NOTES ON VOLUNTEERING.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2558, 20 June 1882, Page 3

NOTES ON VOLUNTEERING.

No. I— DISCIPLINE,

By Urban V. Eichabds, Captain N. Z. Volunteer Force, and late Lieutenant ELM. 87th, Eoyal Irish Fusiliers. The writer of the following notes now holds his second commission in the New Zealand Volunteer Force, and has served in three of H. M. Regiments, and consequently may, he thinks, fairly b allowed to have some insight into the working of the system at present in vogue. He docs not lay claim to any degree of originality, but thinks that the result of hia observations may be of service to Volunteers in general. Voluntee rs are now judged as much by the amount o t discipline they display as by their capabilities at drill, 1 would wish to show, in this paper, that discipline and drill ought to go hand in hand, and that the latter is of little or no nso without the former. My principal endeavor will be to try and define discipline, as there appears to be a very vogue notion as to its real meaning amongst our New Zealand Volunteers. The first step in discipline is absolute and unquestioning obedience to a superior officer on the part of the Volunteer, whether on parade, or in uniform way to parade. The execution of certain movements on certain commands from the instructor or officer drilling the Volunteer recruit will go far towards strengthening discipline and accustoming a man to ready obedience, for the Individual training of Volunteers, be_ they officers or men, constitutes the foundation of excellence or the reverse in any body of troops. A Volunteer on parade or In nniforn should forget that he is a civilian, and should bo taught that the success of the corps he belongs to depends upon him individually as much as on the officer commanding. Lieut. - General Bir Garnet Wolseley (when Colonel Wolseloy) wrote thus in the “Soldiers’ Pocket Book ” —“ Make a man proud of himself and hia corps, and he can always he depended on. - ’ Punctuality on parade is essential on the part of Volunteers. There is no greater discipline-killer than the Volunteer who is habitually lato on Officers in particular should be careful to set a good example in this respect, by being on the ground some short time before the men fall in —for should an officer be careless or irregular in the performance of his own duties, he canu.t expect attention from those under him. .... ~ Talking in the ranks Is moat objectionable at all times, and is a grjive breach of discipline on the part of a Volunteer. Looking to the right or left or swinging of arms should be checked by officers and non-commissioned officers. A Volunteer recruit, on joining, should b« first taught correctly how to salute officers in uniform, and he should be corrected frem the first, should he fail in giving the prescribed salute in passing them. Offioera should be careful to return salutes. Professional and private intercourse cannot be too distinctly separated. An officer in uniform on parade should remember that he is an officer, and not allow any noncommissioned officer or private, even if his most intimate friend, to address him otherwise than in the manner laid down by regulation. The practice of private Volunteers crowding round their officers after parade ought to be discouraged as ranch as possible, and Volunteers should be instructed that it is improper on the part of a private to address an officer without first making known hia wish to do so to a noncommissioned officer, who should accompany him to the officer’s presence. Officers should not think too much of personal popularity;

this is often gained at the expense of discipline. The old saying, “Too mnch familiarity breeds contempt,” applies to Volunteer officers especially ; an officer inclined to be vulgarly familiar with his men wi I soon find that his authority baa passed from him.

The training of officers and non-commis-sioned officers is of the first importance, and promises the highest reward in the shape of discipline for the corps to which they belong. Fussiness and an overbearing manner to those nnder them should be particularly avoided; but they should be taught to teach the men to obey without hesitation any order, even if it seem unreasonable ; the matter can be referred to higher authority after it hat teen obeyed. Wearing the prescribed uniform of the corps to which they belong Is anovher subject that requires great attention, if discipline is to be maintained. Men should never be allowed to go about the streets or fall in on para-ie in half uniform and half mufti. As a writer in the Globe remarked lately, it is hard that Volunteer privates should be puzzled by the ridiculous dresses that Volunteer bandsmen now wear In this colony. It is contrary to the Queen’s Regulations and Orders for the Army, 1873, 'J he Volunteer Regulations, 1881 ; and the N.Z Volunteer Regulations, for even officers to wear silver laoo on their trousers or belts on parades, (They are allowed so to do ar, levees, draw-ing-rooms or pnblio balls.) Yet the Volunteer bandsmen go peacocking round the town in officers’undress coats and full dress silverlaced trousers. If bands are only to be obtained for Volunteer corps by allowing the individuals composing them to dress according to their own sweet wills, it is high time that the bands should be done away with. Music, at the cost of discipline and efficiency, is dearly bought. Volunteer officers in uniform should make it a point never to allow disrespect from a non-commissioned officer or private Volunteer, if they also are in uniform. Passing without saluting is disrespect, and Volunteers should be Impressed with the fact that they are bound to salute all officers in uniform, whether the officers belong to H.M. Army, Navy, or to their own or another corps of Volunteers. In the regulations for the training of troops published by the German War Office, the following occurs:—“Marching and the use of arms may be taugnt In the time of peace ; physical and moral power may be developed and strengthened ; but discipline —that foundation stone of an army, the preliminary condition of all success, the maintenance of which is so necessary and beneficial, is a work of time, and can only bo instilled by the untiring ar.d devoted zeal of the officers.” “The various exercites proscribed in the regulations and instructions are intended to train the soldier in the direction indicated. Drill is not merel-- a direct preparation for the duties of active service; It is something more; for by strictly enforcing certain forms, discipline is strengthened and maintained.”