Having determined upon the wording of each paragraph, the members of the class are required to write out the body of the order.
Where the members of the class have sufficiently progressed in their tactical training some of the preliminary discussion and solution may be omitted and the men be required to write out the body of the order based on the tactical situation. The written solutions are collected by the Director and redistributed to the class, taking care that no man receives his own solution back again. This is productive of good results, for if a man knows that his work is to be seen by another he will put forth his best effort and be more careful with his work. Again, the entire solution may be given orally and nothing reduced to writing. In this case the Director brings out the elements by questions and discussion, and in the end one or more members of the class are called upon to state the contents of the body of the order. This method is excellent for the training of officers in the giving of verbal tactical orders.
The solution having been completed, the subject is opened up for discussion. The members of the class are encouraged to ask questions and express their views on the various elements under consideration.
The class is then conducted to the place where the next special situation is to be taken up for solution, and here the same procedure as outlined above is taken. The Terrain Exercise concludes with a short conference, in which the Director makes a résumé of the problems, discusses the several lessons of the day, and shows the application of tactical principles to them.
General Rules
The following general rules should be observed as far as practicable:
a. Weather and climatic conditions should be accepted as they actually exist on the day of the Exercise.
b. Interest is best maintained by bringing up a succession of instructive situations, each designed to teach some tactical lesson, dealing with each one concisely but thoroughly, and promptly passing on to the next. Long discussion and personal arguments between members of the class are to be avoided. Unimportant phases are passed over quickly, thus allowing the requisite amount of time to be devoted to those that are really worth while.
c. Ordinarily four or five situations are about all that may be profitably included in one Terrain Exercise.
d. All members of the class should be equipped with blank paper of uniform size (to facilitate the handling of written solutions), message blanks, pencils, sketching equipment for making rough sketches on which tactical depositions may be shown.