Rank and file

“ However useless the third rank may appear for the purpose of file-firing, it is, notwithstanding necessary, in order to replace the men who fall in the ranks in front; otherwise you would be obliged to close in the files, and by this means leave intervals between the companies, which the cavalry would not fail to113 penetrate. It appears to me, also, that when infantry is formed in two ranks, the columns will be found to open out in marching to a flank. ”

“ File-leader, is the soldier placed in the front of any file, or the man who is to cover all those that stand directly in the rear of him, and by whom they are to be guided in all their movements.
File leaders must be particularly careful to preserve their proper distances from which ever hand they are to dress, and the followers of each file must only be attentive to cover, and be regulated by their proper file leaders. In file the rear rank invariably dresses by, and is regulated by the front rank. ”

“ Entire, when applied to rank, means a straight line composed of half files. See Rank entire.
Extended order may likewise be taken, without facing to the right or left. This is effected by every file moving sideways a given distance; say one pace, or twenty four inches, which extent of ground a man generally covers, from the centre file. The word of command in this case would be, battalion or company, mark time, from the centre by the side step to the right and left. The centre file stands fast—march—halt. ”

“ A file, squad, platoon, company, or larger body, forming part of a still larger body.
33. File: Two men, the front-rank man and the corresponding man of the rear rank. The front-rank man is the file leader. A file which has no rear-rank man is a blank file. The term file applies also to a single man in a single-rank formation.
34. File closers: Such officers and noncommissioned officers of a company as are posted in rear of the line. For convenience, all men posted in the line of file closers.
35. Flank: The right or left of a command in line or in column ”

“ In other respects the instructions in Parts II and III are applicable to the formation of companies, and to the position of supernumeraries. Signallers and pioneers will remain in the supernumerary rank of their companies. When a non-commissioned officer is in command of a company, he will, in marching past in column, or column of double companies, take post three paces in rear of the centre of the company. ”

“ In the discussion which took place in 1828 relating to ordinary rank and rank by brevet, the then Secretary of War (Gen. Porter) says, “Rank in the line of the army or lineal rank, as understood by the President, is applicable to the existing organization of that portion only of the army which is intended for field operations or the exertion of physical force against an enemy. It is commonly used in contradistinction to the staff,” etc. He then goes on to show that in the 62d Article it has another meaning,—House Document 58, 20th Congress, 2d session, page 13. ”

“ These ranks being fixed and known, we can now compare the staff and civil branches of the army with them. The great advantage of “rank” to the civil branches is not merely the position, but the power of choosing quarters in garrison, cabins on board ship, &c., before officers who are junior in rank. No nominal rank allows any person except a regular officer to have any military command; thus, if an Ensign were on board ship with troops, as also an old Surgeon and Paymaster, the Ensign would command the troops, though the Surgeon and Paymaster both rank as Captains. ”

“ My impression therefore is, that in a mixed company of civilians, &c., no officer is entitled to take rank higher than the civil title incorporated in his commission would imply, apart from his grade in the service to which he belongs. ”

“ Rank and grade are synonymous, and in their military acceptation indicate rights, powers, and duties, determined by laws, creating the different degrees of rank, and specifying fixed forms for passing from grade to grade and when rank in one body shall give command in another body; and also when rank in the army at large shall not be exercised. Rank is a right of which an officer cannot be deprived, except through forms prescribed by law. When an officer is on duty, the rank itself indicates his relative position to other officers of the body in which it is created. ”

“ A town of Belgium, 10 miles southwest from Charleroi, on the Sambre. This was the scene of an engagement between the Austrian and French troops in 1794.
Local Rank, or Temporary Rank. An officer who receives increased rank, for a limited period or during the performance of some specific duty, is said to have local rank. Also sometimes applied to the rank held by an officer who is assigned to duty by his brevet rank to a locality fixed by geographical limits, such as a military department or district. See Brevet Rank. ”

“ They are the officers, and although the same man may be field marshal at home, second lieutenant at the office, and scrub private in politics, although in many institutions the hierarchy of rank is vague or concealed, yet in every institution that requires the cooperation of many persons, some such hierarchy exists. [3] In American politics we call it a machine, or "the organization." ”

“ Or it may be that, upon consultation of the records, the employment department will find just the man it is looking for. In case neither of these things happen, then the right man may be found listed and described in the reserve file. ”

“ The longevity pay of officers so transferred from one branch of the service to another is computed upon the theory that the new appointment is a new entry into the service, and the names of such officers are placed, without regard to their previous rank, at the foot of the list of officers of the same grade in the new corps. ”

“ In the army and navy, there are hierarchical ranks from the Marshal to the private or bluejacket which bind together the whole for purposes [42] of command, and there are the gradations of seniority within the same rank. The junior must obey the senior; the inferior must take orders from the superior, who transmits them to Our direct command; and inferior and junior officers and men must pay respect to their superiors and seniors, even though they be not their direct superiors and seniors. ”

“ The policy of holding double rank at the same time in the staff and in the corps of the army, as is done in our service, is pronounced by all competent judges as ruinous to an army, destroying at the same time the character of the staff and injuring the efficiency of the line. ”

“ The non-commissioned officers were generally selected from the most worthy and efficient of the recruits and promoted to lance sergeants and lance corporals, a rank with authority but without extra pay. ”

