Becoming a Officer

[Boy of '61]

I'm a Cpl. right now but want to be a company officer for my group at events. I need more experience. Any ideas about doing this, like books to read, or things to do to get more experience.

Thanks

Cpl. Andy Miller

[Stonewall_Greyfox]

Re: Becoming a Officer

What's the rush to get rank? Take your time and enjoy being enlisted...Become well respected in your unit for your knowledge of the whole picture. READ, READ, READ...and read more. Be the best infantryman you can...Eventually this may lead to promotion..and if not, you will have the start for a great impression. There was a thread a couple months ago on suggested reading, a very lengthy and impressive list. Anybody remember the name of it?


Paul B. Boulden Jr.

RAH VA MIL '04

[dusty27]

Re: Becoming a Officer

Andy,

Please check our search feature and links sections for information on the topic you have a question with.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: Becoming a Officer

I'm a Cpl. right now but want to be a company officer for my group at events. I need more experience. Any ideas about doing this, like books to read, or things to do to get more experience.

Thanks

Cpl. Andy Miller

The best way to learn how to lead is to know how to follow. Always put your mens comfort and happiness before your own. Lead by example. If your men want to to be an officer, they will let YOU know, not the other way around.

[marlin teat]

Re: Becoming a Officer

I'm a Cpl. right now but want to be a company officer for my group at events. I need more experience. Any ideas about doing this, like books to read, or things to do to get more experience.

Thanks

Cpl. Andy Miller

I agree with Paul. Don't rush it! Although I don't have any figures to back me up I promise that the burnout rate among officers is much higher than among the rank and file. Being an officer in a reenactment unit is seldom like that of our historical counterparts. Your major duties are to take care of all the "modern" stuff so your men can have a safe and enjoyable experience. You will be involved in shielding your men from modern politics and infighting. When your men are bedding down you will be heading off to officer's call. You will be expected to be the first at an event and the last to leave. There will be no excuses for missing an event that you didn't want to attend in the first place. Remember that leadership doesn't come from a book.

Have fun while you can.

[markj]

Re: Becoming a Officer

Hi Andy,

An obvious move would be to pick up a reprinted copy of August V. Kautz's "Customs of Service for Officers." This work was not actually published during the war (it first appeared in mid-1866, contrary to what Stackpole Books claims!) but was heavily based on wartime "lessons learned."

To piggy-back on comments in another post, one might well remember that the attrition rate among officers was little short of horrific. Relatively few served with the same regiment for the the entire length of the war. A good example of this can be found in the experience of the 32nd (German) Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Initially mustered in on 24 August 1861, only about half of the original complement of company officers remained with the regiment by September 1862 due to medically-related resignations, transfers, or combat deaths/wounds. Indeed, by August 1863, August Willich, the first regimental commander had been promoted to brigade-level, Henry von Trebra, the first Lt. Col., was dead from typhoid, and Major William Schakenburg, had been medically discharged due to a hernia he suffered from a riding accident!

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[hardtack1864]

Re: Becoming a Officer

Another good book to read is "Blue eye child of fortune" it is Robert Shaws "if you have seen Glory you know who I'm talking about" letters to home and has very good camp life info for officers in 61-63. Also in his letters Shaw talks about while on campaign he slept out under the stars or in a dog tent like the rest of the enlisted men, unlike mainstream officers that stay in a wedge tent or larger and saying they are "on campaign".

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Becoming a Officer

The best way to attain field leadership is to work for it. Learn your job as a corporal and learn the sergeant's job so that you can do it if necessary. Demonstrate how reliable you are in your role, and that you're a leader in the field and off. How does one do this? Well, I can provide my own answer, but the "real" answer varies with the group, because different reenactment organizations place their priorities differently than other groups.

In short, you won't achieve the rank you desire by thirsting for it. You achieve it by gaining a reputation as a guy who knows his stuff, who works for the unit, and most of all who is concerned with and works for THE MEN IN THE RANKS.

It's great having rank and being able to experience new roles in living history and thereby learn new things. However, the opposite side of that coin is that you have less free time, have a lot more responsibility that one with rank needs to take seriously, and you are culpable when something doesn't go "quite right". The men come first, and you come second--that's how it is with good leaders.

Best of luck in achieving your goals.

[DougCooper]

Re: Becoming a Officer

Another way to look at gaining the experience you need is to think of your time in the uniform in comparison to a soldier rising in the ranks in the real war.

First of all - unless you are already an officer in the real military or at least an NCO, I suggest you make a stop at Sgt prior to jumping to the officer ranks.

Anyway, lets say it is mid 1862 and you are a Cpl in the army in the real war. A vacancy occurs and you are promoted to Sgt after say 4 months, or 120 days as a Cpl.

6 months later terrible losses ensue and you are commissioned a Lt after 180 days as a Sgt. Total time as an NCO was about 300 days - eating, sleeping, drinking Army. Just an example but you get the idea.

Now back in the present, if you attend 10 events per year you will spend about 25-30 days in uniform that year. At that rate your equivalent days in uniform will equal our wartime comparison in 10-12 years.

Now of course you will be reading the manuals, Kautz and first person accounts between events, and listening to those comrades who are your mentors and hanging out on the AC...so that speeds things up a little, maybe we can cut the time down to say 5 years...at the edge of credibility...unless you REALLY know what you are doing.

We don't have judicial military authority to fall back on in this hobby - folks will follow you because they want to...because they trust your judgement and your ability. You need exposure and opportunity.

