Superior officer

“ Those who have served both as officer and under-officer well understand the appropriateness of these two ideas, each to the other, that the superior position of the officer must be preserved for the good of the service, but that this engages recognition of the individual equality of the enlisted man. They know, if they have observed well and truly during their service in the ranks, that the highest type enlisted man wants his officer to act the part, maintain dignity and support the ideals which are consonant with the authority vested in him by the Nation. ”

“ It is enough to know that the person giving the order, whether he be an officer, a noncommissioned officer, or a private acting as such, is your lawful superior. You may not like him, you may not respect him, but you must respect his position and authority, and reflect honor and credit upon yourself and your profession by yielding to all superiors that complete and unhesitating obedience which is the pleasure as well as the duty of every true soldier. ”

“ Superior officers are in a manner his deities, and the Army Regulations have for him the weight of Scripture. He never forgets by what solemn rules of duty and honor he will be judged if he falls short of his obligations. ”

“ The general officer and the superior worthy of respect gets his full title from the soldier at all times, and nicknames, except for comrades of the same company or squadron, form a mark of contempt, especially when applied to32 commissioned officers. ”

“ Beg your pardon, sir, but he is not a civilian; but an officer like yourself.
Officer. And yet he is admitted in mufti! Why, here have I had to come up from the country in full rig, being chaffed at the railway station, grinned at by the cabman, and cheered by the crowd!
Messenger. Yes, sir. Very sorry you should have been inconvenienced, sir, especially as it was unnecessary, sir!
Officer. Unnecessary! Why, doesn't the order come into force to-day that all officers who appear in the War Office for any purpose whatsoever must be attired in the proper uniform of their rank and regiment? ”

“ 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. ”

“ And how strangely also, and inconsistently, are honours conferred upon officers in our army—not for alone distinguishing themselves in action, but because they happened to hold a rank sufficiently high to entitle them to a certain command, or to be the head of a department, and to which the greater part of them had attained, perhaps, by money, well backed by interest; for an officer may have been in every action of importance, from the beginning of the present century up to Waterloo ”

“ Before I allude to this particular circumstance, and one which gives validity to the above ‘general observations,’ I beg to be understood, that in being obliged to bring forward this case as one in point, the Officer alluded to is universally esteemed; he is not only active, but intelligent: he stands high in the estimation of his superiors, for a knowledge of the duties of his profession, as well as zeal, and courage, in their performance. ”

“ Yet as the Laws now stand, an old Officer, a Man who has often ventured his Life, and often spilt his Blood, in the Service of his Country, may be dismissed, and reduced, perhaps, to a starving Condition, at the arbitrary Will and Pleasure, perhaps at the Whim of a favourite Minister; so that by the present Establishment of our Army, the Reward of a Soldier seems not to depend upon the Services done to his Country, but upon the Services he does to those who happen to be the favourite Ministers at the Time. ”

“ A truly right-minded officer, therefore, at the head of any department, whether it be that of a ship, a fleet, an army, or a cabinet, will seldom, if ever, take into his calculations the effect which any measure is to produce on himself or his own interests—but will steadily seek to discover what is best for the public service. ”

“ We, reposing special trust and confidence in your loyalty, courage, and good conduct, do by these presents constitute and appoint you to be an Officer ... and you are at all times to exercise and well discipline in arms, both the inferior officers and men serving under you, and use your best endeavours to keep them in good order and discipline. ”

“ In theory, it is the simplest thing imaginable to march a piquet to a given piece of ground, to post the centinels, fell trees, and raise various kinds of works to strengthen the post. But let any officer, without some previous instruction, attempt to accomplish these things, and he will find every thing widely different. The officer, whose guide and instructor is theory, moves at all times hesitatingly,—is irresolute in all his movements,—and when posted, knows not whether he is right or wrong. ”

“ OFFICERS AND NON-COMS. The higher ranks of officers have very little to do with the daily life of the soldier. Two or three times a year the general officer commanding the station comes round on a tour of inspection, while other general officers and inspecting officers pay visits at times. The highest rank, however, with which the soldier is brought in frequent contact is the commanding officer of his own regiment or battalion. ”

“ An officer cannot exercise for three years a command which he is universally admitted to be eminently qualified for, and yet be denied the corresponding rank, while his juniors, notoriously less deserving, are promoted, without feeling such mortification and chagrin as must drive him from the army. ”

