All ceremonial forms at the beginning and end of letters such as “Sir,” “I have the honor,” “I would respectfully,” “Very respectfully” and the like will be omitted. In referring, transmitting, forwarding, and returning papers, the expressions “Respectfully referred,” “Respectfully transmitted,” “Respectfully forwarded,” and “Respectfully returned,” will also be omitted.
“An officer will not be designated in orders nor addressed in official communications by any other title than that of his actual rank.”[22] Wherever appropriate the name should be supplanted by the title, such as “Commanding Officer, Co. A, 99th Infantry” in place of “Captain James L. Douglas.”
“All letters and indorsements which are typewritten, excepting letters of transmittal, reports of taking leave of absence, periodical reports, and communications of a similar nature, will be made with two carbon copies. One copy will be retained for the records of the office in which the letter was written, and the other will be forwarded with the communication for the files of the first office in which a complete copy is required for the records, but such copy will not be regarded as an enclosure. It will be initialed by the person responsible for the communication.”
“In official correspondence between officers or between officers and officials of other branches of the public service, and especially in matters involving questions of jurisdiction, conflict of authority, or dispute, officers of the Army are reminded that their correspondence should be courteous in tone and free from any expression partaking of a personal nature or calculated to give offense. Whenever questions of such character shall arise between officers and officials of other branches of the public service, and it is found that they cannot be reconciled by an interchange of courteous correspondence, the officer of the Army, as the representative of the interests of the War Department in the matter involved, will make a full presentation of the case to the Secretary of War through the proper military channels, in order that the same may be properly considered.
In order to reduce the possibility of confidential communications falling into the hands of persons other than those for whom they are intended, the sender will enclose them in an inner and outer cover; the inner cover to be a sealed envelope or wrapper addressed in the usual way, but marked plainly “Confidential” in such a manner that the notation may be most readily seen when the outer cover is removed. The package thus prepared will then be enclosed in another sealed envelope or wrapper addressed in the ordinary manner with no notation to indicate the confidential nature of the contents.
The foregoing applies not only to confidential communications entrusted to the mails or to telegraph companies, but also to such communications entrusted to messengers passing between different offices of the same headquarters, including the bureaus and offices of the War Department.”
We have so far discussed in this chapter official letters to persons in the military service. We now come to consider the second form of official letter—the one to persons outside the military service. Often an adjutant or quartermaster is called upon to write to individuals or firms not conversant with the military forms. For a variety of reasons, the business form in that case is best.
In general the two forms present the following differences and likenesses. The headings are the same. The business form substitutes the Address of the Recipient and the Salutation for the From Whom Sent, To Whom Sent, and Subject of the military form. The Body in each case follows the principles of paragraphing, and unity and coherence of the whole, as set down for the military form. In the business form the paragraphs need not be numbered. The business form has a complimentary close before the signature, rank, and organization of the writer. Letters are retained by the recipient and answered by him with a new letter, the sender retaining a carbon copy. Indorsements are not used in the business form.
An example of a good business form appears below.