "non-com" and private—each contributes his more or less important part; each is a necessary factor in the success of the enterprise. ”

“ My opinion of the advantages lying open to me increases rather than otherwise as I see my way about me. I am on capital terms with all the superior officers, and I find them ready to give me all facilities. ”

“ And yet, my lords, how widely those who have assumed the direction of affairs have deviated from this method is well known. It is known equally to the highest and meanest officers, that those who have most opportunities of observing military merit, have no power of rewarding it; and, therefore, every man endeavours to obtain other recommendations than those of his superiours in the army, and to distinguish himself by other services than attention to his duty, and obedience to his commanders. ”

“ You will, however, in general, avail yourself of the services of any persons, whether fugitives from labor or not, who may offer them to the National Government; you will employ such persons in such services as they may be fitted for, either as ordinary employees, or, if special circumstances seem to require it, in any other capacity, with such organization, in squads, companies, or otherwise, as you deem most beneficial to the service. ”

“ Thus it has been found by ages of experiment that an average officer, with the assistance of certain subordinates to whom he delegates as much or as little responsibility as he pleases, finds his time fully occupied by the care of about one hundred and fifty men and horses, each individual of which he must understand intimately, in character, physical strength and temper, for horse and man must be matched with the utmost care and judgment if the best that each is capable of is to be attained. ”

“ The efficiency and discipline of a company depend to such an extent on the noncommissioned officers that the greatest care and judgment should be exercised in their selection. They should be men possessing such soldierly qualities as a high sense of duty, cheerful obedience to orders, force of character, honesty, sobriety and steadiness, together with an intelligent knowledge of drills, regulations, and orders. ”

“ Why, it may be asked, this strange departure from the recognized rule of organization in all governmental and business affairs? Why provide educated and trained experts for all subordinate positions, and none for the head or chief, vastly the most important of all? ”

“ The officers and non-commissioned officers, on whom the responsibility of leadership rests, have that spur to maintain their equilibrium, but the private soldiers, who have themselves only to think of, are the most open to this devastating influence. ”

“ And every one in turn is responsible only to the officer immediately over him; and the discipline and order that comes of this method is marvellous, for they are a people very obedient to their chiefs. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Two separate organizations existed with parallel functions--the 'general' more occupied in giving direction to his troops than in providing for their material wants, which he regarded as the special province of the staff, and the 'intendant' (staff) often working at random, taking on his shoulders a crushing burden of functions and duties, exhausting himself with useless efforts, and aiming to accomplish an insufficient service, to the disappointment of everybody. ”

“ The men are working for the military here in improving the post, and they all have an interest in them for their work, and I think a little help from your department, as above mentioned, would be better for them than to turn them loose again to wander in idleness or learn evil, or go back to bad habits again. ”

“ The reports of the various officers at the head of the administrative branches of the military service, connected with the quartering, clothing, subsistence, health, and pay of the Army, exhibit the assiduous vigilance of those officers in the performance of their respective duties, and the faithful accountability which has pervaded every part of the system. ”

“ These heads of branches should be the efficient staff of the military institution, it is through the perfection of the organization of the staff, and the rigid responsibility for the due execution and for seeing all under them duly performed, that modern tactics is in an eminent degree indebted for its preeminency and its triumphs. Precision, promptitude, and provident foresight, are their invariable laws, and upon these being perfect depends all the success of modern military science ”

“ The service is a military service, and the command of a military nature; and in such cases, every delay, and every obstacle to an efficient and immediate compliance, necessarily tend to jeopard the public interests. ”

“ Other cases of several kinds have occurred where a different method must be adopted, but which it is impossible to specify, and must be met by the practical skill of the officer, and who must constantly recur to general principles. ”

“ Allow no talking, except what relates to the business in hand, such as passing of orders or information, results of fire, and so on. Hold the men responsible that if they are out of reach of the control of their leader, it is their duty to carry out the spirit of the orders under which they set out. ”

