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365. Establishment.-There is hereby established a General Staff Corps, to be composed of officers detailed from the Army at large, under such rules as may be prescribed by the President. Sec. 1, Act of Feb. 14, 1903 (32 Stat. 830).

366. Composition of.-The General Staff Corps shall consist of one Chief of Staff and two general officers, all to be detailed by the President from officers of the Army at large not below the grade of brigadier general; four colonels, six lieutenant colonels, and twelve majors, to be detailed from the corresponding grades in the Army at large, under such rules for selection as the President may prescribe; twenty captains, to be detailed from officers of the Army at large of the grades of captain or first lieutenant, who while so serving shall have the rank, pay, and allowances of captain mounted. All officers detailed in the General Staff Corps shall be detailed therein for periods of four years, unless sooner relieved. While serving in the General Staff Corps, officers may be temporarily assigned to duty with any branch of the Army. Upon being relieved from duty in the General Staff Corps, officers shall return to the branch of the Army in which they hold permanent commission, and no officer shall be eligible to a further detail in the General Staff Corps until he shall have served two years with the branch of the Army in which commissioned, except in case of emergency or in time of war. Sec. 3, Act. of Feb. 14, 1903 (32 Stat. 831).

367. Same. The General Staff Corps shall consist of two general officers, one of whom shall be the Chief of Staff, four colonels, six lieutenant colonels, twelve majors, and twelve captains or first lieu

1See paragraph 367, post; see, also, note to paragraphs 370 and 371, post.

tenants, all of whom shall be detailed from the Army at large in the manner and for the periods prescribed by law. Sec. 5, Act of Aug.

24, 1912 (37 Stat. 594).

368. Duties of.-The duties of the General Staff Corps shall be to prepare plans for the national defense and for the mobilization of the military forces in time of war; to investigate and report upon all questions affecting the efficiency of the Army and its state of preparation for military operations; to render professional aid and assistance to the Secretary of War and to general officers and other superior commanders, and to act as their agents in informing and coordinating the action of all the different officers who are subject under the terms of this Act to the supervision of the Chief of Staff; and to perform such other military duties not otherwise assigned by law as may be from time to time prescribed by the President." Sec. 2, Act of Feb. 14, 1903 (32 Stat. 831).

369. Duties of the Chief of Staff.-The Chief of Staff, under the direction of the President or of the Secretary of War, under the direction of the President, shall have supervision of all troops of the line and of the Adjutant-General's, Inspector-General's, JudgeAdvocate's, Quartermaster's, Subsistence, Medical, Pay and Ordnance departments, the Corps of Engineers, and the Signal Corps, and shall perform such other military duties not otherwise assigned by law as may be assigned to him by the President. Duties now prescribed by statute for the Commanding General of the Army as a member of the Board of Ordnance and Fortification and of the Board of Commissioners of the Soldiers' Home shall be performed by the Chief of Staff or other officer designated by the President. Acts and parts of Acts authorizing aides-de-camp and military secretaries shall not apply to general officers of the General Staff Corps. Sec. 4, Act of Feb. 14, 1903 (32 Stat. 831).

370. Chief of Artillery or Chief of Coast Artillery to be member of. The Chief of Artillery or Chief of Coast Artillery shall be an additional member of the General Staff Corps, and his other duties shall be prescribed by the Secretary of War. When a vacancy occurs in the office of the Chief of Artillery or Chief of Coast Artillery the President may appoint to such vacancy, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, an officer selected from the coast artillery, who shall serve for a period of four years unless reappointed for further periods of four years; and any officer who shall hereafter serve as Chief of Artillery or Chief of Coast Artillery

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See paragraph 366, ante; see, also, note to paragraphs 370 and 371.

See Article 58, A. R., 1913.

By section 3, act of August 24, 1912 (37 Stat. 591), the Quartermaster Corps shall be subject to the supervision of the Chief of Staff to the extent the departments hereby consolidated into said corps have heretofore been subject to such supervision under the terms of existing law. (See paragraph 503, post.)

shall, when retired, be retired with the rank, pay, and allowances authorized by law for a brigadier-general on the retired list. The position vacated by an officer appointed Chief of Artillery or Chief of Coast Artillery shall be filled by promotion in that arm according to existing law, but the officer thus appointed shall continue in the same lineal position in his arm which he would have held if he had not been so appointed, and shall be an additional number in the grade from which he was appointed or to which he may be promoted: Provided, That there shall not be at any time in the coast artillery more than one additional officer by reason of the appointment of a Chief of Artillery or Chief of Coast Artillery and the relief of an officer from such duty. Sec. 2, Act of Jan. 25, 1907 (34 Stat. 861).

371. Chief of Division of Militia Affairs to be member of.-Hereafter the Chief of the Division of Militia Affairs, Office of the Chief of Staff, shall be detailed from the general officers of the line of the Army, and while so serving shall be an additional member of the General Staff Corps.2 Act of Mar. 3, 1911 (36 Stat. 1037).

(For the creation and functions of the Division of Militia Affairs, see War Department Orders A, February 12, 1908.)

372. Clerks, etc., in office of Chief of Staff not to be assigned to duty in bureaus of War Department.-That no clerk, messenger, or laborer at headquarters of divisions, departments, posts commanded by general officers, or office of the Chief of Staff shall be assigned to duty with any bureau in the War Department. Act of Mar. 2, 1913

(37 Stat. 707).

'The laws which created the offices of the Chief of Coast Artillery and the Chief of the Division of Militia Affairs provided that they should be considered as additional members of the General Staff Corps. The act of February 14, 1903 (32 Stat. 831), established the office of Chief of Staff and the General Staff Corps and prescribed the composition and duties of the same. Subsequently to the acts making the chiefs of the Artillery Corps and of the Division of Militia Affairs, respectively, additional members of the General Staff Corps, Congress by section 5 of the act of August 24, 1912 (37 Stat. 594), prescribed anew the composition of the General Staff Corps and specified the manner of details thereto. The eighth section repealed all laws inconsistent with the terms of said act. Held, that neither the repealing clause in said section 8, nor the provision prescribing anew the composition of the General Staff Corps and the manner of making details thereto, repealed the laws constituting the Chief of the Artillery Corps and the Chief of the Division of Militia Affairs additional members of the General Staff, nor did such legislation affect their relations to the General Staff Corps; and that said officers continue to be such additional members. (Bulletin No. 1 (Dig. Opins. J. A. G.), Jan. 20, 1913.) See note to preceding paragraph.

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'The annual appropriation act for the Army for several years has contained a similar proviso.

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