“ You have no business commanding unless you have first learned how to obey. The finer the training and caliber of an officer, the more sensitive is he to the wishes of his commanding officer, however, informally they may be expressed.
The ideal officer is a Christian gentleman who has no task too small to faithfully perform, whose country's welfare is above his own, ready for any sacrifice great or small; whose thoughtfulness and efficiency last twenty-four hours a day, whose relations with his superiors are based on modesty, cheerfulness, and loyalty. ”

“ It cannot, then, be denied that an officer from the staff may as well as any other prove to be a great general, but it will not be because he has grown gray in the duties of a quartermaster that he will be capable of the supreme command, but because he has a natural genius for war and possesses the requisite characteristics. ”

“ The true officer, on the other hand, is personally humble and knows that his only authority comes from the law which he represents, and which he himself must be even more careful to obey than the best of his subordinates. ”

“ As this officer is the one who sees you daily, his recommendation is, from a military standpoint, of more value than that of a major-general. But in spite of my application being forwarded with the approval of all four of the company commanders that I had had up to that time, it was disapproved higher up by someone who very seldom could ever have even seen me. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ These old N.C.O.’s were marvellous men—men of great attainments, and men whose abilities were not rewarded as they are to-day. Under the old system the officer was a god, not to be defiled by mere toil or clear thinking. ”

“ His Royal Highness the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, in promulgating these regulations to the Army, would desire to impress upon each individual officer, and especially upon those of junior standing who have still a name to make in the service, that they must more than ever rely upon their own exertions, upon their professional knowledge and ability, upon their general character and conduct as officers, and the opinion with which they impress their military superiors, for advancement in the service. ”

“ While an immense extent of country was included in one Department, and theoretically under one chief, yet practically every officer, no matter what was the strength or nature of his command, who happened not to be troubled with a senior immediately at his elbow, planned and acted for himself and with a perfect indifference to the operations of every one else. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Here240 will be seen an officer, high in rank and still higher in reputation, commanding a corps of the most uniformly victorious army which ever graced the military annals of any nation whatever, writing in familiar language to a subaltern officer, showing anxiety for his interests and using every exertion to forward his promotion from no other motive than the belief that he had fully discharged his duties to his king and country to the utmost of his abilities. ”

“ In our armies there is a regular gradation of rank; and every officer feels that he holds his commission by a tenure as high in origin, as secure in possession, and as independent in its exercise, as that of the general who commands; and the soldiers all know and feel that the places of those officers, who are killed or disabled in action, will be immediately filled by those next in rank, who are equally trained to command, and whose authority none will dispute. ”

“ It has deeply impressed me with the long and hard work necessary to make an officer; and then, turning to the man’s side of it, it becomes plainer and plainer that it takes time, much time, to train a private or a corporal into a reliable man on patrol. ”

“ An officer in command is responsible, not only for doing most “under the circumstances,” but also for the circumstances themselves, in so far as they are under his control; and nothing is more under his control than the position which he chooses to occupy. ”

“ In this state of things, several officers, supposing that commissions and rank might depend on recruiting men, began, without permission, to recruit soldiers, to serve particularly under the officer enlisting them. ”

“ Still, if the course has been thoroughly taught, the reasoning faculties will have been strongly exercised and disciplined and a system of habit and thought acquired which is invaluable in the pursuit of any profession, and as desirable for the infantry or dragoon officer as for any other officer in the service. The officer whose mind has thus been disciplined and who is not forgetful of the duty he owes to the government that has furnished him with opportunities so valuable, will acquire facts and information in whatever station the interests of the service may place him. ”

“ The officer sets the highest standard of performance for himself and exacts the best each of his men can do.
But the soldier knows he can go to his officer with his private troubles and receive helpful advice. He knows he will never meet with intentional injustice. And what gives him supreme confidence is the knowledge that he will be led with intelligence and skill. ”

“ These are the essential points, which the guiding serjeants must be rendered perfect in, and to which every commanding officer will pay the most minute attention. With respect to the officers in the ranks, they can only be observant of their own personal exactness of march, and must consider themselves, as forming part with the aggregate of the men, subject to the same principles of movement, and in no shape or sense independent of them. They may attend to dress their companies by looking along the front, or by calling to the individuals who compose it. ”

“ 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 ”

“ In the success of a great General, the officer who loves his profession traces means and maxims which he himself may study; and in the failures of an incapable commander, he searches for blunders which he may avoid. The study of both will be found useful to the man who may some day have to lead others, and would fain lead them to victory. ”