OFFICER CADETS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXV, Issue 24, 29 January 1943, Page 3

OFFICER CADETS

HIGH STANDARD SET

A well-deserved tribute to the parade ground smartness and precision of cadet officers who were passed put on Wednesday was paid by the AdjutantGeneral, Brigadier A. E. Conway, when addressing the men subsequently. Numbering 206, they constituted one of the largest O.C.T.U. contingents to be passed out, and their general bearing and performance of drill movements were outstanding. "If you have done as well in your other subject as you have in your drill," said Brigadier Conway, "then you have done very well indeed." In his address to them, he commented on the fact that the standard set for their O.C.T.U. was the highest for some time. Up to the present they had been very short of officers for the Territorial forces, and as it was not known when the country might be attacked, it was necessary to build up an adequate officer and n.c.o. staff. "Now we are in a much better position," he said. "The Army School did its work well. We are nearing completion of our war establishment, and we can afford to increase the length of the course, make the training more thorough, and be a little more selective in our choice of candidates." Brigadier Conway emphasised that the real work of the new officers would start when they went to their various units, and how far they succeeded depended entirely on themselves. They had a hard task to live up to the traditions of those who preceded them, and of the traditions of the men of 1914-18. Men of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. had proved themselves wonderful successors to those of 1914-18, and those he was addressing must be determined not to be found wanting when measured alongside them. "You must count yourselves lucky in being appointed officers to the New Zealand Forces," he continued. "New Zealand soldiers are second to none, and you should be proud to feel that you are leading such men." There was a great difference between life as a civilian and life as a soldier. In civilian life everyone strived for himself, and thought little of other people. In the Army it was different. There they functioned as a small cog in a very large machine, and they had to subordinate their own comfort and ideas to those of the Army. "You have to think about other people—most of all you have to think about your men. You will be responsible for them all the time, and you will have to look after them. One of the most common complaints is on that very pointthrough young officers, that is, young in experience, not being as considerate or as interested in their men as they should be."

Brigadier Conway impressed on them the importance of getting the confidence of their men, of leading, and not driving them. The men under them had to be treated decently, and the officers must be fair, but firm. The average man liked to be managed, but one thing he could not stand was unfair treatment.

Brigadier Conway was accompanied by Lieutenant-Colonel J. Henry, commandant of the school, and Major J. Downs as staff officer. „ Earlier in the day he inspected a small number of officer cadets who were passed out from the School of Artillery. i