The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-09-20
FIRST A|DERS
RIGHT ON HAND
(Coutinued from Page One.)

Continued from Page One.)
Filipino, or groups of them, to his
front IN the grass and brush. To him
who read Of marshaled columns and
galloping officers aud rushing men, a
few ragged Filipinos meant nothing;
the sight carried no significance; 1t was
not what he had figured on as war. 10
him it didn t look like the real thing.
He turned away and began and kept
on showing and explaining to me
company record book on which he was
working ana which he was deyislng to
contain q soldier s clothing account and
his descriptive list, the letters sent and
letters received, with their indexes; and
a payroll and muster roll and history.
all in onet Next day, my regiment hav-
ing relieved his, on that very spot /
advanced and developed the enemy and
had a glorious fight. That man dldn
find actual field service to look the way
he had expected and he mistook it
altogether; he never recognized it at
all Again. in a peaceful artillery post
IN the United States | heard a capable
peace-trained artillerist bewailing the
lot that gave him no chance with his
guns against an enemy in the field. A
year later [ was commanding that Of
fcer in the hostile Moro country where
every man had his chance for service.
In a short time | had had seventeen
fights That officer. while two others,
his brother officers. were finding fine
chances for gunnerv. could never see
what looked to him like proper oppor-
tunity for use Of his artillery. He had
imagined the proper case and he had
it in his mind, but the occasion never
fitted the case. While the other two
became and are today fine practical
artillerists, marked and known as such,
he was transferred to desk and OBJ
livion. He didn't know it when he
saw field service. Such cases, gentle
men, are by no means rare. | have
seen scores Of them. | myself am one.
Years ago down in Arizona the old
Apache chief. Geronim surrendered to
General Miles. A party of his braves
jumped the agreement and at once went
back on to the warpath. I was close by
with troop of cavalry. took the trail.
Act Like Steel Springs
1t was my first experience of field
service. To me the trail looked mighty
small and trifiing, not worth following
up, and when a day or two later it
grew fainter and more scattered and
at last disappeared, I easily gave it
up and quit. Another came who saw
better, and took that trail 1t led
him to a name.
AS You read the books on field serv-
ice and the art of war. all things seem
certain and plain. Doubts do not oe-
cur to you about anything. especially
rs to the enemy, who and where he is
and how You can find and tell him. In
actuaLty it is never so. On the con-
trary it looks like YOU are in doubt
and uncertainty about everything. Your
orders are not clear and do not say
what they ought to say. The map is
bad and the guides unreliable. The
trails are din and you don t know
where the roads lead to. When you
come to the enemy, YOU can not tell
whether it is really the enemy or not,
what he is doing or in what force he is
and where: and while you are trying to
decide these things. he gets you or
escapes you. Gentlemen, it is neces-
sary to act like a steel spring snap.
1t IS the enemy s cue TO try to put Won
in hesitation and doubt; if he can do
that he will do you There is but one
way to avoid it; jump TO conclusions,
jump to action. On a hike with me
in the Philippines a captain of mine
marching at the point of his advance
guard along a narrow footpath swad- |
died and overhung with ten-foot grass,
came suddenly against mounted Fiji
Pine on the trail The stranger was
in civilian s dress: he hadn t single t
soleier s mark upon him. Being aiken
by surprise, however, he acted what he /
was. the soldier: he made SOME slight |
soldier motion which caught the cap
tain s eye. The captain shot him dead !
in an instant, then got frightened and
shocked at his own impulsive action in !
thus killing a noncOmbatant. Yet 1t !
turned cat right, that quick action;
for the dead man was found to be a /
capable. much-wanted guerrilla chief
whose band was there actually behind |
him in the grass, but took fright and
ran when their leader fell. Now here's |
a different tale: With a small force |
I came upon an unusual looking FIJI |
Pima, also apparently a civilian. In |
stead Of nabbing him unhesitatinglv as
4 prisoner as | somehow felt [ should, /
] parleyed and let him go. He-well, |
he turned out to be a major general |
and the second ranking man of all the |
Filipino Instruction Gentlemen. IN
war never trust that anything which |
at first glance seems suspicious is ''all !
right - It never is. One day in 1900!
al the time a good stiff fight was on-1
severely rehuked and stopped an officer
of mine who was about to attack some
apparently harmless Filipjnos in civil
ian dress. I was riding off feeling very
generous and magnanimous when al
whiz Of bullets from them took off my
orderlv's hat.
In the field near an enemy jump to
conclusions and jump to action You viii
not thus generally make n mistake,
and if Won do, you stjIl have time TO
mend the error or Won will at least not
have to ruc il at yonr cost; but there
is no mending it, fer time is no more
yours.
How Troops Are Deployed.
4 thing wherein We all are wanting
failure to utilize the organization of
squads sections, platoons etc. There
j, q tendency. fatal tendency. IN lis
all to disregard organizations ana think
of only men, neglecting the groups into
II