The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-02-13


 training under his colonels eye. If he promises to be nothing better than q cap able Eubaltern, he finishes 1t with his regiment, but if he shows signs of ca pacity for higher command he is recom- mended at once for a course at the Staff college at Camberley, near Aldershot, the institution which in the pre-war days trained the aspirants for the highest com mand in the British army. There are now about 1000 young officers constantly undergoing the special course, and they have no easy time of 1t. A man who can stand the six-weeks work demanded at the Staff college can probably stand any, thing he will be called on to face in war.
 AT THE STAFF COLLEGE
 The day at the Stan college begins at 6 a. m., when the men are turned out of their beds by the bugle call. They have 10 minutes to dress and then they have to run round the barrack square for an hour and a half at 8 steady trot. That Is to improve their wind and bring them gener- ally into condition. After that there is breakfast and then hard drill for couple of hours by old noncommissioned officers of the guards, the hardest drill masters in the British army, and although the young men are already holders of com missions they have to obey these grizzled, hard bitten old sergeants as implicitly as the rawest recruits. After drill there are lectures, then dinner. and the afternoon is spent in field work, followed by more lectures. supper and more lectures. At g D. m. the men are told that their days work is over, but they must write re- port of the day before turning in and Tights out'' is sounded at 10 p. m.
 From time to time the college is visited, as the camps are, by technical officers. looking for material for their own corps. A friend who went through the Stan col lege some months ago gave me an anus ing description of how this was done This man was a noted war correspondent. who had grown tired of looking on and wanted to take a hand in the game He was an excellent horseman and first class big game shot.
 "One day. he said, i've were spottinR the enemy. That game consists in each man being given a semi circle of country about three miles wide to watch. Other men are sent out to try and crawl through and surprise us. If we spot them before they get within mile of us we win. If they get through we are wiped out. Now know from my big game experience that an animal never approaches you in the open It always takes advantage of whatever cover there is, so I watched the cover and spotted my men every time. Wco lJiu5 Oh thO BIOuiiQ WlIu IIIy BldSSeS glued to my eyes, when somebody poked me in the back with a stick I'm afraid I wasn't over polite, and then somebody said, Who the - are you, sir?' looked round and there was nice looking white whiskered old thing in multi. He looked as if he might be somebody so I did the polite and replied, Lieutenant
 -, Blankshire Light infantry Humph! Why the = are you in the Blankshires? the nid asked He UUa antf mir spoken old man, but somehow felt that ought to overlook that so I told him that was a Blankshire man and that my grandfather had been in the regiment, and that the colonel of the Blankshires had recommended me for commission.
 CHOOSING AN OFFICER
 He didn't say any more and forgot about him until couple of days later when was shooting at the butts. I was feeling particularly good that morning and plugged the bull five times running and then I heard the same old boy grunting Who the --- are you. sir?' We'll, I did the polite again and told him, and the old boy remembered having talked to me before. Do you know anything about a horse?' he asked. I answered as modest,y as I could that horses were the one thing I thought knew all about. Humph' he grunted Would you like to join the ar- tilleryr It seemed too good to be true. and told him that would be delighted if my colonel would let me go. and this seemed to please the old boy. Wouldn't have you, if you'd tried to jump your colo nel,' he replied and walked off.
 This time I was pretty curious about the old chap and made inquiries and dis covered that he was General --, the fa- nous artillery expert. For a couple of weeks heard nothing more and had al- most forgotten about it, when one day the Gazette came in with my transfer to the artillery"
 Once in the army the young officer has his career in his own hands Promotion is open to him and I know of at least three cases of men who joined the army as subalterns after the war began and without previous military experience, who are now Heutenant-co1onels in command of battalions. No doubt there are scores of others, while the majors and captains who have earned their promotion in this war are legion. It all depends on the man himself and on his colonel. A good colo mel will bring his men on, and will not hesitate about recommending good man for promotion, even if 1t means losing him. Some colonels however, put ob- staeles in the way of the promotion of an efficient young officer because he saves them a lot of trouble in their own regi- ments. This is a weakness in the system that it does not seem possible to over come, for the higher authorities must de- pend for their information about a man on the reports of his immediate superior.
 Another and well founded grievance Is that of officers who because they arc "good drills" and good administrators are kept at home training battalion after bat talion and have no chance to win promo tion abroad They see men who are junior to themselves and whom they have helped to train going abroad and winning distinc- tion while they. because of their very ef- ficiency are kept at home in the train- ing camps. Latterly the war office has walked up a little to the position of these officers and has been giving them special recognition. It is hard, of course, to find