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FIELD TRAINING
Field Training
A good deal can be done to discipline men in garrison; but in the
field, on the march, in bivouac under the blue sky, in storms, cold
and heat, on the trail, caring for self and horses, with always a
helping hand for comrades, bearing cheerfully every hardship- there
was where the thorough dragoon was made. -1SG Percival G. Lowe,
Five Years a Dragoon [1849-1854], pp. 159, 161
Tips for the Field
Carrying Too Much Weight. The knapsack that tugged at
my wretched shoulders when we left Hartford for the front on June
10th of 1861, would have made a camel pant, containing wares enough
to have stocked a country store. This lugging about of Egyptian
pyramids upon our backs we soon abandoned. -E. Benjamin Andrews,
Civil War, in Rank and File, p. 30
Preventing Chafing. Common corn starch is a most
excellent talcum or chafing preventative and cure. -Noncommissioned
Officers’ Manual, 1917, p. 298
Preventing Sunstroke. Sunstroke may be prevented by
wearing a silk handkerchief in the crown of the hat, by a wet cloth,
or by moistened green leaves or grass. -Customs of Service for
Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers, 1865, p. 249
To Make a Fire without Matches. Take a dry
handkerchief or cotton lining of your coat, scrape out a very fine
lint [and] by using the crystal of your watch, compass or spectacle,
a sun glass can be made that will ignite the lint, which can be
blown to fire.
Another way. Sprinkle powder of cartridge as a fuse to the
cotton lint, and with the cartridge percussion cap you can easily
ignite the lint, dry moss, leaves, etc.
Still another way. Take scrapings of very fine pine wood,
find a piece of quartz or hard ragged rock, by using your knife or
bayonet as a steel you have a practical flint and steel. If you
haven’t these things, use two pieces of rough, jagged stone and by
striking them together sharply in slanting blows you can ignite the
lint or scrapings. -Noncommissioned Officers’ Manual, 1917,
p. 299
Taking Care of Your Feet
[Tips on feet care]: Dirty feet invite blisters.... Carry an
extra pair of shoe laces. A broken lace will loosen the shoe which
will soon cripple you.... Under no circumstances should a soldier
ever start off on a march wearing a pair of new shoes. -Noncommissioned
Officers’ Manual, 1917, pp. 201, 202
Changing socks and massaging feet twice a day will prevent most
foot injuries. -"Cold-Induced Injury: A Preventable Loss."
Sergeants’ Business, Jan-Feb 1988, p. 8
Making a Life Preserver. Three or four empty canteens,
tightly corked and fastened together, make a very good life
preserver. -Noncommissioned Officers’ Manual, 1917, p. 299
Clothing, Keeping Warm, and Cleanliness
Every day, if possible, hang your blanket and clothing out to air
in the sun; shake or beat them with a small stick. Germs and vermin
don’t like this treatment, but damp, musty clothing suits them very
well. -Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of
Infantry of the Army of the United States, 1917, p. 45
Never lose an opportunity of taking a bath or of washing your
socks and underclothing. A bullet passing through dirty clothes will
often cause a seriously infected wound which would otherwise be
comparatively harmless.... If the lack of opportunity to wash
clothes continues for any length of time, soiled clothes and bedding
must be frequently exposed to the sun and air. Sunshine is a good
germ killer....
If soaking wet and no dry clothes handy take off wet garments
and wring them out as dry as possible- put on again- you are less
liable to take cold, and will be much warmer besides.... If the
seams of underwear chafe or gall the skin, turn inside out....
Be sure to have some needles and pins in a well-corked bottle
(to keep them from rusting), some coarse thread, some buttons, a
pair of small scissors, a string, an awl, and a small knife....
In cold weather do not go around without an overcoat just to
show how foolish you are -Noncommissioned Officers’ Manual,
1917, pp. 201, 202, 298, 203
Cold. C- Keep it clean. O- Avoid overheating.
L- Wear it loose and in layers. D- Keep
it dry. -DA Pam 350-13, Guide for Platoon Sergeants,
1967, p. 49
Wearing clean clothes [will help keep you warmer]. Clothes
contain thousands of tiny air pockets within their fibers, and air
is an excellent insulator. Air pockets in dirty clothes are crushed
or filled up with dirt, letting body heat escape. -SFC Larry A.
