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Show Wgpg What .Shnll If Pe&jl I HIGH PRIVATE? ; Never7 And yet, as an en- listed man In Uncle Sam's army, ' he will have plenty of oppor- tunity to become a commission- '. ed officer. But If he should get ; no higher than first sergeant he -. can retire in the prime of life ', ; with a life Income and still . have a life of achievement be- ; fore him. Why men, when they . retire from the army, are snatched up by contractors and . others for the overseers and ', I foremen at good wages. Just . how an ambitious and capable '. I boy may advance from enlisted ' . man to commissioned officer. '. I By C. W. JENNINGS. ; Sqrafe. ERHAPS your boy, now that Li!wOVSi he has arrived at the age of i-ia 18, say and 8hould be siy- jjlpjr ing serious thought to what IJI'T bis life's work will be, still ' clings stubornly to his boy hood's dream of being a soldier. Perhaps Per-haps you. have pointed out to him that he hasn't sufficient education to get him into West Point. Perhaps he has the education and you admit it, and then try to discourage him by telling him of the many difficulties that lie before the young man who dreams of gaining shoulder straps through the Point. In either event, the boy, with the dream in his mind, replies that he'll join the army as a private, and then, perhaps, you "go up Into the air" it once at the mere thought of your son being a high private in the rear ranks of Uncle Sam's land fighting force. But why? Among all vocations there is none that offers such certain advancement and reward for honest energy, and there is none that has such slight requirements or preparation prepara-tion in the beginning. All that the war department will require of your boy is that he "must be between the ages of 18 and 35 years, of good character char-acter and temperate habits, able bodied, bod-ied, free from disease, and must be able to speak, read and write the English Eng-lish language." That Is all; for the requirements re-quirements as to height, weight, etc., are sufficiently elastic to admit any young man that is not abnormal in these physical respects. If there is no recruiting office in your vicinity, a letter, addressed to the war department at WTashington, D. C, will bring information about the near-2st near-2st place at which your boy can apply for entrance into tin army. It is a requirement re-quirement that applicants must pay their own expenses to the recruiting office; but after being enlisted every necessary expense in the life of the soldier, including food, clothing,. bed-ling, bed-ling, medicine and medical attendance Is borne by the government. It will be necessary for the candidate candi-date to choose the branch of the serv ice he desires to enter, whether In the infantry, cavalry, artillery, signal corps, hospital corps, etc., but as the infantry Is the most numerous, and conditions in all branches are generally general-ly the same, for the purposes of this article It will be assume'd that your boy takes to the Infantry, with the intention in-tention to work up straight in that line. Passing his pnysical and mental examinations ex-aminations before the recruiting officer, offi-cer, your boy, beginning his career as a private, will first receive $15 a month in addition to his keep as outlined. His duties will be to police and clean and take care of the barracks, squad room, and grounds, keep his clothing and equipment In order, and stand guard duty. He must rise at 5:30 to 6 in the morning, according to season, and in 15 minutes respond to roll call, then clean up his bunk before breakfast. break-fast. The forenoon is devoted largely large-ly to calisthenics and other drills. Then comes dinner at noon, with more drill in the afternoon, and parade for half an hour just before supper at six. He is generally free in the evenings, though he must report for check roll call at 11 o'clock, unless he has a pass to be absent later. The barracks are fitted with library, pool and card tables, etc., for the use of the men. Before he has been doing all these things very long he will discover, of courbd, that his company commander conducts regularly a school for instruction in-struction in the rudiments of ordinary and military education, and, though attendance at this school is compulsory compul-sory only for noncommissioned officers', your boy, with his eye on advancement, advance-ment, will attend every meeting of the school. By so improving his opportunities, oppor-tunities, and studying at night on his own hook, an ordinarily bright private may be promoted to corporal within a year from his enlistment, and this first of promotions will gain him an increase in salary of six dollars a month. As a corporal your boy will hold an important place in the army organization, organiza-tion, as he is the direct officer in command com-mand of seven privates, the eight being be-ing known as "the squad," which is the basis of our entire military system. He will be relieved of the manual labor of taking care of the barracks and grounds, and in parades and company drills will always take his place as leader of his squad. He posts and relieves re-lieves the sentries on guard duty, and sees that his particular followers are instructed in their duties. Finally, and