The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-04-15
The Cause of Desertions.

A"c Suuse OH De9erttOns.
 assertions from the regular army. and ini the Army and Navy Journal is to
 DC found this explanation for it.
 A number of enlisted men of the army are favoring us with their opin- ions as to the cause of assertions and the failure of soldiers to re-enlist As to assertions the whole matter Is summed up in the statement that a cer- tain percentage of men who enter the army fail to realize the honorable ob- ligation they assumed when they took the oath of enlistment and are ready to avail themselves of any excuse for discontent to brand themselves with the inefacabie stigma of dishonor which attaches to the deserter. As one of our correspondents says: We will always have some yellow backed quit ters among us and the organizations that lose them are gainers.'' At the same time 1t Is no doubt proper that every effort should be made to improve the condition of enlisted men. not only to remove the temptations to desert, so far as possible, but to secure the re-enlistment of men who may be too honorable to desert. but not sufficient ly well satisfied with the service to continue in 1t. Among the complaints made by one correspondent are those of useless hiking" and a want of suf-
 1cient pay. Another correspondent says: T am of the opinion that these things insure a good. strong, reliable. re-enlfsted command: A good company commander, who can exercise tact in dealing with the individual; a good first sergeant; a good cook. In addi- ton. If way could be found to retain the captains with their commands in- stead of detaching them for duty in some institution and thus avoid leav- ing junior officers. who are without sufficient experience in handling men, in command of organizations, a great good to the service would result, for the enlisted man wants to be handled by some one who can show him. I am absolutely sure that the petty in- discretions committed by privates are, in the vast majority of cases, due to thoughtlessness and in no way for the direct purpose of causing inconveni- ence to their official superiors, that if a good sensible talk were given them and the case dropped, much good to the service at large would result. am speaking now of the young sol- dier who has gathered in a few mis- taken ideas. The young fellows I see enlisting every day are doing so from the highest possible motive and if that motive Is given judicious encourage ment instead of a setback, the men who are men of good common sense will readily learn to hold and carry themselves in a manner worthy of the ideal soldier. There should be only one kind of a first sergeant Once in- side the orderly room he should have no friends to screen in any way and no enemies to be on the carpet for tri- vialities he should be tactful enough not to notice. Such a top soldier has the respect of all the men and every one knows just what is to be expected. The desire of some meat contractor to secure the trade of an organization leads to an attempt at petty graft. Some sharp quartermaster sergeants, who know what Is due the company in quantity and quality, for constd- eration may accept something' less. Others, who are too indifferent to the wants of the company, get something less without consideration. Others. who get exactly what Is coming to them. and then some. and who are hustlers and rustlers, get an excellent company of reliable, re-enlisted men.