26. Specialists. a. A specialist is a selected enlisted. person who has been appointed under the provisions of AR 600-200 for the purpose of discharging duties that require a high degree of special skill. Specialists must have acquired proficiency in the technical or administrative aspects of their MOS field. Specialists, by virtue of their technical skill, are often called upon to exercise leadership with respect to matters related to their specialty. Normally, their duties do not require the exercise of enlisted command of troops. Thus, while leadership proficiency is not a primary prerequisite for advancement to or within the specialist grades, qualities of leadership should be encouraged and recognized.

b. Although the duty positions of specialists are not enlisted command positions, and do not normally require exercise of leadership functions, there are exceptions. In particular, the more senior specialists will occasionally be called upon to assume command under the provisions of paragraphs 16, 17, or 31a of this regulation. Additionally, senior specialists are usually soldiers with long. service and outstanding ability who contribute in considerable degree to maintenance of the high appearance and conduct standards of enlisted personnel of lesser rank.

c. Specialist Six and Specialist Seven will be exempt from guard and fatigue duty, except in unusual circumstances when their services are required for the proper execution of these duties. In these cases, they will be used only in a supervisory role except in temporary situations where other grades are critically short, but in no case over a noncommissioned officer.

d. Specialist Six and Specialist Seven will be granted, in general, the same type privileges as noncommissioned officers in the organization and installation. A type of exception that might be applied by organiza

tion or installation commanders is listed in paragraph 25h(9).

e. Specialist Five and Specialist Four may be granted such privileges as the organization and installation commanders consider proper.

f. Under no circumstances will a specialist be granted any prerogatives or privileges that would be detrimental. to the prestige of a noncommissioned officer, nor will any specialist be placed in such a position that he would be required to execute orders over a noncommissioned officer in the Army. In connection with joint activities, see paragraph 8d.

g. In the case of Specialists above the fourth enlisted pay grade, summary courts-martial may not adjudge confinement, hard labor without confinement, or reduction except to the next inferior pay grade.

h. When nonjudicial punishment (art. 15, UCMJ) is imposed on a Specialist it may not include correctional custody, confinement on bread and water or diminished rations, or any type of extra duty involving labor duties not customarily performed by a Specialist of the grade of the person who is to perform the extra duty.

i. Specialists who show leadership potential should be encouraged to advance toward noncommissioned officer skills in appropriate MOS by undergoing on-thejob training in such duty positions. While in this status, the commander may appoint the specialist as an acting noncommissioned officer.

27. Privates. This class of enlisted men is, as indicated in paragraph 7d(3), the basic manpower strength and grade of the Army. While command functions do not normally pertain to privates, they should be indoctrinated in their responsibilities and in their potential for enlisted command duties.

In carrying out their increasingly important responsibilities, NCOs have earned their professional standing in the U.S. Army. However, broad acceptance of this professional status has been a relatively recent thing. Only during the last century have the Army's leaders come to realize that, for practical reasons as well as to recognize an important job well done, the prestige of NCOs had to be enhanced. They did this by attacking persistent problems in NCO pay, rank, and formal professional development.

Extract from General Regulations for the Army of the United States, 1841.

Article XIII

Non-commissioned Officers

60. It is of essential importance to the service that the station and respectability of the non-commissioned officer be upheld. It is, therefore, earnestly recommended and enjoined upon all officers, to be cautious in reproving non-commissioned officers in the presence or hearing of privates, lest their authority and respectability be weakened in the eyes of their inferiors; and admonition should, at all times, be conveyed in mild terms, without exposing the individual, whatever be his rank. And it is also directed that non-commissioned officers, in no case, be sent to the guard-room and mixed with privates during confinement, but be considered as placed under arrest, except in aggravated cases, where escape

may be anticipated.

61. Non-commissioned officers will be appointed in the manner prescribed by paragraph 45; and when thus appointed and announced, they are not to be removed from their respective places, except by the sentence of a court-martial, or by order of the Colonel, or other permanent commander of the regiment.

62. A non-commissioned officer having been duly appointed, cannot, at his pleasure, resign his place, or relinquish his duties as such, and return to the ranks.

63. Every non-commissioned officer shall be furnished with a certificate of his rank, signed by the Colonel, and countersigned by the Adjutant.

