Serjeant

“ A non-commissioned officer who during the exercise of a battalion, regularly stands or moves behind each officer, commanding or acting with a platoon or company. When the ranks take open order, and the officers move in front, the covering serjeants replace their leaders; and when the ranks are closed, they fall back in their rear.
Drill Serjeant. An expert and active non-commissioned officer, who, under the immediate direction of the serjeant major, instructs the raw recruits of a regiment in the first principles of military exercise. ”

“ The senior serjeant with each guard will take command of it, posted on the right of the front rank. The Colour will be placed at a distance of about two guards in front of the left of the line, in charge of a serjeant and a double sentry. The beat [214] of these sentries will be at right angles to the line, with their front inwards; they will be posted at three paces right and left of the Colour, and act with the men in the line. The serjeant and sentries will be taken from the right guard, and the latter will be its right file. ”

“ That of a serjeant, by a serjeant, and 19 rank and file, with 3 rounds of small arms.
That of a corporal, musician, private man, drummer, and fifer, by 1 serjeant and 13 rank and file, with 3 rounds of small arms.
All officers, attending the funerals of even their nearest relations, notwithstanding wear their regimentals, and a black crape round the left arm.
The pall to be supported by officers of the same rank with that of the deceased: if the number cannot be had, officers next in seniority are to supply their place. ”

“ These feelings, together with the beautiful prospect of the fleet, consisting of fifty-one large ships, have an exhilarating effect upon the spirits. We had a serjeant of our regiment sent to the bottom this day in the usual form: which is, to sew up the person in his hammock, and to put a large shot or two at the feet to make him sink. When the corpse is prepared, it is carried upon deck, laid upon a grating, and covered with the union jack flag, and, after prayers are read over it in the English form, it is committed to the waves. ”

“ It is to be observed, in order to preserve the proper interval, on the covering serjeant quitting his division to mark the point in the true line, the officer’s place is to be immediately filled by a supernumerary or other man from the rear, where he is to remain till replaced by the officer, or covering serjeant. ”

“ Serjeants-at-Arms.—In the British royal household there are eight serjeants-at-arms, whose duties are ceremonial; they have to be in attendance only at drawing-rooms, levees, state balls and state concerts. ”

“ —The best hearts, Trim, are ever the bravest, replied my uncle Toby.—And the greatest cowards, an' please your honour, in our regiment, were the greatest rascals in it.—There was serjeant Kumber, and ensign—
—We'll talk of them, said my father, another time. ”

“ The sergeant-major, a veteran of years of service in the regulars, sat at one of them. A young soldier, he who had unfastened the tent flap to admit Lieutenant Gray, was just returning to his seat at the other. Two orderlies lounged on a bench well beyond and back of the sergeant-major’s 14 seat, and a bugler, with his hands in his pockets, was smoking a short brier-root pipe at the opposite or back doorway. Woe to the enlisted men who sought the presence of the colonel or adjutant through any other channel. The sergeant-major would drop on him with the force of a baseball bat. ”

“ The sergeant-major of a squadron, or the French equivalent of a British infantry colour-sergeant in a company, is the right hand of the captain commanding, adviser as well as intermediary between officers and men. The sergeant in charge of a peloton or troop is not only the principal instructor with whom the men of the troop have to deal, but is also counsellor and guide to the young lieutenant who comes straight from a military school to take up his commission, and needs experience of the ways of men in addition to the theoretical knowledge he has already gained. ”

“ As for me, I would rather be first sergeant of my troop or company, or sergeant-major of my regiment, than any lieutenant in it except the adjutant. Hope of promotion is all that can make a subaltern's life endurable, but the staff-sergeant or the first sergeant, honored and respected by his officers, decorated for bravery by Congress, and looked up to by his comrades, is a king among men. ”

“ It was sheer nervousness, but the sergeant thought it was sheer funk.
“Tompkins,” he said, “is it trembling you are for your skin?”
“No, no, sergeant,” said he, making a brave attempt to still his limbs. “I’m trembling for the Germans—they don’t know I’m here.”
NO LEAD PIPE CINCH
“Conscription has, maybe, saved the country,” growled the soldier, “but what I object to is the company it drives a man into. I’m a plumber by trade, an honest workman, yet I’m compelled to suffer the society of such professionals as a lawyer, a minister, and an auctioneer.” ”