“ Men and officers of lower grades may be exchanged for officers of a higher grade, and men and officers of different services may be exchanged according to the following scale of equivalents:
A General-commanding-in-chief, or an Admiral, shall be exchanged for officers of equal rank, or for sixty privates or common seamen. ”

“ Local, State, civil and militia rank held by persons not in actual military service will not be recognized, the basis of exchange being the grade actually held in the naval and military service of the respective parties. ”

“ Every private in the Army possesses what is called a conduct-sheet, and upon this his crimes are recorded. To be precise, he has two such sheets. One is called his Company sheet, and the other his Regimental sheet. His Company sheet contains a record of every misdeed for which he has been brought before his Company Commander. His Regimental sheet is a more select document, and contains only the more noteworthy of his achievements—crimes so interesting that they have to be communicated to the Commanding Officer. ”

“ When an officer holding rank by brevet receives a regular commission of the same grade, he is said to be promoted and to become a full officer of that rank. These circumstances make it evident that there is a difference of military position between an officer by brevet and an officer by regular commission, and that the one is less eligible than the other. And Congress seems to have referred to this distinction of position rather than to technical rank in the provision under consideration. ”

“ The manifest advantages of a uniform filing classification are the time saved in avoiding duplication of numbers, and the practical familiarity possible to officials and employes of all grades and locations. When a man is promoted or transferred, he does not have to learn a new filing system. Instead of the whole burden of filing being upon a file clerk, everybody can be helping to preserve the integrity and insure the efficiency of the system. ”

“ The files of companies will also be numbered 1. 2. 3. 4. &c. the grenadier and light companies will be numbered seperately in the same manner, and with the addition of those distinctions. No alteration is to be made in these appellations whether the battalion be faced to front or rear.
Formation at close order, is the arrangement of any given number of men in ranks at the distance of one pace, except where there is a fourth, or supernumerary rank, which has three paces. In firing order the ranks are more closely locked in. ”

“ One deputy director general Comptroller General, whose position shall be 12th grade of Selected Appointment Rank, or at the rank of major general. Article 5 In order to fulfill the military services of budget accounting and statistics, the bureau may set up the specialized agencies, executive units and force, whose organizations will be structured in accordance with the table of organization and equipment. Article 6 All the positions, ranks and quantity of members in the bureau will be structured in accordance with the table of organization. ”

“ The fact that an officer entrusted with duties pertaining to a higher rank than his own, on account of his peculiar fitness for the position, could be temporarily promoted to that higher rank, even though for administrative reasons it was not possible to give him the effective rank, was very useful and presented many advantages. ”

“ Each man on joining is measured, and an outline figure card showing the measurements of the front and back surfaces, which are divided into areas by means of dotted lines, is filed in the Medical Department of the War Office. When a man deserts or is dismissed his card is placed in a separate file, and the new cards of recruits are compared with those in this particular file. ”

“ Whenever any officer having the power of appointment or employment shall so request, there shall be certified to him by the Commission or the proper examining board four names for the vacancy specified, to be taken from those graded highest on the proper register of those in his branch of the service and remaining eligible, regard being had for any right of preference and to the apportionments to States and Territories ”

“ The object of every rank is precedency, and every order may display its advantages to their full extent. The sovereign himself owes great part of his authority to the sounding titles and the dazzling equipage which he exhibits in public. The subordinate ranks lay claim to importance by a like exhibition, and for that purpose carry in every instant the ensigns of their birth, or the ornaments of their fortune. ”

“ Personnel to staff the Accounting Office shall be assigned within the personnel quota prescribed herein. Article 21 The Council shall have a Statistics Office to be headed by an Statistics Director with the rank of Level 10 to 12 of the Selected Rank, and assisted by a Deputy Statistics Director with the rank of Level 10 to 11 of the Selected Rank, to administer investigation, statistics, study and analysis of labor affairs according to law. Personnel to staff the Statistics Office shall be assigned within the personnel quota prescribed herein. ”

“ Officers take quarters according to rank, and it not infrequently happens that one will have to vacate his quarters and give place to another who outranks him, the ranking officer having this right and as a rule he does not hesitate to use it although he may be a single man and the man displaced be a man of family. ”

“ After the Final Classification Board has made a finding, if the President does not order further revision, and the officer who has demanded the Court of Inquiry is continued in class B, then the section provides that another 'board of not less than three officers shall be convened to determine whether such classification is due to his neglect, misconduct or avoidable habits. If the finding is affirmative, he shall be discharged from the Army; if negative, he shall be placed on the unlimited retired list with pay,' as provided in the section. ”

“ Organizations required to register must report, inter alia, the names and addresses of their officers, branch officers and contributors, a detailed desr iption of their activities, and a detailed statement of assets, and must file copies of publications which they issue or distribute; registration statements must be kept up to date and are to be open for public examination. ”

“ The pivotal language of § 10 (b) (3) , for present purposes, is the statute's proscription of pre-induction judicial review 'of the classification or processing of any registrant * * *.' I take the phrase 'classification or processing' to encompass the numerous discretionary, factual, and mixed law-fact determinations which a Selective Service Board must make prior to issuing an order to report for induction. ”

“ The duty which the law imposes on the department, of fixing the rates of compensation to be paid to enumerators, is one of great nicety and difficulty.
The conditions, geographical and other, of each section of the country which bear on the facility of enumeration are being thoroughly and systematically studied, in order that the greatest economy and efficiency of service may be combined with the highest attainable equity toward the agents of the government performing this arduous and responsible work. ”