Schnakenberg, "Give Winter the Cold Shoulder." EurArmy, Dec
1989, p. 12
If water is scarce, rub the body over with a wet towel. If no
water is at hand, take a dry rub. -Manual for Noncommissioned
Officers and Privates of Infantry of the Army of the United States,
1917, p. 44
The non-commissioned officers are to see that [the soldiers] wash
their hands and faces every day, and oftener when necessary. And
when any river is nigh, and the season favourable, the men shall
bathe themselves as frequently as possible. -MG Frederick von
Steuben, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops
of the United States, 1779, p. 89
In case of men failing to take the prescribed baths, as recorded
in the bath book in the hands of the noncommissioned officer in
charge of quarters, the squad chief is required to march them to the
bath house for the necessary ablutions. -CPT William T. Littebrant,
"The Squad System." Journal of the U.S. Cavalry Association,
Oct 1904, p. 331
Had inspection of underwear. We did not have to take it off, only
open our shirts and let the officers see how dirty it is. -CPL John
E. Aasland, 5th Marines, WWI, The Second Division American
Expeditionary Force in France 1917-1919, p. 273
The grimy mud, the slimy mud, the mud that makes you swear; The
cheesy mud, the greasy mud, that filters through your hair. -verse
from poem by CPL Jack Warren Carrol, FA, WWI, in Yanks: A.E.F.
Verse, p. 26
Personal cleanliness acts like a charm against all diseases,
always either warding them off altogether, or greatly mitigating
their severity and shortening their duration. -Customs of Service
for Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers, 1865, p. 252
One night in [England, too full of beer, SSG T. P. Love] couldn’t
wait to find a rest room [and] cut loose in the gutter. A couple of
English bobbies picked him up for "abusing the King’s highway." We
razzed him good about getting arrested for pissing on the King’s
highway. -SGT Henry Giles, WWII, The G.I. Journal of Sergeant
Giles, p. 81
A bath is the nearest thing to a soldier’s heart in the field.
-SGT Don Robinson, WWII, News of the 45th, p. 107
Quarters in the Field
Compared to fleas, bedbugs are pets. Spread out a soldier’s
blanket and see thousands of fleas hopping from an inch to a foot
high, enjoying the warm rays of the sun and exercise, after a
successful night with a soldier. -1SG Percival G. Lowe, Five
Years a Dragoon [1849-1854], p. 136
[Sergeant Vincent Mainente] saved up empty wooden C-ration boxes,
and one night he nailed them together and made a raft to float on
top of the water in his foxhole. -Ernie Pyle, WWII, Brave Men,
p. 254
We make the best of everything and are becoming quite ingenious
in inventing all sorts of conveniences for use in our tents. -CPL (SGM
and COL) Elisha Rhodes, 1861, All for the Union, p. 47
It seems like home to get into the tent again. -SGT Hamlin Coe,
Civil War, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, p. 55
Rations
Sometimes rations for several days are issued to the soldier at
one time, and in such cases you should be very careful to so use the
rations that they will last you the entire period. If you stuff
yourself one day, or waste your rations, you will have to starve
later on. -Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of
Infantry of the Organized Militia and Volunteers of the United
States, 1914, p. 20
Never eat heartily just before a great undertaking, because the
nervous power is irresistibly drawn to the stomach to manage the
food eaten, thus draining off that supply which the brain and
muscles so much need. -Customs of Service for Non-Commissioned
Officers and Soldiers, 1865, p. 250
Vinegar, moderately used, is a great health preserver. -Customs
of Service for Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers, 1865, p.
266
[To broil fresh meat] cut in slices about one inch thick, from
half as large as the hand to four times that size. Sharpen a stick
or branch of convenient length- say, from two to four feet long- and
weave the point of the stick through the steak several times, so
that it may be readily turned over a few brisk coals or on the
windward side of a small fire. Allow to brown nicely, turning
frequently. -Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of
Infantry of the Army of the United States, 1917, p. 37
Sleep Discipline
Soldiers have turned catnapping into an art form. They can sleep
through just about anything, anywhere- standing in a foxhole, on a
bumpy ride in the back of a Humvee, or in the belly of an
ear-thumping CH-47 Chinook. The challenge is for leaders to develop
and implement sleep plans that will recharge soldiers and still
enable them to accomplish the mission. -SSG Alan Moore, "Sleep to
Survive." Soldiers, Aug 1996, p. 33
Many a poor decision has been made by NCOs and commanders who
went without sleep for an unnecessary period of time, putting their
soldiers and the unit in jeopardy. -MSG Pamela Brockman, "Why Senior
NCOs Go for MFT." NCO Journal, Summer 1993, p. 19
Rest and sleep are most important for a soldier in campaign. Keep
the body rested by plenty of sleep. Do not join idle parties going
to walk the streets of the nearest town at nights, nor sit up late
playing cards, nor wander in native towns after dark. -Noncommissioned
Officers’ Manual, 1917, p. 203
I am the tiredest man that ever lived. -SGT Hamlin Coe, Civil
War, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, p. 133
Always prepare your bed before dark. Level off the ground and
scrape out a little hollow for your hips. Get some straw or dry
grass if possible. Green grass or branches from trees are better
than nothing. Sleep on your poncho. This keeps the dampness from
coming up from the ground and chilling the body. Every minute spent
in making a good bed means about an hour’s good rest later on. -Manual
for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of Infantry of the Army of
the United States, 1917, p. 45
Self-Help for Maintaining Roads
[Tips for soldiers for self-help on road maintenance]: The
primary requirement of wet-weather road maintenance is keep the
road dry. If you have a shovel and a little spare time, you can
go in for ditching and draining in a big way. If you haven’t, get a
stick. A good stick and the heel of a boot will do a lot for a road.