64. Whenever circumstances may make it necessary, Lance-Sergeants may be appointed from the Corporals, and Lance-Corporals from the privates, who, if their conduct be good, and evince capacity for the discharge of such duties, should be promoted to the first vacancies. The appointments will be made in the same manner as that already pointed out for non-commissioned officers.

65. Independent of the particular duties required of non-commissioned officers, (Sergeants and Corporals,) when in the ranks, according to the systems of tactical instruction, it is also their duty, at all times, to observe the conduct of the privates, and to report immediately to the proper authority every breach of the general regulations of the service, or of the particular orders of the post. . .

Article XXII

Non-commissioned Officers' Mess

94. When the circumstances of the service will permit, it is highly desirable, for the maintenance of the respect and authority due the non-commissioned officers, that a separate mess for this class should be organized. Commanders of companies are therefore enjoined to give their attention to this subject.

95. The provisions for the non-commissioned officers will be cooked in the company kitchen, and their meals served at the same hours as those of the company. . . .

in the service of the United States, to rank as such from the day of , one thousand eight hundred and He is therefore carefully and diligently to discharge the duty of by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto belonging. And I do strictly charge and require all non-commissioned officers and soldiers under his command to be obedient to his orders as And he is to observe and follow such orders and directions, from time to time, as he shall receive from me, or the future Commanding Officer of the Regiment, or other superior officers and noncommissioned officers set over him, according to the rules and discipline of War. This Warrant to continue in force during the pleasure of the Commanding Officer of the Regiment for the time being.

Given under my hand at the Head Quarters of the Regiment, at this day of in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and

Non-commissioned Officers

The position of non-commissioned officers is one of ever-increasing importance and responsibility. Noncommissioned officers, properly to perform the duties of their position, require, and should receive, a special education; they should, moreover, be of a higher average class of men, than we have heretofore been able to obtain in the regular service. I recommend that a school for non-commissioned officers of infantry and cavalry be established at Fort Leavenworth, on a plan similar to that now in operation at Fort Monroe for the benefit of the artillery. But it seems useless to expect much improvement in this respect until the pay attaching to these positions is sufficiently increased to offer an inducement for a good class of men to enlist for the purpose of obtaining them. While we have many good noncommissioned officers in the service, it is incontestable that the average of intelligence and efficiency is very far below what it should be. I therefore most earnestly recommend a material increase in the pay of noncommissioned officers, believing that such a measure would tend greatly to increase the efficiency of the Army.

Pay of Non-commissioned Officers

Fully convinced that the adoption of the recommendation I had the honor to make in my last report would subserve the best interests of the Army, I beg to restate, in brief, the reasons why such a measure should be adopted and urged upon the consideration of Congress.

Much of the efficiency of a company depends on its non-commissioned officers. The very small increase in the pay of this class, totally incommensurate with the responsibility attached to it, is not a sufficient incentive to tempt the best and most reliable soldiers to accept the position, while it is often to the pecuniary advantage of the man to remain in the ranks, as a private on extra duty receives more pay than the sergeant-major or quartermaster-sergeant of a regiment. That this fact is not only wrong but pernicious in its effects, needs no argument. The pay of the lowest non-commissioned officer should not be less than $25, and the pay of the entire class re-adjusted on the suggested pay for the lowest position to $50 or $55 from the highest.

The grade of non-commissioned officer is the intermediary between the lowest in the Army, that of private, and the highest, the commissioned officer. The line of demarkation between these three classes should be as strongly accentuated downward as it is upward, and this is demanded alike by justice to the non-commissioned officers and proper regard for the discipline, efficiency,

and morale of the Army.

Extract from Annual Report of the Secretary of War for the Year 1889.

Non-commissioned Officers

The efficiency of the Army, and the welfare and contentment of the enlisted men, depend very largely upon the non-commissioned officers. Hence it is very important that the character and dignity of the latter be elevated as much as possible. The vacancies available for the promotion of enlisted men to the grade of second lieutenant are necessarily very few in number, and the most meritorious non-commissioned officers are too old to commence a career as commissioned officers. Hence each non-commissioned grade should be made a real reward for meritorious service. I respectfully recommend that the pay of non-commissioned officers of infantry, cavalry, and artillery be made the same as that now established by law for like grades in the engineers.

