IDEAL OFFICERS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2957, 21 December 1916, Page 6

IDEAL OFFICERS

WHAT THE MEN LIKE

(By "A Subaltern," in the "Daily Mail.") A- little while ago I happened to sit at mess next to one of those men to whom both the new Army and the old are eternally indebted. He was a second lieutenant of some thirty-live years of age, powerfully built, with a closely cropped head and a seamed, weatherbeaten face. By a coincidence, ' winch made that evening for me singularly pleasant, this man happened to have been the company sergeant-major of tho company in which i was a platoon commander on the Aisne. He had been one of the first to receive a commission when it was decided to promote a certain number from the ranks. This was the first time wo had met since we had been out together in France, and naturally we had a great deal to talk about. Dinner over, we lingered on at the end of the long mess-table with the port and biscuits between us. The situation had its humorous side, for many a time in tho past had I, as a young officer full of bounce, poured my wrath on the head of the unfortunate company sergeant-major, who" had been fighting in-iiouth Africa before I left my preparatory school, but who nevertheless in those days as a welldisciplined non-commissioned officer could only stand to attention while I spoke to him, and now here he was sitting beside me at mess, a brother officer. "Yes, wo had some funny times out there," he said. "Do you remember the time you 'strafed' me in thoso billets behind the Aisne?" "No," I answered. '.'That time we'd been in tho trenches about a week, and came back for four days' rest in billets. Wo got in in the morning and we were all pretty tired. After lunch I came round to your quarters with a bundle of the men's letters that wanted censoring. You were asleep and mad at being woko up. You 'strafed' me to hell and told me to take the blanked letters away, and asked if I thought you were a side-show man trying to go seven days without sleep." I remembered the incident then and how furious I had been with the company sergeant-major for coming and waking me up. "Well," ho continued, "I wasn't exactly fresh myself. I had not had a wink of sleep since getting back from the trenches, and had been running round: all the morning getting the men into their billets. I tell you, I could have cried when I saw you lying there and'telling mo to bring the letters back later iii the afternoon." As my old company sergeant-major told this story to me 1 must confess to a feeling of shame. It showed how easy'it was to override one's, position as an officer and bo unjust or harsh to those beneath one without ever being properly conscious of one's conduct. Tho Golden Rule. I.do not wish hero 'to break into a discourse on the handling of men. No quill-driving over yet taught anyone that; nor in it a- subject to which there is anything much one can say. You cannot put a round peg into a< square hole with any hope of a harmonious, fit. Nor will,a follow who is temperamentally unsuited to have charge of men over be able to get on with them. But there aro differences and degrees between the fellow who will never under any circumstances make a good officer and the hundreds of young fellows who are officers to-day, and good, hardworking ones too, but who have moments when they are not quite certain of themselves. " ; • "Corisiderateness" is the thing that tho men most appreciate: If you are sitting in a front fire trench during a lull and have a newspaper out from home it will be appreciated if you pass it down tho trench when you havo finished reading it, instead of putting it back in your haversack. There is a famous saying that tho British soldier fights on his stomach. This for yosng officers should he one of the first maxims of war. On active service it depends almost as much upon platoon commanders and company officers to. see that tho men are properly fed as upon anybody else. Meal times out at the front are not such sacred hours as they aro at home. They are not respected by the other side, and if a big '-'strafe" starts just as the company is having its dinner it cannot be helped.But on our own side we can try to keep these times as clear as possible. Also to foresee them; that is to say, it one happens to know that the company is going to change ground at two o clock ifc,s a good thing to advise the men to do their cooking about noon. Do not, if you can help it, order a party off on fat'teue just as you see them settle round a .canteen of tea. It may not. he a recognised mealtime; it may be just a casual "drum up"; but the sticks col-

lccted for that fire have probably been gathered with a good deal of care, and maybe they are- using up the last handful of tea scraped together from the day's ration. So if they are ordered off to fill sandbags before they have had time to drink their brew they will be disappointed. Perhaps, however, the sandbags had to be filled in a' hurry and there was y.o one olse to do it. Then it is another matter. But bo Careful. ' To consider the men's comfort' to the exclusion of military exegencies is a worse fault than not considering it at all. There are times when, no matter if it is the last bit of dry wood in France and the last lot of tea-leaves in Europe, a fire must be put out in a hurry. I romember once seeing my company officer, who was beloved by all the men and always considering their comfort, go up to a little party that wero having a quiet-"drum up" in a hollow behind the trench, stride'through them and kick thendixie sky high, cursing roundly and. telling them to put out the fire at once. We bad just moved up to new ground, and as ho said to me, "A fat lot of good a cup of tea would do them if the smoke from their fire brought down a packet of enemy high explosives."

Another time during a night 'attack (which the enemy were making upon us) my "skipper" was standing beside me in tbo trench: Next to mo was a corporal leaning against the parapet fast asleep over his rifle. The .attack being a pretty warm one, it hardly seemed to me the moment for the corporal to sleep. I woke llim, but a minute afterwards ho was asleep again. I then drew my "skipper's" attention to the man. "Let him be," said he, "he has beort ■up all the last two nights as orderly corporal. I expect he is pretty tired." I ought to have known myself, of course, that the man was orderly corporal. Half the battle in dealing with men is to know just what each of them is doing, has been doing, or is supposed to do. To acquire the habit of always knowing this, it is well for the young officer to begin early, from the moment •be joins the training unit at home. Then, during working hours, if ho spends plenty of time in his company rooms, the cook-house, or the square, and in the transport stables and gymnasium, he will get a working knowledge of regimental life that will stand him in good stead when he goes on active service.