“ The sergeant of marines, who was a very smart and effective officer, made them stand as nearly at attention as circumstances permitted, and then reported them to the first lieutenant, who, after a casual glance, remarked, "that never, during the entire course of a varied and somewhat peripatetic career, had it been his destiny to find brought before him individuals so totally deprived of the slightest vestiges of intelligence;" ”

“ No sergeant is perfect, and no officer is perfect; and it would be the height of folly and presumption for any new subaltern to give an otherwise excellent N.C.O. a dog’s life. Be patient, well-meaning, and courteous, and in a month’s time the sergeant will, metaphorically, lick your boots.
‘There are other N.C.O.’s in the platoon. In our present-day armies, as you know, these non-coms. are frequently men of social standing, and—more important—men of character. Degrees are as common as peas in the ranks to-day. All are open-eyed and certainly democratic. Such men are sensitive. ”

“ Next in order of rank come the sergeants, the non-commissioned equivalent to troop and section officers, but of far more actual importance than these, since parades frequently take place in the absence of the troop or section officer, while the troop or section sergeant is at all times responsible to his superiors for the efficiency of his men. The rank of sergeant is seldom attained in less than seven years, and thus the man of three stripes53 whom Kipling justly described in his famous phrase “as the backbone of the Army” is a man of experience and fully entitled to his post. ”

“ June 1.—At last am I from arm-amputation recovered and walk again out. The sentry was for his on the first April quite courageous act to be Sergeant promoted. Here comes a Sergeant! He is it! Look curiously at him whereupon he me in the leg shoots. Long live our Emperor! Again carried home.
Sept. 1.—Again out, in invalid chair, meet same man, now Lieutenant. I murmur sadly, "Ah, my friend, I gave you a leg-up indeed!" Then he, saying that I him insulted have, my remaining arm with his sword off cuts. I respect our Emperor, but I love not his soldiers now. Must hire an amanuensis. ”

“ That non-commissioned officer along with the men of the relief laughed heartily when I described the fright I had received, and remarked that I had been dreaming. The sergeant, however, performed the duty required of him by the rules of discipline in a most inexorable fashion. ”

“ There was high triumph in the Little Red Doctor’s expression when he came to my bench with the glad tidings of young David’s promotion to a sergeantcy.
“While it’s very gratifying,” I remarked, “it doesn’t seem to me an epoch-making event.”
“Doesn’t it!” retorted my friend. “That’s because of your abysmal military ignorance, Dominie. Let me tell you how it is in our army. A fellow can get himself made a captain by pull, or a major by luck, or a colonel by desk-work, or a general by having a fine martial figure, but to get yourself made a sergeant, by Gosh, you’ve got to show the stuff. ”

“ The most valuable officer, the one who has the greatest responsibility, is the sergeant. The true sergeant is born, not made—he is the priceless gift of the gods. He is so highly prized that when found he is never promoted, nor is he allowed to resign. ”

“ The two on duty must remain mounted, and silent; the others may dismount, but not unsaddle; nor can they build a camp fire, nor indulge in any noise. After an hour the sergeant takes out the second "relief" and relieves the first, and then the third to relieve the second.
After visiting the videttes, I agreed to relieve my lieutenant at three in the morning, and then returned to the little store, unbuckled my buffalo, and was soon stretched with the men on the floor. ”

“ The sergeant, too, at the same instant, leaps towards his commander. Distant, but distinct, two quick shots have been fired far over among those tumbling buttes and ridges lying there against the horizon. Before either man could speak or question, there comes another, then another, then two or three in quick succession, the sound of firing thick and fast.
"It's a fight, sir, sure!" cries the sergeant, eagerly.
"To horse, then,—quick!" is the answer, as the two soldiers bound back to the trail.
"Saddle up, men!" rings the order, shouted down the rocky flanks of the ravine. ”

