The Monett times., 1917-09-21
HOME-READING COURSE
FOR CITIZEN SOLDIERS
The Team Leaders

greatest importance and deserves all
the respect and praise which it re-
ceives. A great many men in the
National Army, however, will be am
bilious to rise to higher ranks. They
will find plenty of encouragement and
of opportunities for promotion.
If you are one of those men, don't
allow yourself to forget the fact that
you can win promotion only by prov
ing your fitness in each duty intrusted
to you. 1t is a rare case when a man
is "jumpcd' several ranks ahead. AS
rule, he climbs from one rank to the
next higher rank after having demon
sirating in each position his intelli-
gence, honor and reliability.
Even as a~private, you may win adj
vancement to the grade known as first
class privates. About one-fourth Of
the privates in each company may be
given the rating "first-class" which
means in substance that they are re-
garded as skilled and trustworthy SOL
tiers.
N"ncommissioned Officers.
From the frst-class privates are
usually chosen the corporals. These
are the squad leaders. They
are appointed by the commanding Of
ficer Of the regiment on the recon-
mendation of the commanding officer
of the company. In addition to the
regularly appointed corporals each com
pany may have one lance corporal.
This is temporary appointment made
by the company commander for the
purpose of testing the ability of some
private whom he is thinking Of rec
ommending for permanent appoint
ment. In case the lance corporal does
not make good showing or for any
other reason, he may be returned to
the ranks when the commander of the
company sees fit
Next above the corporal in rank
comes the sergeant. There are usually
8 to II sergeants in company unless
sergeant has some other duty as
signed to him, he is normally the
leader of platoon. There are, how
ever, many special duties constantly
assigned to sergeants, The first SER
geant Tin Army slang, the stop SER
geant,") for example, keeps certain
company records, forms the company
in ranks, transmits orders from the
company commander, and performs
many other important tasks. The sup
ply sergeant sees to bringing up sup
! plies of all kinds to the company. The
mess sergeant looks after food. The
stable sergeant is responsible for the
proper care of horses and mules. The
color sergeant carries the national or
regimental colors. There are many
other grades within the rank of SER
geant which can not be described here.
You will gradually become familiar
with them during your army exper-
ience.
Commissioned Officers.
Sergeants and corporals are known
as noncommissioned officers, because
they are appointed by their regimental
commanding officer. officers of high
er ranks are known as commissioned,
since they hold their rank by virtue
of a commission issued to them under
authority of the President of the Unit
ed States. The commissioned officer
is thus on quite different footing
from the "noncom" (noncommissioned
officer). He obtains his rank and au-
thority from higher source. He is
treated with respect which is of diff
ferent charter from that extended
to a noncommissioned officer. This is
one of the fundamental things in
Army organization.
Lowest in rank among the COM
missioned officers is the second lieu
tenant. Above him comes the first
lieutenant and above him the cap
tain. These are the three company
officers" The captain is ordinarily
the commanding officerof company,
while the lieutenants might be de-
sc,ibcd as assistant captains. In the
absence or disability Of the captain,
however, the first lieutenant takes his
place and has full command, and in
the absence or disability Of both the
second lieutenant takes the command.
Next above the captain is the major,
whose proper command is a battalion.
A step higher is the lieutenant colonel
and above him the colonel, the COM
manding officer of the regiment. The
lieutenant colonel ordinarily assists !
the colonel and in his absence takes
the command. In case both the lieu
tenant colonel and the colonel are dis
abled or absent the senior major takes
tba command