Pay of Non-commissioned Officers

The importance of efficient non-commissioned officers in the line of the Army demands that their pay should bear some proportion to the duties and responsibilities of their respective grade and that it be sufficient to stimulate a soldierly rivalry among the privates to attain even the lowest grade in that class. Rank without adequate pay is robbed of much of its value and is belittled in the eyes of the men whose laudable ambition it should be to obtain it. It must be admitted that the rapid advance made in the art of war requires more study, closer application, and greater capacity on the part of non-commissioned officers than in former years.

The first sergeant of a company may truly be called the hardest worked non-commissioned officer in the Army. He has a direct responsibility for the proper care and use of the arms, equipments, and other property of the company; he is always on duty; must possess tact, sound judgment, superior intelligence, and have thorough knowledge of all details, orders, and papers pertaining to company administration. A good first sergeant is indispensable to the making of a good company, for without him the best efforts of the captain would be rendered abortive. Exercising a certain supervision over the duties performed by every member of the company, he commands and instructs men in the ranks who receive more compensation than is allowed him, his pay being $6 less than that of a soldier detailed as a mechanic and $1.50 less than is received by the private

detailed on duty as laborer. Company sergeants, who are charged with important duties in the internal economy of the company besides commanding guards, escorts, fatigue parties, etc., receive $6.50 less than a soldier teamster in the quartermaster's department; while a private on extra duty receives $8.50 more than the pay of a corporal. These facts sufficiently evidence what little incentive is offered to non-commissioned officers to re-enlist and remain in the service.

The class of non-commissioned officers in the Army occupies the intermediate grade between the private and the commissioned officer, and its duties demand men of good capacity, strict honesty, untiring energy, and possessing high soldierly attributes. Justice to company non-commissioned officers demands that their pay should assimilate to that allowed similar grades in other branches of the service. The sergeant major and the quartermaster sergeant of engineers receive $36 per month; post quartermaster, ordnance, and commissary sergeants, $34; sergeants of ordnance, engineers, and of the Signal Corps, $34; and corporals of those three corps, $20 per month.

I have the honor to submit the following rates of pay which are deemed justly proportioned to the rank and duties of each grade of regimental and company noncommissioned officers: Sergeant major, $36; quartermaster sergeant, $34; chief trumpeter and the principal musician, $30; saddler sergeant, $26; first sergeant, $34; sergeant, $25; and corporal, $20.

The adoption of the above schedule of pay will undoubtedly greatly promote the efficiency of the service, while at the same time doing but simple justice to a meritorious and deserving class of soldiers.

Extract from Annual Report of the Secretary of War for the Year 1891.

School Teachers

To insure that measure of success to the school system in the Army which its importance demands requires school teachers specially trained and fully competent for the duties required of them. In the light of past experience it is not believed that this can be attained by the detail of enlisted men, who, however competent they may be so far as education is concerned, lack in the majority of cases the special and rare qualification necessary to instruct others. In order to secure, therefore, the best results possible, I beg to recommend that legislative authority be asked to enlist for each post a fully qualified school teacher, to be designated as "post school teacher," and to receive the

pay and allowances of a hospital steward. Appointments to be made by the Secretary of War after the candidate has passed an examination before a board of officers convened to inquire into the character, special capacity, and aptitude of applicants for these important positions, for which also enlisted men of the Army should be considered eligible. Such a law would be a great inducement to the well-educated enlisted men, and sufficient to insure applications for appointment from well-educated young men in civil life competent as instructors.

While the possession of scholastic attainments necessarily increase the value and efficiency of noncommissioned officers, many cogent reasons exist why mere proficiency in studies should not establish a claim for promotion to that class. Noncommissioned officers are selected because possessing in a high degree courage, honesty, fidelity, force of character, and natural tact and ability in controlling the men. The whole company is often a narrow field for such selections, and serious detriment would result from limiting company commanders to men possessing a certificate of proficiency in studies.

For the benefit of the noncommissioned officer class it is recommended that their instruction be conducted in a post school for noncommissioned officers only, notwithstanding the objection advanced by some officers that such a course would interfere with the duties of company commanders and lessen their authority and responsibilities. The selection and appointment of noncommissioned officers would remain, as now, with captains of companies, but the establishment of a post school for noncommissioned officers would substitute systematic instruction, under an officer selected by reason of his special qualifications, to the present necessarily disconnected method of recitations in tactics, etc., conducted by the captain of each company.

