It is occasionally remarked by observant officers that there is a tendency in the American Navy to concentrate effort on material somewhat to the neglect of the discipline of the personnel. There may be cause for such a view. All recognize that a well-disciplined personnel, with the very best material, is the combination requisite for efficiency in the navy. It is assumed that every American naval officer is earnest for the greatest possible efficiency of the navy. It may be that some rather overlook or undervalue certain factors that contribute to efficiency in their predilection for and interest in other factors.
Perhaps the temperament is such that it seems easier, more natural, to be interested in tangible, material things than in what may be considered a matter of ethics. Some may be prone to consider themselves "practical men" with some complacency, without analyzing closely enough just what that means as applied to a naval officer. Some introspection should be of interest and benefit.
Discipline is so important and essential a component of an efficient navy, and in this country is so intimately associated with personality, that it is well to give thought to the subject in a comprehensive way, as well as to the details thereof. Such deliberative thought should supplement the inculcation of habits of discipline that enters into all naval training, especially the training at the Naval Academy. The intent of this article is to invite such thought, especially on the part of the younger officers who otherwise may fail to comprehend fully their opportunities and duty in the matter of discipline. "Experience is the best teacher" is a common aphorism. But experience in the administration and workings of discipline involves years that might be made the more useful by timely suggestions from the observation and experience of predecessors in the work.
The American Navy has fewer officers in proportion to the enlisted personnel than have other important navies. This condition implies, among other things, that our chief petty officers and petty officers incur relatively more importance and responsibility in their various duties than may be the case in some other navies. One of these duties, of fundamental importance, is disciplinary. All new enlistments are in the lower ratings, while nearly all petty officers and chief petty officers are continuous service men. The newly enlisted men imbibe their conception of and respect for discipline very largely from the precept and example of their petty officers and chief petty officers. This holds especially at the training stations and receiving ships, where first impressions are received, and where present exigencies do not permit of detailing enough officers for them to come much into contact with the men individually. At these stations and ships the few officers on duty must manage, instruct, and train the men of lower ratings in groups, principally through the chief petty officers as intermediaries. Chief petty officers are men who have won their ratings by demonstrated ability. They are men of action and intelligence. But, as a class, they are prone to consider themselves as "practical men," are inclined to interest themselves principally in material things, and are not naturally given to abstract reflection on ethical fundamentals. The wisdom of Article 3401 of the U. S. Navy Regulations is obvious, and especially of the last paragraph thereof. It is highly important that every executive officer require the recipient of every acting and permanent appointment to read aloud to him Article 3401—not in a perfunctory way, but thoughtfully and understandingly.
While executive officer, the writer made it a practice to question petty officers, after they had read aloud to him Article 3401 upon receiving an appointment, as to their understanding of the words and phrases. "Petty officers shall show in themselves a good example of subordination, courage, zeal, sobriety, neatness, and attention to duty. They shall aid to the utmost of their ability in maintaining good order, discipline, and all that concerns the efficiency of the command." It was observed that the most common misconception was as to the meaning of "discipline." Frequently a man's definition of the word was "discipline means getting punished when you do wrong." And perhaps this significance, more or less unformulated, attaches to the word "discipline" in the minds of many. Some men seem inclined to the wrong rather than to the right. These cases are conspicuous, for most men are reasonable and hence amenable to discipline. With those insubordinate to reason, or discipline, it becomes necessary to administer some "chastisement inflicted by way of correction and training"; or, in the vernacular, to "discipline them." Hence, these cases being conspicuous because unusual, there has arisen an erroneous and very inadequate conception of the meaning of "discipline."
The expression and the thing "discipline" is so finely interwoven throughout the whole fabric of the navy, that it seems incumbent upon officers to consider well what it really is. Its scope is all-embracing, and it is the very foundation of the establishment. Hence it is a serious duty for every officer to give to the subject "discipline" such thought as may penetrate through the superficial to a broad basic understanding of it. And then officers, and especially the younger ones who come into the more personal contact with the enlisted men, may tactfully expound and explain to their men at opportune times what this thing "discipline" really is, its absolute necessity to any effective organization, its resultant personal benefit to every individual living under ship-board conditions, its salutary principles which ensure the greatest good to the greatest number, and the consequent obligation of every individual to observe all matters of its details as they apply to him. The enlisted personnel of the navy constitute a type, distinctively American. This collective type responds to leadership with greater alacrity and zeal, than to driving. It is an active, intelligent type, jealous of the individuality of its units. It is a type capable of comprehending the basic spirit of "discipline" and yielding the most effective response thereto. It is a type that may intelligently take into account those inherent idiosyncrasies of human nature that necessitate certain distinctions, forms, formalities, and ceremonials as adjuncts of discipline.
