The Comfort of Troops on Active Service
Swinton, E. D. (Ernest Dunlop), 1868-1951. · Royal United Services Institution Journal · 1905
AT first sight the title of this paper may possibly bring back t o some of US reminiscences of a luscious list beginning with 1~ L\rroivroot,~' and rioting on tl1rougli a perfect gamut of luxury sucll as 6' cliampagne, fowls (roast) i n Ib. tins, port wine, stout and whiskey."This , , .as called ".Comforts BIedical," and the mere perusal of i t \sas calculated to make the reader's mouth water as lie sat on a n ant-heap munching a ration biscuit.As, however, we are not dcaling specially \\.it11 tlle contents of this list, it might appear tliat our subject is capable of being dismissed i n as few words as were necessary to give the llistoric account of the snakes i n Ireland :-" There are n o snalres in Ireland," for, from the very nature of tlie conditions implied, " comfort" in t h e ordinary acceptance of the terra is, during war, chiefly conspicuous by its absence.Ny first impulse, therefore, when I was honoured by a11 invitatioll to read a paper upon the subject a t the Royal United Service Institution, mas to request that the title might be cllallged to " T h e Discomfort of Troops on Active Service," upon \v.hicli subject i n common, probably, with many of you, I felt compctciit to enlarge to any extent." Horrors and hardships " are quite classic phrases when used in connection with war, and even those who have Iiad no practical personal expericllce have gathered sufficient a t second-hand to be able to discourse a t length upon such a theme.But however easier the task would be from t h e point of view of the lecturer, it is open to doubt whether an investigation into discomforts wliicll no one wants or needs would be of such practical value as the reverse.Still, it would be really more exactly accurate to describe the subject of this paper as how best to avoid and mitigate, as far as possible, some of t h e discomforts of active service.There are two ways also, in which tlie problem may be regarded.o n e is, horn to lessen t h e inevitable hardships and discomforts of war upon the soldier, by hardening him beforehand, and so training him t h a t lie mill not feel them.The other way, and this is tlie way in Jvhich me sliall consider the matter, is, taking the soldier as he is." How can \ve best temper t h e wind to the shorn lamb?"I n the current number of t h e B e m e cJeS Deux Nonrles is an article, entitled, T, o Jloral des Troupes," by General Ne'grier, of t h e French Army, in which h e discusses most instructively the moral effects that t h e fatigues a n d hardships (principally of marching) will have upon the cornparativcly soft reservist, as compared with the soldier who is in better training, aiid consequently tougher.After all, comfort is a relative term, and what woula be scorned by a man i n the fat times of peace will often be welcomed by him 011 service as a great comfort, or indeed, a luxury.For instance, one who, in London, may have been in the habit of grunibling a t the coffee served to him in his club, u d l , on a cold morning on service, greedily drink so-called coffee made with the oily water from a locomotive boiler--coffee whose only claim t o the name is, t h a t it is hot and wet, a d possibly dark.Indeed, he would often consider himself very lucky to get that.It is in this active service sense,.ofcourse, t h a t t h e word comfort is used, and also in a comprellelislve way to express everything t h a t can he done to improve the lot of the soldier.W e will considcr the subject more from the point of view of the officer looking after his men than from that of an officer looking after himself.A n officer has a certain arnoul~t of latitude i n fitting himself out, and if lie be even to a limited extent a Downloaded by ["Queen's University Libraries, Kingston"] at 14:38