Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1917-08-30

partmeut is the legal department oi
I the Army. 1t prepares opinions on le-
gal questions for the guidance OF 9th
er officers or departments; serves as
the representatives, of the law in mill
tary courts. and keeps the legal rec
ords OF the Army Closely related is
the office OF Provost Marshal General,
who has charge among other things,
OF enforcing the selectiye service law.
Unless you work your way up to a
commission, it not likely that you will
come into touch in any direct way
with any Of the four STAFF departments
Just named. Their duties are review
ed here simply because it should be
interesting 10 you TO know how the
great Army machine is kept well oil
sd and running smoothly even in per
iods OF great difficulty.
The Engineer Corps.
You will frequently see the other
five staff branches in operation. how
ever throughout your Army life,
The Corps OF Engineers are the skill
ed workmen Of the Army. They lay
out permanent camps and entrench-
m9nts; build and repair military
roads, railroads, and bridges; dig saps
and mines under the enemy's trenches
and take care OF other work which re-
quires technical skill Of this charac-
ter
theoretically the Engineer Corps is
not one Of the fighting arms, but in
practice they are often called upon to
fight and to perform dangerous duties
They may build bridges or dig en-
rcnchments, for example, under the
enemys fire In modern warfare the
engineers play highly important
and often heroic-4part.
The Signal Corps is the message
bearer Of the Army. 1t carries infor.
nation and orders from one headquar
ters to another It is today as es-
sential to the conduct Of a great army
as the telephone is to the conduct Of
a great business.
The Signal Corps.
At one time the Signal Corps trans
mitted messages chiefly through the
use of flags, lanterns, photographs
mirrors so arranged as to reflect and
fash rays of lighU and the like Then
came a period during which it was
chiefly concerned with laying down
and operating telegraph and telephone
lines; and this is still one of its most
important duties. However, the wire
less is becoming more and more i'm
portant, even on the battlefield.
A first class signalman is expert
with all these various methods He is
also good horseman, since he must
be able to move about rapidly His
duties may frequently carry him into
the battle line and into other danger
Gus positions, and he must know how
to defend HIMSELF his chief weapon
Is the pistol. There is no branch of
the service in which a mans intell. .
gence, initiative and technical skill /
count for more.
The Signal Corps of the American
Army Includes the aviation section, 1.
which has grown to be of such vital /
importance The best known types of /
airplanes are the scouting machine, .
which goes out to get information by
flying over the enemy lines, the
bombing machine, which goes out to
do as much damage as possible to the
memy's military works. and the swift
fighting machine, which attacks enc.
my air planes and protects the slow
or scouting and bombing machines.
The work is dangerous but partly for
this reason is especially attractive to
men OF high intelligence and daring.