Discipline and authority are co-ordinate. Each is a function of the other, and neither can be conceived without its complement. Authority is vested by the people in certain specific offices, and in these offices certain designated individuals must have the duty of exercising the authority thereof. Human limitation precludes that one individual can exercise necessary authority in all the ramifications of details inherent in a big organization. Hence there must be a connected chain of authority. This necessitates gradation of authority and responsibility, which has its logical application in "rank." Thus every thinking man will regard the individuals holding the various grades or ranks as links in the chain necessary to avoid chaos, and will respect them accordingly as the personification of authority. Responsibility necessitates authority; and responsive, loyal co-operation of each subordinate (which is an element of discipline) is essential to the whole. Loyalty to an individual is supplemented and strengthened by loyalty to principle, loyalty to duty in a righteous cause, whereof the personages, superior and subordinate, are factors.
In Webster's New International Dictionary (1912) the noun "discipline" is defined as follows: "The treatment suited to a disciple or learner; education; development of the faculties by instruction and exercise; training, whether physical, mental, or moral. Training to act in accordance with established rules; accustoming to systematic and regular action; drill. Subjection to control; submissiveness to order and control; control; habit of obedience. Correction; chastisement inflicted by way of correction and training ; hence, training through suffering." (Further definitions of the word in its ecclesiastical usage are given). Other dictionaries are in substantial accord with the above. One definition given in Funk and Wagnalls' Standard Dictionary is: "A course of exercise and practice in order to bring and keep under control, and to qualify for harmonious and effective action; as, military or party discipline."
The following quotation is from the Universal Encyclopedia: "Discipline, Military: The training and educating the soldier or sailor in all the duties of his profession, and the implanting of that respect for authority which causes him to obey without question the legal orders of his superiors under all circumstances, even to the unhesitating sacrifice of life. It cannot be obtained without good organization and thorough and continued instruction. It is the essential factor in preserving the zeal, spirit, and confidence of troops under the depressing influence of defeat, as well as in restraining the excesses and preventing the demoralization which result from victory. The term is frequently, but improperly, so restricted in its meaning as to include only instruction in drill, and the punitive or disciplinary measures used in armies and navies.
There is existent a vague feeling that "discipline" is a something inconsonant with the liberty of the individual, opposed to personality. And discipline does deter and correct the erring and check or guide eccentricities of personality. But through discipline are developed such attributes or qualities as faith, loyalty, honor, respect, heroism, fortitude, self-subordination, and self-control.
Discipline, in its broad true meaning, cultivates and brings to fruition the finest traits of man. There is no limit to the reach of discipline. Recently our whole naval service has given increased thought to doctrine and indoctrination, healthfully stimulated thereto by War College teachings and by articles on the subject that have been printed in the NAVAL INSTITUTE. "Indoctrination" is one of the highest forms of disciplinary action. In the article "The Great Lesson from Nelson for To-day," is impressively presented the method of its application by that man of genius.
Successful administration of discipline in its various phases and degrees is to a large extent a function of the common sense and integrity of the administrator. Precept and example form an important disciplinary duty. The "Articles for the Government of the Navy of the United States" are established by Act of Congress. These articles were based on accumulated experience. They were adapted and applied to our naval service, and have from time to time been amended or revised by Congress. There is nothing haphazard or accidental about these "Articles." It then must be regarded as significant that the opening of Article I reads: "The commanders of all fleets, squadrons, naval stations, and vessels belonging to the navy are required to show in themselves a good example of virtue, honor, patriotism, and subordination." The plain inference is that to be in themselves a good example of discipline is a duty highly incumbent upon all officers. The influence of personal example is especially strong under the conditions of life on board ship, where the necessarily close association brings intimate acquaintance with individual traits and habits. This is a disciplinary duty especially worthy of the consideration of young officers. A large majority of the enlisted men are young men. Very many of them have been in the navy but a short time. Many among them are unsophisticated, many of them are homesick and long for some little kindly individual attention; but they don't want anybody to find that out. They are gradually acquiring a knowledge of and familiarity with their new life in the navy. They are impressionable, and eager to adopt the habits, the expressions, the manner, the general tone that will stamp them as seasoned man-o'-war's men. The entire navy is a perpetual training service. The average enlisted man regards the general bearing and phraseology, and deportment of the officer more seriously than the young officer himself may think. Both are young. There exist the common understandings and sympathies, as well as antipathies, of youth. The younger officers are the ones to whom the enlisted men reveal their troubles and trials and temptations, the ones of whom they ask counsel and help, the ones whom they feel will understand. With this bond "youth," supplementing his status as an officer, the young officer of tact and discernment has peculiar opportunity to influence his men for good. Perhaps sometimes he feels himself so new, so immature in matters of practical naval life, that diffidence too much constrains him in his ship duties. His principal effort may be to remain inconspicuous, so as to avoid the mistakes resultant upon activity without experience. But he has had at least the experiences of practical cruises added to his Naval Academy career, and it is incumbent upon him to assume the duties of his status as an officer. He may greatly promote discipline by taking opportune times to explain to the men the nature of the purpose of ship's organization; the necessity of neatness, order, and personal cleanliness; the propriety and purpose of uniforms as a feature of naval organization and discipline, stimulating a pride in keeping the uniform correct, clean, and mended, as an outward evidence of capability and self respect. There are too many practical examples of such procedure for this to be regarded merely as a theory. And where junior officers in a division do thus, the petty officers soon catch the spirit. Intelligent men most efficaciously acquire the "habit of obedience" when they understand the principle involved and habit is co-ordinated with reason. This does not imply questioning of orders or dilatoriness in obeying. The men will the better realize the common sense of these details of discipline. Such Procedure is analagous to the method of instruction indicated in the "Ship and Gun Drills, U. S. Navy, 1914." For example (p. 53) "The crew should always understand why each detail of the drill is necessary."
