Training Infantry

by John F. Morrison

Reasons for enlistment plan

The reasons for the foregoing recommendations as they appear to the author are:

1. Five years is as long as the average man is willing to pledge his future for military service unless he means to make it a life occupation. The latter class is not the best for the government. Young men are the best for the ranks in time of war. Men who serve only long enough to be trained for the work are to be desired. It results in a much greater number of trained men being available in time of war and is much cheaper, for it reduces current pay and the retired list.

2. The great importance of having as many trained men as possible and having them dispersed through the country to help in the formation of the new regiments at the outbreak of war is apparent to any one who thinks on this subject.

3. If recruits be received during the winter months only, the organizations can follow a prescribed course of instruction and complete it annually. If recruits dribble in throughout the year a proper course of instruction cannot be satisfactorily given in that time.

4. At the outbreak of war, it is of vital importance that we have as strong a force as possible of men fully ready trained and equipped. The losses at first in this force will be heavy. If green recruits, enough to fill the regular organizations to war strength and to make good the early losses, be poured in on them they will cease to be trained organizations. A reserve is a necessity. This will provide it at small cost.

5. Many excellent and patriotic young men are willing to serve a short time in the army for the experience and training. Four years, however, is longer than they are willing to postpone settling down to their real life’s work. These are the men it is most desirable to get into the army, not as professional soldiers, but as a trained reserve for war. For the first years they are a reserve for the regular companies, then they become available for officers or non-commissioned officers of volunteers. This class of young men will enlist much more freely when they can do so and lose only one year from civil pursuits.

6. Enlisting men as young as they are physically fit interferes less with their civil careers, hence will get us more desirable recruits. The physical and mental discipline a boy thus gets will help him in his future work and the younger he gets it, so long as it does not interfere with his schooling, the more it will be worth to him. Taking the recruit young, the five years while his military service is with the regulars are the five best for that purpose. Later when older, more developed mentally and matured in judgment he is best in higher rank than private with the volunteers. If he enters at 18 he is available at 23 for the volunteers or national guard and has at least seven years left in which he can be considered at his best.

7. The provision for letting men out at the end of one year, provided their conduct has been good and they are fairly instructed, will be a great aid to discipline and a preventative of desertion. A good many young men enter the service thoughtlessly and find after a few weeks that the life is different from what they expected. They look ahead to over three years more of it and the weak ones desert. They are not vicious nor criminal as a rule but this step injures them seriously; they become prisoners or fugitives, and either will decrease the man’s moral stamina and self respect. This provision will greatly reduce this. The man will see that he has only to behave himself for the rest of the year to return to civil life with a clean record. The great expense resulting from desertion will be largely eliminated. The men will be more contented, they will feel they can leave in a short time if they wish, which will tend to decrease the desire to quit. This does not prevent those staying in the service who wish to do so. A few old soldiers are desirable.

Less than one year’s training is not sufficient in which to cover properly the course the infantry soldier should have. Two years is necessary to make a good job of it. But we need more men who can be used in war. With some thoroughly trained men in the ranks it is believed better to have 100 others of one year’s training than fifty of two or more.