Winter and summer work
Schools
Each post should make its own schedule. The work in each post must, however, be uniform. For example, in the northern part of the United States the year’s training should begin November 1st and end October 31st. All the instruction that can be given during the winter months, should be given, leaving the rest for the open season. The schools for both officers and non-commissioned officers are held during the indoor season; the work done in them should dovetail in with the general scheme of instruction. Particular care should be exercised with respect to the non-commissioned officers’ schools; in them the non-commissioned officers should be taught thoroughly how to play their part in the varied work in the field and be given the reasons for things.
Simply repeating the words of a book should be avoided; teach them to do things. The company commander who is capable and in earnest can do much in winter toward training his company even in garrisons where weather conditions are the worst.
Methods of winter instruction
Most of the captains of one regiment known to me have been doing good work during the past two years in teaching the principles of the conduct of patrols and covering detachments. Some of them made use of the Stacey Relief Map; others simply built a sand table about ten feet by five. On this the sand was moulded to form hills and valleys. Blue strings were laid down for streams, yellow ones for roads. Miniature bridges were constructed and placed where desired. Small twigs were used to make forests.
By means of practical examples worked out on these made or improvised maps the principles were thoroughly taught and more easily than is possible out of doors; when spring came, only a few exercises on the ground were necessary to make these companies proficient.
Entrenching
Another use made of the sand table was in the teaching of entrenching. Bull Durham tobacco sacks were converted into sand bags and the men taught their use in revetting, loop-holing, etc. Similarly on a miniature scale were taught the preparation of headlogs, the making of gabions, facines and hurdle revetment. Brush work thus taught indoors needs only be followed by one outdoor exercise, in which work is done on the scale actually used in the field, in order to render the company proficient.
Gymnasium