“ Psychological Elements.—The chief thus finds in the organization of his undertaking a machine with which he is to work out his purpose. And this machine, in all its component parts, is built up of live sentient human beings, capable of splendid work if properly handled. Maximum results depend therefore on the chief's understanding of human nature, and on his applying this understanding to the practical management of the undertaking. ”

“ Among those to whom such transference most frequently and regularly takes place are to be found—nurses, teachers, school prefects, police officers, employers, professional or military superiors, or persons occupying general positions of command, such as magistrates, statesmen or kings. ”

“ No man except the man in the field knows better than I do that you have been circularized and regulated and instructed and uninstructed, informed and misinformed, ordered and dis-ordered, until I have no doubt you have been tempted to slam your fist down on your desk and say, “Well, for Heaven’s sake, how many bosses have I, anyway, and which lead had I better follow.” ”

“ Listen to what the Chief of Staff of the Army has to say about this in the preface to the Field Service Regulations: "Officers and men of all ranks and grades are given a certain independence in the execution of the tasks to which they are assigned and are expected to show initiative in meeting the different situations as they arise. ”

“ The answer necessarily must be, that improvements in our department of work must come, as they do elsewhere, by the investigation, the study, the thought and the effort of those who are in actual control, of those who are in a position to see, to observe and to know. ”

“ Examinations for promotion are more searching, selection for appointments to command the rule rather than the exception; while every possible care is taken to ensure the retention of men who know their work. ”

“ They are composed indiscriminately of all professions and pursuits—of farmers, lawyers, physicians, merchants, manufacturers, mechanics, and laborers—and this not only among the officers, but the private soldiers in the ranks. ”

“ And if the soldier rises to office, the responsibility of command, attention to detail and minutiæ, the critical eyes of his subordinates, and the demands of his superiors, all withdraw him from the enticements of vice, and mould him into a solid, substantial character, both capable and willing to meet and overcome difficulties. ”

“ And to this end, the officer aforesaid is hereby authorized and required to employ so many persons as he may deem necessary to overcome such force, and to retain them in his service, so long as circumstances may require. ”

“ Consider for a moment the society of the modern officer—I am not here referring to low-class society—he has far too much of it; people run after the lieutenants, everybody who has a house invites you officers, and what do you do? ”

“ By Method and discipline are to be understood the marshalling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the gradations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure. ”

“ Men, in selecting positions, should also bear this truth in mind. They should know the kind of executive under whom they can do their best work, and, if at all possible, work under this kind of superior officer. ”

“ In place of the suspicious watchfulness and the more or less open warfare which characterizes the ordinary types of management, there is universally friendly cooperation between the management and the men. ”

“ There is no end to their activities, and no end to their enterprise, and in the opinion of many the Engineers, officers and men alike, are the most capable and efficient body of men in any branch of the Government service. ”

“ Undoubtedly there are junctures where momentary interest ceases and attention flags, and where reënforcement is needed. But what carries a person over these hard stretches is not loyalty to duty in the abstract, but interest in his occupation. Duties are 'offices'—they are the specific acts needed for the fulfilling of a function—or, in homely language, doing one's job. ”

“ We shall never be able to pick good officers if we do not know how to detect in our privates the qualities that would fit them to command and how to encourage the development of such qualities when there is anything on which to base it. ”

“ At the head of one of the superior branches should be placed a responsible officer, who would have the superintendance of all the duties, and the direction and control of all those placed in the execution of the subordinate branches ”

“ We formed a society, and held meetings, at which speeches were made and stories told, more or less accurate. When any new officers, taken on the various battlefields, came, we initiated them, and, in the openness of their confidence, got from them the story of their early lives and loves, which afforded us amusement, until they discovered a way to be brief in their statements. ”

“ Every efficient officer must realize the possibilities and limitations of his own arm of the service as well as the possibilities and limitations of the other arms. Each arm of the service is necessary and important. ”

“ It would take up too much space were I to attempt to describe all the grades and offices on board a man-of-war. It will suffice when I state that every man has his proper place, and that one follows the other in rank, down to the lowest rated officer. ”