The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1917-07-07

used for disciplinary grades, service
schools, and record depot detachments
and for some other purposes.
How 1t Is Commanded.
An army Is a huge body of men gath
cred together for fighting purposes in
different units of organization. An
army when 1t passes a certain strength
usually is commanded by a general.
Today there is no general In the Unit
ed States army, but 1t Is probable that
within a few months congress will re-
vive the rank and name some officer,
who, taking the title of general, shall
have supreme command of all the fight
ing forces in the field.
An army is composed of army corps.
There may be two or three or more
corps in an army. Sometimes when
there Is a huge number Of troops in
the field n general is put in supreme
command while his forces are divided
into several armies, each one In com
mand Of a lieutenant general. 1t Is
likely that congress soon will make
Maj. Gen. John J. Pershing a lieuten-
ant general and put him in command
of the First corps, consisting Of several
divisions Of troops, to see service in
France.
A division Of troops Is commanded
by a major general. 1t Is composed
Of several brigades, each one Of which
Is commanded by a brigadier general.
1t is possible for a brigade to consist
Of a combination Of cavalry, infantry
and artillery, but frequently each bri-
gade Is composed of regiments all of
the same branch of the service. The
typical infantry brigade, for instance,
consists Of a headquarters and three
regiments of infantry, while a typical
cavalry brigade consists Of a head
quarters and three regiments Of cav
airy.
Composition Of tho Regiment.
Each regiment is commanded by a
colonel, who has under him a lieuten-
ant colonel, whose duties are rather
nondescript, although his chief duty Is
to take the place Of the colonel In his
absence or in case he Is wounded or
killed in battle.
Each regiment Is divided into bat
t~alions, and each battalion Is COM
manded by a major. A battalion o n
sists Of two or more companies, troops
or batteries, and each company is COM
manded by a captain. In each cOm-
pany there is a first lieutenant and a
second lieutenant, and complete COM
plement OF noncommissioned officers,
first %sergeants, duty s%ergeants, and
corporals.
The company is divided into squads
for purposes Of Instruction, discipline,
control and order, each squad consist
ing Of a corporal and seven privates.
The corporal Is the squad leader, and
when absent Is replaced by a desig-
mated private. 1t might be said that
from the squad, consisting as it does
only Of a corporal and seven privates,
the whole formation Of an army is de-
veloped and In a sense regulated. The
squad is a small base unit from which
armies take their growth by a series of
developing steps.
Men who enter the United States
army as recruits have the same chance
that men had years ago not only to be-
come commissioned officers, but to
reach the high place Of command of
all the armies of their country.
Does this seem to be an exagger-
ated statement? Only recently there
died a lieutenant general of the United
States army who commanded all the
forces of Uncle Sam. He entered the
service as an enlisted nan Of regulars,
going to a recruiting office just as any
boy of today can go to q recruiting
office there to don the uniform of a
private, later to enter the ranks, and
If 1t is in him to work his way up to
the top.
Private Goes to Top.
On July %, 1861, Lieut.. Gen. Adna
R. Chaffee applied for enlistment as a
regular In the army of the United
States. There was nothing to differ
entiate him from other young men who
applied daily at the recruiting Office.
He was assigned as a private to Troop
X of the Sixth cavalry, an organization
which exists today and in which John
J.. Pershing, now commanding u
forces in France, saw his first hard
fighting duty. General Chaffee rose
from private to sergeant, to first SER
geant, to second lieutenant and
through the rest of the ranks until
he was made lieutenant general of the
United States army, the ranking officer
of Uncle Sans forces.
Chaffee was a soldier of the highest
order. His career in the Spanish
American war was markedly efficient.
He fought at San Juan and later went
to the Philippines. While there he was
ordered to take command Of the Amer
lean forces which were to join the al
lied forces In their march on Picking,
the forbidden city. That was n of
the most successful and Woodworking
expeditions ever dispatched by the
United States. Chaffee won fame for
hic eorvico Within tho POmDaS Of