Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-17
Observation-Disclosures
PROPOSED DECREASE OF TERM OF
SERVICE DISCUSSED.

"Of the many suggestions have observ-
ed tending to reduce the assertions in the
army said retired officer to a Star re-
porter, 1.-THE recent recommendation of Maj.
Finley Of the Department of Texas strikes
me as possessing many features which
should commend 1t to favorable notice.
Because 2Sh per cent of the total num-
Der of assertions in that department was
in men in their first year Of enlistment.
Maj. Finley recommends that first enlist
ments be made for one year only, the sec
ond for two years. and that all succeeding
enlistments be for three years.
1T Is the first year in active army life
that, to my mind, either makes or I'M
makesNthe future soldier, and this is espe-
cially true in the cavalry arm Of the service
where the training Is especially severe, for
the recruit has not only himself to look
after but his horse, and he has his han Is
full doing it. Where men are naturally
fond of horses. and have been raised among
them, these duties are found less arduous
than to the town or city bred man, who
thinks the cavalry branch possesses fascinA-
lions over the others.
But in the cavalry branch men and
horse, as it were, become one; IN fact the
mans first attention may be said to be de-
voted to his mount, and horses even unler
ordinary conditions demand much alton
ton, but in the army it is constant. The first
year of whipping in to be a soldier in all
Of the branches of the service Is the hard
year on the newly enlisted man. His mus
cles are soft, he is unused to the strict
rules and discipline of the service, and the
Suddenness of the change in the life he ex-
periences from his past is so great that
very often a revulsion of feeling sets in
and he takes the first opportunity 10 take
French leave of army life.
with the passing of the first year, how
ever. he becomes more seasoned physically
and adapts himself to the routine of army
life more readily. He learns to take advan-
tage of such opportunities as present them
selves. such as making a determined try
for non-commissioned officers chevrons,
and he buckles down to work for the IN
CREASED pay, the higher rank and the addi-
tional privileges which go to the 'non-com.'
The desire to desert becomes less insistent
and he rapidly developes into the finished
soldier.
Therefore a mans resolution to remain
in or to quit the service is usually formed
in the first year. and If the figures show
in the Department Of Texas that slightly
over one In every four men desert during
the first year of their enlistment, 1t would
make an interesting compilation on the part
Of the War Department to ascertain If this
same very heavy percentage of assertions
obtains throughout the entire army, and If
it does, even in approximation, Maj Fin
ley's recommendation is entitled to great
respect.
N'"To produce congressional action, how
ever, would be another matter, as there
would Undoubtedly be much oppo sition to
such radical proposition. 1t would go to
he very largely supported, however, by tie
action of some ue the Euroi ear govern
ments, where there is compulsory army
service, In the cutting down of the time the
conscript now serves actually in the ranks
initially. This has been .educed Ill some
countries very considerably, while addi-
tional time Is added to the length of service
required in the various grades of the re-
serves.
''It Is to be presumed that these govern
ments found that after two years, say,
though this is an approximation only, the
conscript had had enough of active, mill
tary training to allow him to return to
civil life and the earnings of q living
therein, and yet remain a first-class re-
servist who could. under the army rules in
force in these countries, be placed in me
field upon demand, a trained soldier ready
for war.
st seems to me that this military rrincI-
pie may be reconciled with the recommer-
datfon of Maj. Finley. An argument in op-
position would be that the government,
after spending year on a man in training,
could not afford to allow him to go until
the end of a longer enlistment. Re-enlst-
ment, however, Is an easy matter, and
Wien over one in every four men desert in
their first year, the wind is taken out of
this form Of opposition to the innovation in
most practical and convincing manner
the man quits the army dishonorably as a
deserter, whereas he might have quit it
honorably, If he chose, and even again re-
enlisted, though not consecutively."