New-York tribune., 1906-06-03
CADETS IN SUMMER.
Putting Into Practice What They
Learn IN Uinter at Vest Point.
By Captain B. Stewart, 9Th United States Infantry
Department of Tactics, L. 5. A.

The education of the professional soldier, keep
ing pace with the developments in modern war
fare, has year by year increased in its scope
until the theoretical and practical training
OF the soldier requires as much time and atten-
ton does preparation for any other profess
sionaI This is especially tue of the
training of the young soldier who is destined to
command
The days when personal magnets and cOur-
age physical endurance and some native ability
sufficed qualifications for the military leader
have passed away with muZze loading weapons
and the powder horn. The officer of to-day
must not only be able to command and lead
his men. but must be capable of nstructing,
training and developing them. In other words,
given the material, he must be able to con-
ii into the trained. disciplined and efficient
human fighting machine which modern service
conditions demand.
To train the individual to this work is oh
viously not a question of months years, but
involves a lifetime of conscientious labor and
study In the space of four years, allotted to the
educating of the young officer at the United
States Military Academy at West Point, it is
possible to give him only the elementary prin-
ciples of his profession. These however they
endeavor to impress upon his young mind to
such an extent that they become second nature
The cadet must be educated in much which has
only Indirect hearing on the practical work
OF his profession. He is young and his mind
must be trained to reason rapidly and logically
well along military lines. This is accom-
plished by the work in the various academic
departments and it occupies the greater por-
tion Of the time allotted to the course leaving
little in which to train him practically. This
time is however, utilized 70 the maximum ad-
vantage.
Of of he cad, 1t rbf
West Point Military Academy is so compre-
hensve and MS time is fully occupied tha
there is little room for additions, and none fO
experiments. Innovations in either the thcoret
ical or practical work are only possible wher
thes replace something Of less Importance ol
some hing less modern in character. To re
ceive consideration any departure from the pre-
scribed courses must have undergone the tes
Of practical experience, and its necessity a:
well it's value mast have been fully demon
strated, a fact which cannot be considered a
Indicating too ccnse. ative policy, but rather
that the time Of the cadet is too valuable to b'
made the subject of experiment
So it was that the practical military educa
ton of the cadet for years remained almos
unvaried and consisted o. little more than The
prescribed movements Of the parade and drill
ground excellent disciplinary training, bu
of no great educational value the young off
Ger in the varied details of his life work.
When Il younger generation OF officers begal
coming back from the fields of Cuba and tn
Philippines to positions of authority at tn
Military Academy, with lessons of practical eX
percnce fresh in their min is, they were quic
to realize the deficiencies OF the old system am
the necessity of more extended practical train
ing for the young men who We're so soon to b
placed in positions of more or less responsibility
In the army. Furthermore, coming as they III
from the practical school of experience, the