SUPPLY OFFICER UNDER HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY

The relation of what is commonly called quartermaster service to other service in the army is a constant puzzle to most laymen and to many prospective military men. This confusion is due to at least two causes. The chief cause is doubtless the fact that though there has long been a quartermaster corps which is a staff organization without direct connection with the line, a large number of line officers have been detailed as quartermasters. Another cause is probably the recent consolidation of three staff organizations into one, now called the quartermaster corps; viz, the subsistence, the pay, and the quartermaster departments.

Members of the Harvard R. O. T. C. are unlikely to be assigned to duty in the Quartermaster Corps, but some of them will probably be detailed for work heretofore done by regimental commissaries and quartermasters--now called "supply" officers. The fundamental distinction between the two kinds of service lies in the field in which the work is carried on. Line officers doing supply duty serve with their organizations wherever they chance to be, in camp, on the march, in reserve, on the firing line. They are simply detailed to see that the physical needs of the men are satisfied, as other officers are detailed to see that the men render certain services; but they are largely dependent upon others to provide that the necessary supplies shall be within reach at the right time. It is an old saying that men win battles on their stomachs. The morale of the line is much strengthened by physical well-being; and an officer who sees to it that his men are fed not only with ample nutrition but palatably will get better fighting service from them. Sanitary surveillance of food preparation and service is of great importance. In many wars more men have died of contagious disease than of wounds. Many battles on the other hand, have been lost by a failure of the supply of ammunition--not ultimate supply but supply at the crucial moment. One function of the supply officer is to provide required ammunition without overloading men and wagons.

Accounting Requirements Strict.

In the main, the work of supply officers begins where that of the officers of the Quartermaster Corps ends. Though the supply officer of the line gets his supplies chiefly from the Quartermaster Corps, he has relations with other staff organizations, for he must handle other supplies and property sent to the line without passing through the Quartermaster Corps. This responsibility for goods and property received is one which no supply officer or quartermaster can take lightly. The Government is concerned not only to provide supplies and property but to get the maximum out of them. The Government demands strict accountability for all supplies.