“ In the British service, a sergeant who, on the responsibility of the captain of a troop, battery, or company, keeps the men’s accounts. He is generally, but not invariably, the color-sergeant in the infantry, or the troop or battery sergeant-major in the cavalry or artillery. ”

“ It is strange how frequently the company [127] staff, from the Sergeant-Major down to the most recently procured batman, find it necessary to enter the inner sanctum of H.Q. after the rum has come. The Sergeant-Major arrives with a large, sweet smile, acting as guard of honour. “Rum up, sir.” “Thank you, Sergeant-Major.” “I’ve detailed that working-party, sir.” “Thank you, Sergeant-Major.” “Is that all, sir?” “Yes, thank you, Sergeant-Major.” He vanishes, to reappear a minute later. “Did you CALL me, sir?” “No” ... long pause ... “Oh! Still there? Er, have a drink, Sergeant-Major?” ”

“ She gave up the dinner until after he had gone back to his regiment, for go he would, as he meant to be a sergeant inside of two years, and when she found that the sole difference between sergeant and corporal in our blessedly democratic service was simply half an inch or so more of stripe on his trousers, and brought him no nearer the commission and little farther from the rank and file, she marvelled that the Department of War could [Pg 495] be so slow to appreciate a soldier ready to do so much for so little. ”

“ And Jerry and Bob had to admit that they were, though it was rather early in the game to expect anything.
The first step upward from private, the lowest army rank, is to be made a corporal, and, after that one becomes a sergeant. A corporal wears two V-shaped stripes, on his sleeves. The V in each case is inverted. A sergeant has three such stripes. There are various sorts of sergeants—duty or line sergeants, staff and major sergeants, mess sergeants, supply sergeants and so on. The [135] first sergeant is often called “Top,” and sometimes considers himself almost a commissioned officer. ”

“ There was an awe-stricken semicircle of rustics at a little distance, before whom stood an enlisting sergeant—​his features bloated and reddened from beer and alcohol—​beckoning with his naked sword in his hand.
He had the gift of the gab, and the words he was giving utterance to fell glibly enough from his lips.
“Now, my fine fellow,” he cried, in a thick husky voice, “don’t hesitate. A fine chance offers itself. Take the Queen’s money, and join our gallant comrades in the East. Now’s your time; but don’t all speak at once. Happy is the man who enlists in our crack regiment. ”

“ Indeed, in many of them there could scarcely be found at the commencement of the service a man who could either read or write. Many an officer can recall his rather novel experience in teaching his first sergeant enough of figures and script letters to enable the latter to make up and sign the company morning report. All honor to those faithful, patient officers, and all honor, too, give to those ambitious sergeants who after a while conquered great difficulties and became educationally proficient in their lines of duty. ”

“ If a soldier wishes to speak to an officer, an introduction must be effected by a sergeant. Let us suppose that Private M'Splae, in the course of a route-march, develops a blister upon his great toe. He begins by intimating the fact to the nearest lance-corporal. The lance-corporal takes the news to the platoon sergeant, who informs the platoon commander, who may or may not decide to take the opinion of his company commander in the matter. ”

“ A sergeant's command is double that of a corporal, and on guard he divides his time in charge of the guard-house with another sergeant while overseeing the corporals and their reliefs. On drill he is over a section of two squads; in barracks he has charge of one sleeping-room; must keep order and enforce discipline. Thus still more ability to command other men must be shown. ”

“ We are thus thrown back on our sergeants, a fine body of men whose one weakness is an enthusiasm for chocolate. Acting on this knowledge certain tactful and public-spirited privates in our midst will present the sergeants with two sticks of chocolate per sergeant on the understanding that they thereafter form the battalion into fours and march them circumstantially to the trenches. ”

“ Cheers would follow this intimation, and a sarcastic old soldier might interject the remark, “The captain don’t know, Sergeant-Major, how strong A troop heads are. We could drink a gallon per man, and never turn a hair!” Whereunto the honest sergeant-major would retort, “Ah, Lucas, we know what a power of suction you have without showing the drink, but remember it’s not a fortnight since when you were walking pack-drill for being as drunk as a boiled owl.” ”