Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1918-09-20

force and training 10 bear In conflict
with the enemy will be In connection
with some movement in which a man In
ordinary condition would drop out from
the strain before the crisis Of the action
is reached A soldiers life is apt to
consist of long periods Of routine duty
and somewhat mon0tOnous tasks, inter
upted by intervals in which he IL
called upon for supreme cXcrton IN
which his utmost strength and enduf'
ance are needed, Both for the routine
and for the crises high degree of ply
steal strength is demanded, requiring
q training more arduous and continued
than is necessary for an athletic season,
The discipline Is irks0me, but If faith
fully followed, II results in q physical
manhood which will be Of greatest value
20 its pOsscssor all his life,
The young soldier is called upon to
learn an entire series Of new move
mcnts, which he will be required TO exc
cute with utmost promptncss and with
absolute precision. He must be drilled
in them until they become instructive
reactions, instantaneous and almost I'M
conscious, One Of the methods used in
the detection of deserters is to pro-
nOuncc suddenly military command in
a military manner and watch for the
soldier reaction, which in the ease Of a
man who has been long in the army is
as inevitable as the winking Of the eye
lash at n pretended blow, You may
remember that certain Tommy Atkins,
who was getting back to the army
under an assumed name said Of the
sergeant,
Gle says to me, "Shun", and !
shouted, the same as in days gone by, y
A man is not made over in bearing
and movement in n few exercises, nor
by any other method than by long. con.
tinued and painful practice The fact
that the required movements can be ex.
planned in few lessons and under
stood without difficulty, hut that they
can he acquired only by infinite pains,
makes the task Of their acquisition an
irksome one. Patience and perservcr.
ance, and the willingness to drill per.
sstentlv in matters that often seem tri.
vial and not worth while, are needful
to the making of man who looks and
acts the soldier.
Military operations require the move.
mcnt of large bodies of men whore they
are wanted. NJ the time thew are
wanted, and distributed as they are
needed. For such movements organi2a.
tion is necessary and whole technique
referring TO military units Of various
sizes. Such movements have been Of.
ten used for show purposes in all kinds
Of military organizations and since they
form but a small part of the modern
science of war they have frequently
been discrcditcd But il is organi2a.
tionS and the ability to handle men in
REGULAR formation which constitutes the
difference between an army and a mob,
and the technique of tho management Of
military units is therefore Fundamental
in military education
Excellence and skill in close order
drill iS only the beginning Of the max
ing Of a soldier. and must he followed
by study of the management and use Of
troops in extended order, the use Of
covcr. tho care end usC e vc"nouS, 40
coustru"tion of trenches and thc
principles of trench fighting the
correlation Of the various branches of
the service, infantry, artillery. air scr
vice. and the like, street fighting in
cities and towns. sanitation and the
health of troops and a hundred and one
other topics, all of highest importance
in war, on the knowledge of which n
leader S success or failure NAV depend.
NY purpose is not even to outline the
hodv of knowledge in which a military
leader should he proficient. hut simply
10 make the pOint that thero is a worry
large such body of knowledge The
soldier s is thc oldest of the profcs-
sions. more ancient than law or the,
oogv or medicine. Men fought before
they did anything else. To this pro.
fcssion many of the ablcst minds in the
nations with which we are at war have
been devoted for many years. They
have brought to its practice the re-
suits of every science known to man,
They are past masters in an art to
which we as a nation have been almost
completely Indifferent for many years.
We must conquer them at their own
game but that means that we must not
only be eager and brave and full of
zeal, but that we must put our minds to
work in the most intense study and APP
plication The making of soldier is
more largely an intellectual task than
is usually recognized. It NAV not be
the highest use of the intellect, but
lust now it is a most necessary one,
You will not find therefore, that you
have three or four subjects in which
You must study and think, and your
military work in which you exercise and
drill. You will fail in the purpose for
which you are asked to come here if
you do not thoroughly respect your
military work as an intellectual pur-
suit and put your minds to it and not
merely you muscles and your feet.
But the physical and the intellectual
are not all. You will soon hear much
about discipline, military discipline as
something different from ANYTHING which
obtains in civilian relations, the
supreme test Of an army and that which
holds it together and renders it effec-
tive in the field. Your success as sol
diers will depend very largely on how
you respond to discipline and I ex-
pect you will be judged as to your