within the three-year period of his first enlistment, your boy may reach the' important post of first sergeant, the highest non-commissioned officer in the company. Here he will be the direct representative of the captain on all occasions and directly responsible to him alone. He attends to the roll call, looks after the discipline disci-pline of the men. sees that enmnnnv reports are properly made out. O. K.'s the pay roll, and does or gets done all the details of company management. The pay of first sergeants is $45 a month. The government permits those who have served for two years and are still under 30, to take the examination for second lieutenant, even though they are still privates. It is by no means unusual for privates to reach this post within two or three years from their enlistment; but in most of such cases the men have had good educations before enlisting. The examination exam-ination is not particularly arduous, except In the physical, the requirements require-ments being about equal to a regular high school education, which the ambitious am-bitious soldier can acquire by study at night and when off regular duty; but as a Becond lieutenant he will be require re-quire to take a three years' course in a school which is maintained at every garrison. The course is quite elaborate. Including In-cluding full instruction in tactics, military mili-tary hygiene and military law. company com-pany organization, International law, (such as might be useful in border warfare), army regulations, field engineering en-gineering and regulations, hippology, etc. After it has been mastered, opportunity op-portunity is given for post graduate work under the post commander. Under the system of seniority in vogue In the army, a second lieutenant has to wait about six years before being be-ing promoted to a first lieutenancy, and for, say, nine years before becoming captain. The latter has to wait in. time of peace for an average of 15 years before being made a major; then four years more for his lieuteuant colonelcy, colo-nelcy, and after three more years, when he is 57 or 60 yeare old, he will be a colonel, the last highest office that comes by regular promotion. Brigadier and major generals are appointed by the president, who generally selects them from among the colonels, but occasionally oc-casionally breaks the rule for special reasons. All of these promotions come only after frequent and rigid examinations have been passed; for the requirements are absolute, and the man who goes up through the ranks must possess the same capability as the West Pointer. Schools are maintained at all posts, and after one has become a captain he takes a year at the military school at Fort Leavenworth, and is permitted to supplement this with another year of special study at the army staff college. col-lege. So much for the boy whose ambition ambi-tion and talents place him among the commissioned officers. But suppose your boy never attains higher rank than that of first sergeant in other words, remains an enlisted man, all soldiers below commissioned officers being known technically as enlisted men? Well, in that event, when he is no more than forty years old, probably, he can retire from the army with a salary for life of at least $67.50 a month. It is one of the rules of the army that on re-enlistment a man's pay is increased. In the case of a sergeant this Increase is four dollars a month for each re-enlistment. Thus, a first sergeant getting $45 a month, in. his second enlistment will get $49, in the third $53, and so on up to and including in-cluding the seventh enlistment, when he will receive $69. On retirement he is given for life three-fourths of this sum, besides $9.50 in lieu of clothing and substance, and $6.25 in lieu of cuarters, fuel and lights. All service "abroad" (meaning in China, Cuba. Philippine islands, Guam, Alaska and Panama) is computed as double time and it Is the army custom for the infantry in-fantry to spend two years abroad for every three at home. Therefore, your boy, if he enlists at eighteen years old and becomes a first sergeant, can retire at thirty-eight with an income of $67.50 a month, and with a life of achievement (without needing to consider his bread and butter) but-ter) ahead of him. Besides this, he has had the finest kind of training in handling men, and can get a position at once as foreman or overseer with contractors or others employing large bodies of men. There Is a great demand de-mand for retired soldiers. If your boy has a special aptitude in other directions, and does not wish tc advance in the line, he may be a wagoner wa-goner of cavalry, a mechanic in field artillery, an artificer in the infantry or a farrier and blacksmith or saddler in the cavalry, at $21 a month; a fire man in the coast artillery, at $30; chief trumpeter, at $40; become chief musi cian, at $75; master gunner, at $40: master electrician at $75, etc. In all these lines the same custom obtain? with slight variations upon re-enlistment and retirement as among the regular enlisted soldiers. And the same may be said of those who are clerically inclined. The army's needs are so varied that there is need for adherents of mostly all classes. (Copyright, 1910, by the Associated Literary Lit-erary Press.) |