Soldier’s Manual
From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki
Title: Soldier's Manual
Author: Walter
March 21st 2006 Edition
Table of Contents:
Introduction------------1pg
Leader of Men--------2pg
Army Training--------32pg
You are now beginning
your military career.
You enlisted for various
reasons, suck as to learn
a trade, to see the
world, to improve your
station in life, etc. You
are young and your
future is before you.
Many of you have not thought seriously about your future, and probably few of you have made up your minds as to what you would really like to do. You will now have 12 weeks of training, and at the end of that time you will be sent to various units for service in our Army. The training that starts here will be continued in your unit.
In every case this training is for the sole purpose of making you a useful man, a trained man, and a leader of men.
Keep this always in mind: You are being trained to be a future leader of men. The hardest workers among you may become chief unit officers, and officers.
The rest of you will only get as far as your work, study and efforts entitle you to go.
Leader of Men
Once in a great while a man is born a leader. The rest of us become leaders by hard study and long practice of the rules of leadership handed down to us by the great leaders of the past.
Following are given the rules laid down by these leaders. Study them and practice them, for your future success will depend upon your ability to master them, whether in the naval service or later in civilian life. Each man who desires to be a leader of men must learn the following essential points:
-Obedience does not mean blinding carrying out an order or grudgingly doing what you are ordered or directed to do and then only doing enough to get by. Obedience means first of all cheerful and willing obedience and, secondly, intelligent obedience.
-Good Behavior and a clean record are necessary for promotion to positions of leadership.
Men sometimes fail of promotion to warrant and commissioned rank because of bad records during early enlistments.
-Knowledge comes only through study and hard work. There is no royal road to learning. Men always respect you for what you know. It pays to know, and to know you know. Know your own job. Know the job ahead of yours.
-Fighting Spirit. You know what this is. Without it, you are only a human biped who wears pants. With it, you are a live, red-blooded go-getter one who will succeed. Have you the grit to stay with a hard job? Never say "I can't." Forget there is suck a phrase. Don't be a quitter. "A man may be down but never out" until he admits it.
-Reliability. Always do what you are told to do, and do it the best you know how. Can you be depened upon, weather alone on a job or with others? Get the reputation of seeing the job through.
-Loyalty. Stick up for yourself, your officers, your unit officers, your unit, your guild. As you show loyalty to them, they will show loyalty to you, and people under you will do the same. Boost. If you can not boost, do not knock.
-Initiative. This is one of the outstanding qualifications of a leader. The man with initiative takes hold of the things that need doing and does them without being told, while the other fellow is standing idly by because no one has told him what to do. A man with initiative thinks on his feet. He can be trusted to take care of an unexpected situation because he is always alert and thinking ahead of his job.
Self-Control. Do not fly off the handle. It nearly always gets you into trouble and always lessens the respect that others hold for you. If you lose your self-control in little things, you are sure to do so in big things. The man who cannot control himself will never develop into a real leader of others.
-Energy. A lazy man never has time to do anything right or to do anything to improve himself, and he never gets far. Be "peppy." Put some drive into things. Carry a "self-starter." Don't have to be cranked every time to get started.
Courage. A leader must have courage. He must have not only have physical courage, he must have moral courage as well. He must be fearless in the face of his duty. A courageous man admits it when he is wrong and takes his medicine. He doesn't bluff. And when he is known as a man of courage he doesn't ahve to bluff.
-Justice. Be square. Play the game hard, but play it squarely. Give a square deal to others and expect one in return. Act so that others can respect you as a man.
-Truthfulness. The final test of a man is: In a pinch, will he lie? Lying is a dismissal offense at the Tokuno Empure Officer's Academy, and is punishable offense in the army. Many a man who told the whole truth has been let off or given light punishment, where the liar was punished for the offense and for lying as well.
-Faith. Believe in yourself. Trust yourself. Count on yourself. Count on yourself to be one of the best man-o'-war's men in the whole Army, and then go to it and make good. Trust your fellowmen. They are good fellows and will meet you halfway as a rule. Believe in and t rust the Army. Splendid men have made it what it is. Do all you can to keep it as good as it is, and make it even better.
-Honor. Act so that your home folks will be proud of you, and will tell all of your friends what fine things you are doing in the Army. Act so that others will want to be like you. Few men can survive dishonor. Remeber you can never disgrace or dishonor yourself without bringing dishonor on your name, your people, and the unform you wear.
-Cheerfulness. Smile and the world smiles with you. Smile when things go wrong. If you cannot smile, atleast try to. You can surely keep the corners of your mouth up.
-Honesty. Enough said. Without honesty your career is limited and you are sure to fail in the long run. Nobody wants to deal with or associate with a cheat.
Army Training
Your first few days at the training station are probably days of great confusion to you. This little talk is to straighten out in your mind the process through which you have gone and to explain why.
You were told how to dispose of your civilian clothes. It is best by far to get rid of them entirely. Your uniforms are all you need, and the uniform is a suit of honor, which you can proudly wear anywhere.
You cannot have civilian clothes either at the station or out on the front during war.
The Chaplain or his yeoman has probably had a talk with you by this time and has asked you about your education, church preference, trade or profession, the rate you desire, your qualifications, your home, and the address of your parents or next of kin.
The Chaplain is always glad to help you in case of difficulty or trouble. Do not hesitate or be afraid to go to and talk with him freely.
You may be homesick and lonesome for a while. We all were. Remember No man ever succeeded by hanging onto his mother's apron strings all his life.