You have to earn it, and that normally takes time for we mortals. Avoid at all costs posing as an officer, perhaps the single most farby thing one can do in this hobby...outside of playing bagpipes :wink_smil

Good luck!

[1stMaine]

Re: Becoming a Officer

Comrade,
I fully concur with Comrade Cooper's comments, and would add this: An officer has to know ALL of the jonbs of those he would lead. In other words, you can't be a lieutenant without knowing all of the responsibilities of the 5 sergeants and 8 corporals under your command. It is your responsibility to train those whom you would lead, and to be able to appoint and train a replacement when required by exigencies of field service.
In other words, you need to know all of the jobs beneath you in the chain of command befiore you can asuume cometency in your own position.
I would reccomend Kautz's manual for NCO's first, followed by his manual for officers. It takes time, to be sure. There are those who will naturally gfravitate towards command and responsibility, but they are few and far between, and the bulk of succesful officers are those who know the jobs of they whom they command, or at least know whee to go to learn the details.
Leadership is best denoted by example. It may sound trite, but it's true that "cream rises to the top". Just wearing the straps is no indication of ability. You need to be able to not only set the example of what a soldier is, but inspire confidence in those you lead.
Men will gladly join to risk their lives for the cause of freedom and liberty. it is your responsibility to see that their sacrifice is not in vain. Rememebt, son, that YOU are the one who has to write the letter to their survivrors.
respects,

[mdbucktail]

Re: Becoming a Officer

I'm a Cpl. right now but want to be a company officer for my group at events. I need more experience. Any ideas about doing this, like books to read, or things to do to get more experience.

Thanks

Cpl. Andy Miller

Andy,
I admire your enthusiasm. But, I would take what Kevin, Tim and Doug has stated seriously. They know what they are talking about... from experience.
I have been in the ranks for 6 years and have only recently made 1st Sgt.
A rank I am still learning.
I would study all the manuals previously mentioned. Then, when finished.... study some more. Rank is not just "given". It is earned.
I can attest to the fact that you will be active long after the rank and file have settled down for the evening. You must make sure your men are safe and cared for.
You must make sure you know what you are doing. You must know how to apply company drill lessons on the field. You must know how to manuever your company when a "Battalion command" is given.
Being an officer is way more than just looking the part. It is a dis-service to his company for an officer to just look the part and not be able to perform. One his men may not forgive.

Good luck in your endeavor.

[DukeRPSC]

Re: Officer fever

I would say to treat this desire to be an officer much as you would a brief but not serious illness. Lie down and rest until the feeling goes away.

[marine05]

Re: Becoming a Officer

Being a Mustang, I will wholeheartedly endorse the recommendations of the others on the thread. You must learn from the ground up, CW entry level officers also went to school of sorts as they had to learn their jobs as well. The other question is does your unit rate another officer? Also has anyone in your unit suggested that you be elected Lt? If the answer to both those questions is no then prepare for the job and stand out as a NCO.

I was elected Cpl for this year and the third in the battery. As a result of that if I am not a gunner I will function as the battery (section) 1st Sgt and attending to all the administrative duties that accompany that billet. I have had to teach myself drill so I can drill the battery in the proper gun drill, moving onto the pieces etc. I have also had to unlearn modern drill and have had the assistance of some very fine NCOs with years of infantry experience. Why? Because we fall out for dress parade with out infantry brothers and we don't want to embarass them or ourselves.

Learn your jobs, study eyes open, mouth shut. You were given two of everything except a mouth for a reason.

That being said is it always good to have goals.

s/f

DJM

[Bill Cross]

I'll be contrary

I will wade in here and say I disagree with this advice.

First of all, it is not particularly historical, but derives from what the individuals on this thread think works in their groups, or conforms to their personal prejudices. Officers were frequently simply elected, or else were political or financial bigwigs in their communities who bought or politicked their way into officer roles. The captain I portrayed at the last McDowell was asked by the politicos of Ohio to raise a regiment of volunteers from among the German-speaking residents of Marion County. His qualifications for the job were that he'd taken part in the Revolution of 1848 as a young man. During the intervening years, he had no military training or experience, yet he ended up heading Company D of the 82nd Ohio. And while I've heard that Southern officers were better-qualified, either because they were ex-Regulars or had attended one of the Southern military finishing schools, I find this generalization, like other generalizations, usually unsupported by research.

I appalud your zeal and desire to learn the fine points of an officer's impression. There is much to learn, and if properly done, the impression goes far beyond a mastery of the military arts. There are many fine books you can read, which is, after all, how many of THEM learned their craft (Fran Kiger came across a period book among the papers from an officer in the PA volunteers that he described as "Drill for Dummies"). I find the notion that you should work your way up through the ranks and "pay your dues" as a reenactorism at worst, or a holdover from the modern military practices that many in our hobby bring with them when they attempt to replicate 19th Century soldiers in jeans cloth.

Learning in the ranks is good, and by the later stages of the war, officers were often products of promotion from the ranks. But it's not the only way to improve your impression, which would include other aspects of being a gentleman (which most of the officers were early in the war). I believe you can learn a great deal by serving under a good teacher, perhaps as a second lieutenant?

[J the Black Sheep]

Re: I'll be contrary

I agree with Bill here.

In doing some research on the 105th OVI, there were several men who, when the unit was mustered in, were officers. These men stayed officers throughout the war (some junior officers being transferred to commands of other companies.)

j