Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 174, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 August 1917 — SELF HELPS for the NEW SOLDIER. [ARTICLE]

SELF HELPS for the NEW SOLDIER.

By United States Army Officer

(Oopyrtgbt, IMT. by the Wheeler Syndicate, Inc.) THE SOLDIER ON THE MARCH. If there are important reasons why a soldier in camp or in barracks should look to his health, these reasons are Infinitely more important when on the inarch. For if a sick soldier is a drain on the regimental resources while in ■camp, in the field, if he has to be carried in an ambulance, or sent back to the hospital in the care of another soldier, he becomes an utter encumbrance. It is for this reason that the physical examinations are now so exacting, In order to weed out all those predisposed to break down under marching conditions. Yet it is not necessary for a man to be actually sick for him to become a dead weight on a body of troops. If he does not take care of hls feet, he will become fully as useless. One half-inch blister may, for marching purposes, turn a six-foot soldier Into an Invalid. In the first place, the shoes should be fitted with special attention. They should neither be too wide nor too short Sores and blisters should be promptly dressed during a halt. At the end of the march the feet should be bathed and dressed, and, if practicable, the shoes should be changed. A soldier should under no circumstances, however, go barefoot for his feet would swell and give him increased difficulty as soon as he starts to march again. One of the points which cannot be emphasized too strongly is that water should not be drunk on the march. A soldier may take an occasional swab low from his canteen, rinse out his mouth and then expel the water, but if he drinks outright—as he may do freely at the end of the march—the consequences are disastrous. One National-Guard regiment on the Mexican border last year started upon a six-mile march. The column was a shining succession of uplifted canteens. Before five miles had been covered, 29 men were stretched out by the roadside in collapse. Another National Guard regiment, in which the men drank without restraint on a hot march —even scooping up water from puddles, lost approximately two hundred out of the column on that day. A soldier should never sleep on the ground. He should always have his rubber poncho, or at least his blanket, ■beneath him, and, whenever possible, a bed of straw or leaves beneath poncho or blanket. If the dampness of the soil entered his system, he would contract cold and rheumatism and become, as with all sick men, a heavy drag upon his organization. Just as it is essential, for the sake ■of his health, that a soldier keep scrupulously clean, so for the protection of the general health, a camp or barracks must also be rendered immaculate. All trash, even small pieces of paper, ishould be from the floor of the tent or quarters, or “policed” from the company street. For trash breeds injects and insects carry disease. All pools and damp places near the camp should be drained, so that mosquitoes may have no place to multiply. For this reason soldiers are supplied with mosquito bars, as a protection against purveyors of fever. All camp refuse Ils either buried in a sink or burned in an incinerator.

THE SOLDIER AND HIS COMRADES. If the new soldier, before joining the colors, has had everything much his own way at home, the first thing that he will discover when he goes to camp Is that he counts for just one individual in his squad. While in the family circle he may ■have been 100 per cent important in all matters relating to himself, in camp ihe is simply one of eight men who occupy the same tent. Theoretically, the new soldier know that he should obey officers and noncommissioned officers, including the corporal who lives in his tent; but what he may not realize is that in all questions not involving authority from above, he is also circumscribed by the rights and privileges of others. The rights and convenience of others as well as his own must be thoroughly fixed in his mind. It must be a process of giving and taking all down the line. The ratio of the rights and conveniences of others to his own, in fact, is about seven to one. Eliminating the corporal, whose position in the tent is official and paternal, the new soldier is entitled to his share of the common rights and privileges—no more —and must ungrudgingly perform his share of the common work—no less. If the new soldier fails to conform to these rules of conduct, not only will •he be disciplined with odious fags and details by the corporal, but he will find that his tentmates instinctively league •themselves against him. They watch for every opportunity to make life irksome for him, ingeniously piling the work upon him in deft ways which they ■will discover; and, if he is incorrigible, they will find a chance (whether it is prohibited or not) to toss him up in a blanket, or send him through a squad*' spanking machine. A squad sprffiking machine operates with slats. And if the new soldier has rendered himself obnoxious in the tent, lie 'will find that the corporal, if he does not actually assist in this treatment, will at least sanction it. In short, it is the easiest thing in the

world for the pampered and self-cen-tered new soldier from a home where he has been spoiled to get himself “In bad.” Once “in bad,” it is a long, arduous and contrite process to get out. And, discovering himself “In bad,” if he does not immediately begin to re-, form, he will find that he is a marked man, not only in his own squad, but to the squads on either side of him, and nt length become the butt of the whole company. In that case, his days and nights will be made wretched for him. But if the new soldier, from the start, is cheerful, agreeable, alert, willing at all times to help in policing the tent—keeping his own effects in order and the common space and property clean —always ready to respond to details, and never forgetful of the fact that he Is but one of seven privates with equal duties and rights, he will have nothing to worry about from his companions.

HOW TO DISTINGUISH RANK. It would be useless for the new soldier tn know the courtesies he must pay to rank unless he knows how to distinguish such rank. He must know the marking which designate the officer and the noncommissioned officer, and he must also know the general symbols of the service. The corporal, the lowest rank of noncommissioned officer, wears a private’s uniform, with chevrons on his arm. A corporal’s chevrons consist of two parallel stripes of cloth in the shape of a triangle without a base, with slightly curving sides. The chevrons, in the olive drab uniform, are of a different shade of brown, while on the blue army uniform they are of the color which distinguishes the corporal’s particular branch of the service. The sergeant,nextlqrank,wears chevrons of three stripes; while the first sergeant, chief noncommissioned officer of the company, wears a chevron of three stripes, with a square in the center.

The second lieutenant, In olive drab, is marked by the difference between an officer’s and a private’s uniform—that 4sr he wears leather or wool puttees, instead of canvas leggings; there is a stripe of brown braid around the cuff of his coat, and he wears the officers’ hatband, a snake-cord of black and gold strands. The first lieutenant wears one silver bar on each shoulder. The captain has two silver bars on each shoulder. The major has a gold leaf, the lieutenant colonel a silver leaf. The colonel is marked by a silver eagle, and the brigadier general by one silver star on each shoulder. The major general (the highest rank at present in our active service) is designated by two silver stars. The officers’ Insignia presents a somewhat different appearance on dress and full-dress uniforms, although the marks remain the same, but as the new soldier who goes into camp now is likely to see nothing but the field-service uniform, it would be confusing to burden his mind with a further description of officers’ shoulder straps.

It is essential, however, that he should know the colors of at least the three great branches of the service—infantry, cavalry and artillery. The infantryman in the field uniform wears a blue hat cord, which may be seen at a considerable distance ;• the cavalryman wears a yellow hat cord, and artilleryman red. A troop of cavalry rides with a guidon, a yellow flag, on which tjie letter and regiment of the particular unit appears in white. The battery of artillery rides with a red guidon, similarly inscribed.