Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-08-13
THE READERS VIEWPOINT


pressing their disgust at the treatment
they received from the younger officers,
While that is n broad statement, moth,
ing will be gained by my questioning it
II, however, you will look into the siti
uation for a moment, the reason fol
such feeling, if it in truth exists, will
become plain to you.
The younger officer is the link be-
tween the source of orders, i. e., the
higher officers with whom the enlisted
personnel never come in contact, and
the execution of those orders. When
an enlisted man has a grievance arr
thinks the orders unjust he does not
reason beyond the end of his nose. HI
sees only the younger officer, direct
over him, who requires the obedience
Of course the enlisted man did not re-
ceive harsh treatment directly from thi
West Pointers, for they were all fed
or general officers. But did he evt
come in contact with them? Ask thot
who did come in contact with the U. \
NJ. A. graduates, the younger officers
and you will receive some real infop
nation.
You say that our army in France
was more severely disciplined than thu
French army, and that is hardly true
There were many rules in our army
that the French did not have, it ID
true, but you must remember that wa
were in foreign land and it was
necessary to keep the men in hand,
We are told that "the ultimate OBJ.
ject of all military training is success
in battle The most important factor
in military training is discipline. II
comes before craftsmanship. An army
without discipline ceases to be an armJ
and becomes a mob. Discipline is an
essential necessary evil, if you will
but indispensable nevertheless. The
only question is, What shall be EN-.
bodied in that discipline and how shall
lit be administered? The objection, I'd
the hard and impossible line" exist.
ing between officers and enlisted men
has little reason behind it. Familiar.
ity destroys discipline except in ideal
people, and that hard" line is brought
about by the fact that few of us art
perfect. There are orders that purpori
to protect our enlisted men from un.
just or abusive treatment, and ther,
should be more, but that hard and
fast line must still remain.
The strictest disciplinarian and bes,
oticer | ever knew was my instructor
at the first officers training camp. Ht
was a regular army officer, but not a
West Pointer. His task was a hard
one, for % per cent of the men in hi.
company were college men. Yet ht
maintained the hard and impossible
line with justice and impartiality. Hs
did not sit back, cigar in mouth, and
rag a man forced to stand at atten.
tion,' nor does any good officer. There
are those who do, just as there arj
those enlisted men who continually tax,
advantage of every loophole.
Investigation will show you that ninB
times out of ten an enlisted mans kick
should have been aimed at a West
Pointer higher up rather than ths
younger officers.
While / am not an authority ON
discipline, it so happens that | was
one of the younger" or Sears Roe1
buck" officers in the late well knows
war, and ! do speak with the exneri.
ence of two years handling of enlisted
men from their civilian clothes in on,
mobilization camps here to theii
stretchers in the Argonne, until INV.
self occupied a stretcher and Withdrew
Cheerily yours,
EASTMAN NJ. SANBORN
Late First Lieutenant. Infantrv.
The st. Jalnes, Philadelphia. August Z,