The ground should accommodate the command without crowding and without compelling the troops of one unit to pass through the camp of another.
The site should be sufficiently high and rolling to drain off storm water readily, and, if the season be hot, to catch the breeze. In cold weather it should preferably have a southern exposure, with woods to the north to break the cold winds. In warm weather an eastern exposure, with the site moderately shaded by trees, is desirable.
The site should be dry. For this reason porous soil, covered with stout turf and underlaid by a sandy or gravelly subsoil, is best. A site on clay soil, or where the ground water approaches the surface, is damp, cold, and unhealthful.
Alluvial soils, marshy ground, and ground near the base of hills, or near thick woods or dense vegetation, are undesirable as camp sites on account of dampness. Ravines and depressions are likely to be unduly warm and to have insufficient or undesirable air currents.
Proximity to marshes or stagnant water is undesirable on account of the dampness, mosquitoes, and the diseases which the latter transmit. The high banks of lakes or large streams often make desirable camp sites.
Dry beds of streams should be avoided; they are subject to sudden freshet.
[665.] The occupation of old camp sites is dangerous, since these are often permeated by elements of disease which persist for considerable periods. Camp sites must be changed promptly when there is evidence of soil pollution or when epidemic disease threatens, but the need for frequent changes on this account may be a reflection on the sanitary administration of the camp.
A change of camp site is often desirable in order to secure a change of surroundings and to abandon areas which have become dusty and cut up.
Water Supply.
[666.] Immediately on making camp a guard should be placed over the water supply. If the water be obtained from a stream, places should be designated for drawing water (1) for drinking and cooking, (2) for watering animals, (3) for bathing and washing clothing. The first named should be drawn farthest up the stream; the others, in the order named, downstream.