If you see a rut full of water, kick a hole in the low side and let
it drain off. Or if you see a hatful of debris jamming a culvert,
get your stick and pry it out of the way. If a ditch is flooded,
punch a run-off for it.... It doesn’t sound like much but in a
spirit of pure science I tried it over a couple of hundred yards of
road that I had to traverse to get chow. Three times a day for a
week I did what I could with a stick and my shoes to keep that
stretch of road from inundation. At the end of the week it wasn’t
good, exactly, but it was a hell of a lot better than the soupy
stream that started where my amateur drainage project left off.
The second procedure is no harder. If you see a hole starting in
a road, kick a rock or some gravel into it. Little holes
automatically grow into big ones. When a truck slams down into a
little hole, the springs snap it back up again, and in the natural
course of events the whole weight of load and chassis pounds down on
the road again a few inches farther on. On a heavily travelled road,
it’s only a matter of days before a pretty fair road becomes a
washboard. Obviously, the thing to do is to stop the first bounce-
and that’s exactly what you do when you kick a rock into the
beginning of the trouble....
The other part of the program applies to drivers. The cardinal
rule for everyone [is to] drive on the ridges, not in the ruts. You
can’t always do it. Occasionally, sluggish driving on the part of
your predecessors will hack the ruts deep enough to make the heights
dangerous. But if everybody stays on the ridges, you’ll have a flat,
compact roadbed instead of a hog wallow....
Finally, use your eyes and your head to keep from aggravating
flaws already in the road. Keep as near the center line as possible.
The edges of a road are its most vulnerable parts. They crumble
easily under a load and the break begins to gnaw its way across the
whole roadbed until you have a semitank trap and a mile or two of
traffic backed up waiting to cross it at two miles per hour....
So- regardless of theater, season, or MOS- if you, personally,
will do what you can to keep the roads dry; keep the holes filled;
keep the roads flat; and avoid making the roads worse, the supply
problem will be cut in half, at least. You’ll be making the war
easier for everyone involved, and maybe a little shorter for
yourself. -MSG Jim Connell, "Dig, Drain, Ditch." Infantry,
Sep 1945, pp. 26-27. Note: What MSG Connell...learned in WWII is
still applicable today. -COL Randall Inouye, CDR, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Baltimore District, letter 16 Feb 1997
Risk Assessment
Using the risk assessment card stacks the deck in your favor when
it comes to force protection. You play with a full deck and "know
when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em," when it comes to mission
accomplishment. You also receive powerful payoffs in the form of
lives saved, increased efficiency, effectiveness, and readiness. It
all adds up to a winning hand. -Jim Collins, "Force Protection- It’s
in the Cards." NCO Journal, Spring 1993, p. 9
The best tool commanders and NCOs can have [in any operation] is
risk assessment. Assessing risks...can be as small an issue as
simply asking, "How can my soldiers get hurt, and what can I do
about it?" Asking that one question and getting an answer, and
applying the risk assessment principles- risk analysis and hazard
control- may save a soldier’s life.... NCOs need to ask three key
questions to raise [safety] awareness. These are: Who will have
the next accident in my unit? What kind of accident will it be? What
am I doing about it? -SGM Samuel Reynolds, "Force Protection."
and "Accident Prevention FORMula." NCO Journal, Spring 1993,
pp. 13, 14
The impact [of using the risk assessment card] really becomes
significant when the process gets passed down to the squad level....
In my unit the accident rate dropped at least 50 percent when we
began using the risk assessment card. -SGM Jim Wertman, in "Force
Protection- It’s in the Cards." NCO Journal, Spring 1993, p.
9
The Army’s number one peacetime enemy is one that soldiers face
every day on every street, road, and highway.... This is a war
fought not with bullets but with your privately owned vehicle (POV).