Another obvious manner in which the younger officers may specially promote discipline is in connection with athletics and entertainments. The benefit of Naval Academy athletics should, through the succeeding years, expend from the individual graduate to the betterment of many young men. It is perfectly natural that the vigorous young enlisted man should have an increased respect and liking for the young officer who can "show him how" in athletics as well as in naval technical things.
On every vessel of the navy numbers of men, up to a thousand on the larger ships, live in restricted space, under artificial conditions new and strange to many of them. A large percentage of them are in their first enlistment. Only about 20 per cent of applicants are enlisted. The newly enlisted are young men, virile, vigorous, restive, representing all parts of the country and many conditions of life, but generally lacking previous disciplinary instruction and training. There lies the potentiality of large good or great evil. Dormancy is impossible. Activities must be guided aright. A fundamental of good discipline is to keep everybody interested and busy in an orderly way at something useful. Officers and men are primarily interested in and busy at their work, drill, and instruction. But there must be some diversity. There must be relaxation and recreation. There must be vent for animal spirits. And there the young officers have a peculiar opportunity for good. The young officer who, in addition to his regular ship duties, leads and organizes and instructs in one of the various branches of athletics, in entertainments, in singing squads, in everything that aids in wholesome recreation tending toward moral and mental and physical betterment, is by that much the better officer and disciplinarian. His is the influence that may effectively "squelch" those ever-present individuals who pose as "sports" to gamble on athletic events or institute trickery, whom the crew will discredit when they comprehend their pernicious influence on clean sport and discipline. If he is of the right stuff (and most are), and capable in what he undertakes, such activities will not at all compromise his status and authority as an officer. They will enhance his value. Of course, the officer must never indulge in or permit any familiarities, which would transgress the dignity of his status as an officer. But with the type of officers and enlisted men in the U. S. Navy, the status of the officer is not compromised by dignified helpful direct intercourse with the men under him, or by his interest in their individual instruction and welfare, or by leadership in their sports and recreations. Firmness and kindliness, respect and association, dignity and interest, are, incompatible.
Exact military decorum and movements in all formations, correctness and neatness of uniforms, and personal and ship cleanliness, are adjuncts of discipline that must be obvious to all. But there are some things detrimental to discipline that often are overlooked, that a little thought would render obvious. For example: Men dislike or resent being touched or having any part of the uniform they, are wearing handled by an inspecting officer, and especially by a junior officer. They may, not convey their feeling to the officer but it is existent. Disregard of that feeling on the part of an inspecting officer is detrimental.to discipline, and there never is need or excuse for an officer, in criticizing or correcting a fault in clothing worn by a man, to touch it. Also, the general use of the common expression "right away" in connection with an order is detrimental to discipline, in that the men may (and sometimes do) come to think that unless an order has the suffix "right away," it may be executed at their convenience or leisure. An order should be short, clear, and distinct, and its immediate execution a matter of course unless otherwise specified in the order itself. The pernicious "right away" has no place in an, order.
Summarizing.—The enlisted men in the American Navy are volunteers. They are carefully selected. They are young. They are intelligent. They have individuality and cherish it. They are responsive to the tenets of discipline. They are susceptible to example. They disdain mollitude, but are appreciative of a proper interest in them and in their behalf on the part of their officers. It is a fundamental duty of officers to study discipline in its broad meaning; to study character and endeavor to understand the general traits of their men, as well as individual cases; to establish in themselves a good example of discipline; to utilize all their disciplinary opportunities; to inculcate in all their subordinates an understanding of, a respect for, an adherence to discipline in the abstract and in the concrete.