Από την Κρήτη εθελοντής στον Αμερικανικό Στρατό., item 47

• November 1, 2018 07:31:14 Anastasia Ioannou

  better than anyone else, and always remain ready to

  defend this title in a sportsmanlike manner.

     Don't fail to salute your officers. As already ex­-

  plained these niceties in the army are for a purpose.

  They stand in place of the ordinary acts of courtesy

  in the drawing-room. They are the symbols of your

  gentlemanly qualities. It doesn't cost anything to

  be polite, but it is an expensive thing to once obtain

  a reputation for discourtesy. Once you gain a repu-

  ­tation of any kind in the army you will find it next

  to impossible to shake it off. It will be difficult for

  your commanding officer to make of you a non­-

  commissioned officer if you have a record for con-

  ­spicuous lack of good manners.

     The salute is· a delicate matter, one of definite

  importance. It will be treated more fully in the

  chapter on Discipline,

     Success in fighting is the object of training. The

  entire army is for one purpose only—to win the

  battle as quickly as possible and with the smallest

  loss of personnel and equipment. It is a mistaken

  idea to imagine that generals purposely waste their

  men’s lives. It is often necessary to order charges

  that decimate troops, but only as a last resort.

  Pickett's charge, the ride of the Four Hundred in

  the Crimean War—these have been made historic

  because of their dramatic qualities, their immense

  cost in lives. They are typical of only exceptional

  times.

     It is not meant to suggest here that you are going

  to have a “rosy time." On the contrary, if this war

  is properly handled and carried to a logical end, it

  will likely require the complete co-operation of

  every man and woman in these United States.  You

  are doing your bit by enlisting and shouldering a

  rifle. You must not rest content with this. You

  must come to a keen realization of what being a

  soldier means and you must act upon that faith with

  unadulterated fervor.

  Do not imagine that you are lost in the mass of

  
  

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