This war has casualties that result from recklessness, alcohol,
speed, and a lack of safety belt use.... The advantage of surprise
is always on the enemy’s side. Don’t expect it to wait until you’re
out of town; 70 percent of accidents happen within 25 miles of
home....
The Army requires soldiers to use their protective gear in this
battle, as in any battle. You wouldn’t consider going to war without
your weapon, mask, and helmet, would you? So why do people still
insist on fighting this unseen enemy without the equipment provided?
Just the use of a safety belt increases your chance of surviving an
accident by 80 percent. Safety belts allow a ride-down advantage for
the wearer since the vehicle absorbs most of the impact of the
crash. Safety belts also prevent deadly secondary collisions in
which the occupants of the vehicle are thrown forward, striking the
car’s interior. During evasive maneuvering the safety belt helps
restrain the driver so that he may maintain control of the vehicle
and possibly avoid a crash.... If you don’t want to think about
dying, think about this. POV accidents are also the leading cause of
paraplegia, quadriplegia, and severe head injuries....
Good soldiers know their enemy. Study its tactics. Develop
defensive strategies. Then use them. -SFC William F. Hall, "The
Unseen Enemy." Ordnance, Aug 1991, p. 43
Training Safety
It saddens and angers me to read about young soldiers dying
needlessly due to accidents that so easily could be prevented....
Analyze every situation within your area of operations. Inspect your
soldiers’ work area, observe their actions and imagine the worst
possible scenario. Chances are that if you can imagine a situation
that might result in an accident, it will eventually happen. Then do
something to correct the situation. Hammer safety consciousness into
your soldiers every opportunity you get. Develop within them a
sensitivity to safety hazards.... Create a safety-conscious climate
in which every one of your soldiers becomes a safety inspector. -CSM
Joshua Perry, "Regimental Command Sergeant Major." Military
Police, Nov 1989, p. 3
Generally, there are two major causes of accidents involving new
soldiers- lack of training and over-anxiety (the desire to make a
good impression). Initial safety briefings along with continuous
follow through and training, can help eliminate both problems.
Emphasizing the "why" aspect of rules results in a more cooperative
attitude. Soldiers are more inclined to follow the rules when the
need is more clearly understood.... NCOs must be able to identify
the accident-prone soldier- the one who’s tired, stressed out, sick,
untrained, etc. This soldier is like a truck with bad brakes. -SFC
Todd E. Duncan, "Supervisors and Safety." NCO Journal, Spring
1993, p. 7
Who has the most influence on safety in your unit? The safety
officer? The commander? No. You do! You, the noncommissioned
officer, have the single greatest chance to make safety happen in
your unit.... Keep in mind that the costly shortcuts and failures to
follow procedures are most likely to happen when you are not there,
so make it a habit to be there. Be there. Watch. Ask questions. And
don’t be there only in fair weather; it’s more likely the faults are
going to occur when the weather is cold, wet, and miserable. If your
troops are out working in those conditions, get out there with them.
Do what you can to improve the conditions, but, above all, make your
soldiers do the job safely. -SMA Glen E. Morrell, "Aviation Safety
Is NCO Business." U.S. Army Aviation Digest, Jan 1986, pp.
18, 19
When you give those safety briefings...impress upon your soldiers
how fragile life is. -SSG Darrin M. Adams, "Saving Lives." NCO
Journal, Winter 1992, p. 22
My old CSM, Ned Devereaux, used to say to soldiers he caught
doing something unsafe, "You can’t make me send you
home in a coffin! Now do it right!" -MSG Miles C. Pitman, "Are We
Training Soldiers to Kill Each Other?" NCO Journal, Spring
1993, p. 11
NCOs...have an alarm to protect their most valuable assets-
soldiers and equipment...the "sixth sense of safety." -SFC Lydia R.
Mead, "The Safety Sixth Sense." NCO Journal, Spring 1993, p.
6
The first-line leader is the key to a successful safety program
because he’s the leader closest to the hands-on action and enforces
the safety standards.... Human error causes about 80 percent of our
accidents. Soldiers make mistakes that lead to injury or death for
many reasons, but the most common reason for human-error accidents
is lack of discipline. Too many times, soldiers choose not to
follow rules, regulations, standards, or laws. When a leader accepts
below-standard performance, he lowers the standard. Simultaneously,
when a leader doesn’t enforce established standards, the likelihood
of an accident’s occurring increases. -CSM James C. McKinney,
"First-Line Leaders and Safety Standards." Field Artillery,
Dec 1993, p. 5
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