Evening star., 1940-08-19
C|ose-0rder Drill
Nears Extinction
With New Army
Buck Privute of 1917
Would Be Lost in Squad
Work at Ogdensburg
By THOMAS r. HENRY,
Star Staff Correspondent.

there, especially after a hard days
campaigning over dusty roads and
fields, but that's about all left OF
the old infantry which would look
familiar to buck private OF 1917.
In 20 years the solid, down-to-
earth branch of the service with
blue hat cords has seen startling
innovations and the dlscardlng OF
many of its pseudo-sacredf forms and
traditions-so much so that a Ma
tional Guard infantryman in any OF
the divisions now taking part IN
the battle of the St. Lawrence would
be lost in a 1917 company and old
top kicks must be very downcast in
whatever section of parad!se-cr
the other place-is reserved for
them.
Close Order Drill Passes.
The old close-order drill, at which
World War recruits used to sweat
and be consigned to perdition eight
hours a day for four or five months,
is very nearly extinct. 1t is pre-
served only in some fancy Regular
Army garrisons which go in for show
and custodianship of historical
curiosities. The younger generals
somehow have come to the strange
conclusion that a squads left" no
matter how harshly barked or deftly
executed, never killed single
enemy.
The squad of eight men in close
formation commanded by corporal
with a frst-class private on the
other end of the first line. is no
more. explains the Regular Army
major assigned because OF his great
patience, to explain this mystery.
A SQUAD may be anything from
8 to IL men, depending on the par
ticular function it will have in
battle. 1t may be commanded by
a sergeant. a corporal, or two or
three corporals. 1t no longer moves
on a fixed pivot. so squads right
and left" and all other old-tlme
SQUAD maneuvers have no meaning.
1t is spread out in single line,
the men standing at arms length
from each other. A platoon con-
sists of three squads, one behind
the other, which explains the fact
that soldiers no longer march in
files of fours. but in files of threes.
About the only old commands
left are right face" cleft face" and
forward march" There is no
chance of getting all messed up in
these movements. The rawest and
stupidest recruits can become about
as proficient as they need be in the
new drill in a few weeks, at the
most. All this enormously reduces
the time needed for that mystic
process of making a soldier"
New Military Generation.
The World War doughboy is hor-
rifed to learn from the major, who
belongs to a new generation OF
professional military men, that for
years now, proficiency in close
order drill has not been considered
the end-all of Army training and
that it now is devoted to more
practical means of dispatching the
enemy.
"Oh, that fancy stuff is for parade
grounds" he comments when, after
describing the more fundamental
changes in infantry procedure he
is asked about the drill differences.
But he himself comes from a
transition period in military his
tory and when pressed he defends
the old ways as somehow worth
preserving.
yes" he says, "the old drill
probably had considerable value
when you come to think of it. 1t
produced certain cohesiveneSS
among the men. 1t provided good
shows 1t was, of course, intended
to promote discipline with the pre-
cision of movement demanded. I
think that this carried over into
other activities. 1t made the soldier
a better and cleaner man all around.
But then, the new system may
prove just as good for these pur-
poses in the long rum
Exceptional Sergeant Major.
The veteran sergeant major-a
most exceptional sort of fellow
whose hobby is word derivations
and who has written articles on it,
a type of the new sort of Regular
Army non-com who has arisen since
the World War-was a little more
positive at first. After ALL his
livelihood had depended for a long
time on drilling me in close order
formation and men always are in
clined to be prejudiced about the
importance Of their means of livli-
hood
European stuff he said at first
about the new drill. I've always
said that you can make anything
you want out of a company drilled
in the old way"
But then" he continued re-
f1ectively." it probably was psy-
chologically wrong, especially for the
way fighting is done these days.
Man seems to have natural herd
instinct and the squad tactics tended
to intensity 1t. I used to notice
myself that it was hard to make
transition from close order to eX-
tended order drill The open order,
of course, was intended for actual
fighting when it is necessary for
men to keep their distance from
each other so that they will not
afford a mass target. You notice
that men trained in close order have
difficulty staying apart. They seem
to feel instinctively that there is
safety in being within touching
distance Of each other, which is all
wrong"
How "Doughboy" Originated.
The sergeant also grieved at the
misuse of the good old Army word
"doughboy," which he now finds
applied indiscriminately to any en-
listed man, regardless of his branch
Of service. He has done some orig
inal research on the meaning Of
this word and. while there are sew
eral theories, is convinced that the
term really derives from practice
Of infantrymen in the Indian wars
of the 80s. Then, he says. the