Arizona republican., 1919-03-30
(Capt. H. B, c. Pollard of the British

(Capt. H. B. C. Pollard of the British Army in the New York Tribune) Every British soldier is expected to be able to judge distance approximate ly, and every non- commissioned of ficer is expected to do it with fair ac curacy. It is an essential part of his training. Without it he cannot give his orders correctly. One of the best ways of teaching men distance judging is on route marches. At a halt the men estimate the distance of objects visible ahead of them along the road. When the march is resumed these estimates are checked by pacing the distances. In this way the men are taught to take an interest in distance judging and a competitive spirit is encouraged among them.
 In the same way the ranges of all prominent objects near camp should be carefully taken with range finder. and the men should be taught by heart the various distances. Natural objects, such as houses. average sized trees or ] roads where men or traffic move, should be preferred to merely land scape features, for experience goes to show that men retain a mental picture of such objects best.
 In addition to the mental picture" method of estimating ranges there are l certain rule f-thumb methods which 1 are useful One of these is the obser- ] vation of objects through a service rifle barrel with the bolt removed and l the eye placed immediately above the ] butt plate. Thus a standing man completely fills the diameter of the l barrel at three hundred yards dis l tance If he occupies one-half he is i some five hundred and fifty yards away, and at eight hundred yards he occupies a third This system is good for ranges up to eight hundred yards, i but it requires a good light to see q i dismounted man through the barrel at this range.
 For close ranges the following table should be committed to memory, but men with vision below the normal l should make out a table to suit their own particular eyesight:
 Mouth and eyes of a man can be seen at fifty yards.
 Eyes appear as points at one hun dred yards.
 Buttons and details of uniform can be seen at two hundred yards.
 Face can be seen at three hundred yards
 1 Shoulders are square at four hun dred yards.
 Shoulders go bottle shaped at fiv, hundred yards.
 Head is invisible at seven hundred yards.
 Man looks like a post at eight hun dred yards.
 In long distance the best way is tt select an object which appears to h. half way, to estimate the distance to i by one or other of the methods anC then to double the estimate.
 Flashes of guns at night are usefu for range finding. Sound travels abou 360 yards a second. A more accurat computation can be made by countin; eleven beats to three seconds, eac beat between the sight of the flas and the noise of the sound equaIlin one hundred yards. But here agai practice is required to estimate tn beats correctly.
 Lateral distances are usually esti mated by the number of fingers re quired to cover the object, but this, ( course, can be done only when the di rect distance is known. The finger are held at arms length and not clos up to the eye.
 One hundred yards is covered at fiy hundred yards by six to seven finger
 One hundred yards is covered at or thousand yards by three to three and half fingers.
 One hundred yards is covered at ], ,5t yards by two fingers.
 One hundred yards is covered two thousand yards by one thumb.
 All the foregoing rules are for goo light and level ground. In bad ligt in mist, when looking across a vallt or when estimating distance lying dow the tendency is to overestimate di tance.
 The general rule to remember is tn; distinct object will lead to underest nation and an indistinct one to ovel