Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 179, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 August 1917 — HOME-READING COURSE FOR CITIZEN-SOLDIERS [ARTICLE]

HOME-READING COURSE FOR CITIZEN-SOLDIERS

(Issued by .the War Department and all rights to reprint reserved.) ' Thia course of thirty daily lessons is offered to the men selected for service in the National Army as • practical help in getting started in the right way. It is informal in tone and does not attempt to give binding rules and directions. These are contained in the various manuals and regulations of the U. S. Army, to which this couyse is merely introductory.

LESSON NO. 3. NINE SOLDIERLY QUALITIES.

The three basic qualities, Loyalty, Obedience and Physical Fitness, were treated in the preceding lesson. There is another group of three soldierly qualities that are especially needed during the periods of training, marching and waiting between combats. They are: Intelligence, Cleanliness, Cheerfulness. Although these qualities are associated chiefly with camp life, they are, of course, scarcely less helpful in all other phases of military service. INTELLIGENCE Intelligence does not necessarily mean education, but rather quick observation and willingness to learn. There is plenty of need for intelligence in modern warfare. The National Army will be forced to absorb within a few months a training which would ordinarily extend over a period of two or three years. Those who intend to fit themselves for promotion should study thoroughly the manuals and the drill regulations which affect their duties. In time they should learn something about map-making and map-reading, the construction of field entrenchments, training and care of horses, signail-, ing, the handling of complex pieces of machinery, and many other subjects. Any practical knowledge that you may now possess will surely be useful and helpful to you in the army. CLEANLINESS Gleaniiness is important everywhere, but most of all in the army where large bodies of men are

brought together. In its true sense it includes not only, keeping your body clean, but also your mind and your actions. Fortunately it is a virtue in which Americans generally rank high. There should be little difficulty in setting a satisfactory standard in the new army. This is a subject more fully treated later. Cheerfulness is.always a prominent trait of good soldiers. Here again Americans may be counted upon to make a splendid showing, even in the face of any unexpected hardships or difficulties that may be ahead of us. There are numerous episodes in American military history to justify this confidence. In January, 1863, the Union army lay in camp at Falmouth, Va. About a month before had occurred the disastrous and bloody defeat of Fredericksburg. In the north it was the darkest hour of the war. Everywhere outside the army there was depression and fear. On January 21, the commanding general ordered the troops to break camp and move forward. At the same time “a cola drizzling rain set in; the ground speedily became like a sea of glue; everything upon wheels sunk into the bottomless mud; it took twenty horses to start a single caisson; hundreds of them died in harness; but still the general persisted. But the rain persisted also, and it soon became a simple impossibility to go forward. After two days of effort it was necessary to have the men struggle and flounder, “through the wilderness of ‘ mud back to their camp. Picture the situation: Recent defeat with hevay losses; retreat; a cheerless mid-winter camp; rain; mud; discouragement at home; a long march under the most trying conditions ending in a return to the

same camping ground from which the troops had started. A little grumbling might reasonably have been expected. But the men of 1863 were too good soldiers to draw long faces. The historian goes on: “The march was made in high good humor, the soldiers laughing and joking at their ill-luck with that comic brightness characteristic of Americans in difficult circumstances.” THREE QUALITIES OF BATTLE Finally, there are the three battle qualities of the good, soldier: Spirit,» Tenacity, Self-reliance Unless a man has these three qualities—even though he possesses all the other six in good measure—he is after all only a camp-fire soldier. Spirit—fighting spirit—is far from being mere hatred of the enemy or blind fury, on the one hand; nor is it mere passive obedience to orders, on the other. It means cool, selfcontrolled courage—the kind of courage which enables a man to shoot as straight on the battlefield as he does in target practice. However, it even goes a step beyond that point. Decisive victories cannot be won by merely repulsing the enemy. “Only the offensive wins.” - Like all the other qualities Of a soldier, spirit can be cultivated. An untrained army seldom possesses it. But it can be developed. You can and will develop it until it becomes as much a part of yourself as any of your easy-going civilian -habits are now.

TENACITY Spirit carries a body of soldiers forward. Tenacity is the quality that makes the “stick.” The thorough soldier is never ready to stop fighting until his part-of the battle is won. Tenacity was never better expressed than in the words of John Paul Jones. Standing among his dead and wounded on his sinking ship which was “leaking like a basket,” he replied to his adversary’s invitation to surrender, ‘Sir, I have not yet begun to fight’ ” Two hours later the battle came to a sudden end when the colors of the enemy’s vessel were hauled down. SELF-RELIANCE Self-reliance is characteristic of the American, whether he is serving as a soldier or in some civil occupation. Much of the same quality is sometimes referred to as “initiative.” It is a quality needed more than ever before in present-day warfare. Major General Leonard Wood, in his introduction 'to the Field Service Regulations of the United States Army, says: “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 arrive. Every individual, from the highest commander to the lowest private, must always remember that inaction and neglect of opportunities will warrant more severe censure than an error in the choice of the means.” MAKING YOURSELF STRONGER The nine qualities which have just beenreviewed are those which every one of us would like to have for himself. They are the essentials; (of virile and successful manhood, whether in the army or out of it. -Even the moral weakling and the slacker, in their hearts admire these qualities. k