THE BEST OFFICERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11949, 7 March 1917, Page 4

THE BEST OFFICERS.

" WHAT THE SOLDIER LIKES iN US."

(By AN OFFICER IN FRANCE, in " Daily Mail.")

The idea! officer in this war is not quite the man of the text-books. Ho is not necessarily the man who has answered all the requirements of Sandhurst and the Officers' Training Corps. He is not always of the pattern moulded by fine wribing and high think in*. He is the man who approximates. as"far as is humanly possible, to the standards laid down by Thomas Atkins himself, the only authorised judge of bow an officer fills the bill. I have met out here officers who on military grouuds had tho approbation of their "CO.'s" and the commendations of higher people. Yet they were as far removed from tho actual life of their company as a Laplander is from the danger of They were good men in their way—lived up to the alphabet in the matter of regulations, saw that everything was "posh" on parade, but they just lacked that understanding touch which bridges distinctions of rank when it comes to making a brotherhood of our civilian Army. At the best this New Army of ours simply stands for a nation in arms. Tho life of it is civilian, the soul of it human. 1 have censored scores of letters in which Thomas A. of 1916 has confessed he could never be a soldier either bv training or by enthusiasm. He is just a good patriot, fiercely fighting for his faith. He is too bad a soldier, in the text-book sense, to pick up the tricks of the professional; he is too good a civilian to be anything but a clover amateur in the business of war. Already ho has proved that valour is not a product of the militarist machine, and that what he lacks in comparison with the professional soldier he more than balances by the qualities which ha.vo voluntarily brought him to arms. 1 graduated to a commission from the ranks, and have therefore experienced the point of view both of 'the man who gives tho order and the man who obc>ys° A knowledge of the lattor's life, bis ideas of the war, his philosophy, his psychology, his whole raison "d'etre for wearing khaki, has been invaluable to me since I "crossed over."

Even now the study of Thomas A. is by no moms complete. Ho becomes more complex, more amazing and more lovable as 'the war goes on. His letters do not reveal all that he thinks- and feels, for the simple reason that he cannot always find words for his thoughts. His conversations arc just as evasive becau.so he rarely talks shop and never goes into heroics. Many people have wondered why the soldier on leave has so little to say about his life out here. To those whose vision of war is limited to written or pictorial descriptions it seems almost incredible that a man straight from the cauldron should shrink from tho subject of his experiences. It is the truth nevertheless.

The best explanation I can give is that in a life so ordained, as it were. by routine and regulation there are few salient feattares. They are Slimmed tit> in Comfort, Discomfort, Life, and Death. These are the elemental" that play upon the chords of the soldier's emotions, for in them you have the causes of hi? depressions, his gaiety, his hopes nnd his faith. This, then, is the man for whom the ideal officer has to be found. Let it be 1 said at once that the Old Country has not wanted in vain for men to lend its citizen soldiers in the best possible manner. The successes havo always been "temporary" officers but permanent gentlemen. Indeed, the only way to tho heart of the New Army is the civilian way, the social way. the human way. the way of sympathy and understanding. There has to be a spirit of "We're all in it" and a realisation that the man in the. ranks has given up for his patriotism what is as much to him as tho officer's sacrifices are to the officer. Nay, many of them have given up more. The great terror to t-he man m the milks is that bis dependents may suffer want and poverty if ho "gets one in the wrong place." Officers as a whole do not have to add llvs to their anxieties while serving. Working up esprit de corps," getting to know your men. earning their esteem and good will, ;m<\ " never .Plnekoninn: in efficiency or discipline am matters- vitally important in tho inning of wars. That is whore we have, always a big advantnge over the Br.ene; that ,s why the men out hero knoTr that we can win as soon as the people at home have made up their mmds when the war is to bo over Not a general has yet had to find fault with the men as a whole. The human stuffis of the best that ever went to battle But yon cannot win modern wars with big hearts alone.

In the middle of these notes T had a, visit from the orderly sergeant, who asked me to see Private 8.. I ] l; ,d seen Private B. late last night. Jl o bad written a somewhat harsh note to his wife because certain things—which can be bought cheaper at the Kxneditionary *orcc Canteen than in Chelsea— had not been sent out. Private B. has six chil dren As censor—a horrible, prvincjobl -1, had to road }v.s letter. T sent for the writer, and after an unofficial chat Private B said that it was a bit unreasonable of him ,to expect so m.uch of his wife The postage, alone from Chelsea would cost almost as much as the narcel was worth ! Through some kind friends at home who send me soldier comforts I was able to fix up Private B. with what he wanted. I K avo him his letter back and asked him, to let me know j.v to-night if he still wanted it posted He has just seen me. He has torn up' that letter and thanked me for oheck<n<r his impulse. The parcel arrived fo-davl

There are scores of ways in which the civilian officer can help to keep the hom* fires burning without losing anvthirjocither in self-respect or the discipline of his company. Sonif* officers cannot find the happy way, others do not trv, and some would not he successful if thev tried. Thomas A.—let it bo said in nil respect—is something like a. horse in Iv's likes and rlHikes. There are some peonle he cannot l ; ke and nothing'will gnin for them his affection. Well-meant kindness from one officer come* to him ns patron-age—-wliich ho loathes; while the slightest consideration from another earns for tho officer a permanent place in the temple of his esprit de corps.