The Elk Mountain pilot., 1917-11-08
Much Depends on Officer Who
Holds Lowest Rank in Or
ganization.
ACTS AS PARENT TO SQUAD
On the Efficiency Of the Humble Cor
porai Rests Much Of the Com
pany's Reputation-Sets the
Moral Tone Among the
Soldiers.

Washington.-The corporal Is known
to most civilians merely as the lowest
in rank of the non-commissioned Of
fcers of the army; his rank is marked
by two stripes on the upper arm of
his blouse. The familiar phrase "a
corporal's guard" exemplifies this idea,
as 1t suggests the smallest possible
number of soldiers. OF him the In
fantry Drill Regulations say briefly.
"The corporal Is the squad leader"
and Of the squad it says, Soldiers are
grouped into squads for purposes Of
instruction, discipline, control and Or
der"
But the corporal Is of more impOr-
tance than this would Indicate.
One of the regular army instructors
at the last series of reserve officers
training camps was fond of telling his
company that those of them who be
came captains would be fathers Of
their men, the captain being the high
est officer with whom the enlisted man
would In general come into personal
contact. Many captains are like the
Puritan father whose closest contact
with his children was when he dis
ciplined them. The leader who lives
with the private and is most directly
responsible for his well being IL camp
or in battle is his corporal.
In camp this responsibility is mani
fold. The squad, seven men and the
corporal. form family living together
in one OF the big pyramidal' or square
tents that have done much to make
the soldiers life In the field comfort
able. The corporal is often told that
he hns power to run that tentful of
men absolutely; some officers tell him
he's the king bee and others call him
the czar. while all of them blame him
II anything goes wrong.
The first thing In the morning, at
varying hours, but always before six.
he must hear first call and have his
seven men out for reveille In fifteen
minutes. He must see that every
natchstick cigarette butt and scrap of
paper is picked up from the floor and
surroundings of the tent, that every
cot is stripped and In order. that every
tail reports on time, and that his squad
- always OH nunu LOT ul IOTluutlOuS
Maintaining Discipline.
The corporal must see not only that
the members Of his squad are on
hand for all formations, but that they
are properly clothed, neat and shaven,
with all buttons sewed on. shoes
shined and rifles cleaned. On Satur-
days he must be particularly scrupu-
lous in seeing that his squad Is splck
and span In every respect Of person
and equipment. The latter must be
fully displayed on every mans cot,
with only one correct arrangement.
one correct way to fold the blankets
at the head of the cot and to place
the shoes under the foot. And most
important 1t is that the knife, fork
and spoon shall be In the order Nhat
they are displayed on the mess kit.
Every inspecting officer has the cor
rect picture of that display, from po-
sition of toothbrush to number of shell
ter half pins. SO clearly in his mind
that the corporal Is lucky whose squad
does not have two or three slips In its
arrangement. Also the corporal must
quickly learn the pet point of each