As exemplifying the successful results of a properly conducted school of this class, I beg to submit the following interesting report of the officer charged, for the two past years, with the management and conduct of the school for noncommissioned officers at Fort Myer, Va.:

This school is composed of all the noncommissioned officers at the post, and instruction was given twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10:45 to 11:45 a.m. The object of the school was to instruct the noncommissioned officers as thoroughly as time and opportunity would permit in their various duties, and to explain the general principles of the drill regulations, minor tactics, especially in hasty sketching and road reconnaissance, Blunt's Small Arms Firing Regulations, anatomy of the horse, shoeing, together with treatment

of local injuries.

Owing to the lack of proper text-books, charts, materials, and the shortness of time, the instructor often felt hampered, but this feeling was offset in a great degree by the close attention of the members of the class. The course may be roughly divided into four parts: 1. Drill regulations.

2. Minor tactics.

3. The horse.

4. Small arms firing regulations.

The method pursued in this part of the course was to assign lessons of definite length and to require recitations in the classroom supplemented by the solution of tactical problems at the blackboard. The schools of the soldier, platoon, and company were studied, likewise the general rules for successive formations in the school of the battalion. Special stress was laid on distances, intervals, and the posts and duties of guides. The general principles of bitting, saddling, and equitation were explained in two lectures, and I might add I think it a mistake that a fuller explanation of these is not contained in the Drill Regulations. When the Drill Regulations had been finished a written examination covering them was given with very satisfactory results, the highest percentage being 96.

The lack of proper text-books adapted to the use of noncommissioned officers rendered it necessary for the instructor to lecture upon the various principles of minor tactics, e.g., advance and rear guards, outposts, hasty sketching, and road reconnaissance. Hasty sketching was exploited at full length and detailed instruction given in the use of various topographical signs, use of instruments, and plotting of a hasty survey. Then the class was divided into parties and sent into the field equipped with box and prismatic compasses, and the road in the vicinity of the post surveyed and plotted. The various maps were then condensed into one large one by two members of the class. I append the originals turned over to me together with specimens of the road reports submitted. The results speak for themselves. In examining this work it should be borne in mind that the majority of the men had never seen a compass, and that in the year previous a few of the class had had but a very limited experience in work of this nature.

In that part of the course pertaining to the horse, lectures were given on the anatomy, the points to be observed in selection, age, shoeing, treatment of injuries with illustration of bandaging, administration of medicines, and stable management. This part of the course was copiously illustrated by enlargements made from the plates in various anatomical works on the subject.

Blunt was then taken up, following the same method of instruction as in the first part of the course.

The modern tendency of individualizing the soldier,

together with the adoption of a looser formation in tactical dispositions, have led the French and German authorities to require more from their noncommissioned officers than a mere knowledge of drill regulations; and I doubt that if the general method of instruction of our noncommissioned officers be looked into, they will be found to possess much more than an elementary knowledge of their drill book. The unquestioned necessity of a larger scope in their instruction being admitted, I can see no better way than to unite the noncommissioned officers of each battalion in a class under a competent instructor and to follow a course prescribed by the War Department. This would necessitate the preparation of a manual which could be very easily compiled from the ample literature on this subject. Such a compilation would possess the advantage of putting the principles before the noncommissioned officers in simple language without that discussion usually found in treatises, and in a way easy of comprehension.

From two years' experience with the class here, I have observed as result of instruction that each noncommissioned officer takes a greater interest in his duties as he now understands what he is doing; and I think it creates that distinction between the noncommissioned officer and the private which is so desirable. The mere fact that they know more than the men causes them to be looked up to and consequently respected. . . .

Pay of Noncommissioned Officers

The absolute importance of efficient noncommissioned officers in the line of the Army has been represented in former reports, and especial stress laid upon the unfortunate fact that the inadequacy of the pay of that class not only robs the position of its value, but actually deters suitable men in the ranks from aspiring to promotion.

A bill embodying the recommendations made by this office was introduced in the last Congress, but from reasons not affecting its merits failed to become a law. It is therefore earnestly recommended that the attention of the approaching Congress be called to the eminent justice of the measure. I reiterate the remarks on the subject made in report of 1889, and now again recommend that at least the pay of the first sergeant and of the duty sergeant be increased.

The first sergeant of a company may truly be called the hardest worked noncommissioned officer in the Army. He has a direct responsibility for the proper care and use of the arms, equipments, and other property of the company; he is always on duty; must possess tact, sound judgment, superior intelligence, and have a thorough knowledge of all details, orders, and papers