PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE UNITED STATES INFANTRY ASSOCIATION, UNION THE SUBSCRIPTION PRICE OF THE INFANTRY JOURNAL IS $3.00 PER YEAR. SUBSCRIBERS SHOULD NOTIFY US PROMPTLY OF FAILURE TO RECEIVE THE INFANTRY JOURNAL. The address of subscribers is not changed except upon request. THE PUBLICATION COMMITTEE IS ALWAYS GLAD TO CONSIDER ORIGINAL ARTICLES OR MATTER THAT HAS NOT APPEARED ELSEWHERE IN PRINT OF POSSIBLE INTEREST IN THE INFANTRY JOURNAL'S FIELD. ALL CORRESPONDENCE SHOULD BE ADDRESSED TO THE SECRETARY. IT IS REQUESTED THAT AUTHORS DOUBLE-SPACE ALL TYPEWRITTEN MANUSCRIPTS. THE INFANTRY JOURNAL PAYS FOR ALL ORIGINAL ARTICLES ACCEPTED. THE INFANTRY ASSOCIATION IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN Terrain By Lt. Col. W. H. Waldron Infantry, U. S. Army A series of Infantry tactical problems with a detailed solution for each. Written in terse conversational style. THE U. S. INFANTRY ASSOCIATION, Union Trust Building, Washington, D. C. Enclosed find $2.50 for which please forward to the address below one copy of TERRAIN EXERCISES. Address. = Vol. XXII I FEBRUARY, 1923 Prestige N going over an old to us. PRESTIGE.-Authority or importance based on past achievements, or gained from the appearance of power or abilily; the moral influence of reputation or of former character or success; ascendancy based on recognition of power.-Standard Dictionary. There is deep satisfaction in the knowledge of a glorious past. Pride of race and love of country are essential to a spirited people. Equally by layman and soldier they are held as sacred to our national honor. But the soldier feels that the glory of our arms is peculiarly his heritage. Judged on past achievements the Infantry is first in her immense wealth of accomplishment, valor, and power. Her heroic dead heaped on memorable battlefields bear proof of her determina No. 2 tion and her ability to do and die. No other arm counts such signal successes, nor such terrific losses; no other arm has so widely and so generously contributed to history. Ever the strength of armies, the glories of war are hers. Through the manifestation of her rugged power, Waterloo and Gettysburg leaped from obscurity to enduring fame. Other tributes to her power are Vicksburg, Shiloh, Franklin, Chickamauga, Chancellorsville, Antietam, and the Wilderness, all fought while this Nation trembled-while the Union all but fell. The power of Infantry has ever been the deciding factor in war, and the very names, Army and Infantry have long held a common meaning. Brilliant as has been her past, the prestige so dearly won is not easily held. The fruit of action and never of inactivity, prestige can be maintained only at the cost of devoted effort and well-directed and sustained energies. We who inherit her past and who cherish her ideals; we who are responsible for her readiness and efficiency and with the perpetuity of her power for peace; we, in whom the Nation places her trust of that power, are ever awed by our mighty task-are ever conscious that the trust is sacred and the duties many, stern, and exacting. Not the least of these lies in guarding against service changes inimical to efficiency which are ever being advanced by the uninformed or the seekers of personal power or advancement. The best safety against this evil lies in the widest possible publicity, affording the people full information and through this a basis for sound understanding. But ours is a splendid heritage; for responsibility has ever been a developer of men, and of honor in men. Just as it made Infantry prestige by the manner in which our predecessors bore the responsibilities thrust upon them, so in the present and future generations they will as surely maintain it. As we bear our responsibility so shall our worth be tested and the prestige of our arm confirmed. Confidence is essential to success, and pessimism never inspires it. War has no place for "the man who knows it can't be done." Optimism is ever the key to greatness, but eternal vigilance is the price. Prestige, like character, is a living fact. Prestige is character. And like character, prestige establishes the truth of its existence simply, quietly, irresistibly. It must live in the individual before it can exist in the organization. Nothing begets it more than honest pride in a hard-won past. The prestige of the West Point cadets as a military student body lies peculiarly in individual excellence and in pride of past honors, with jealousy for those of the present and future. Discipline is highly developed, that continuity of training which is so essential to its development being absolutely unbroken. This lesson is significant of service needs, frequent changes being destructive of much good derived from training. There is a form of discipline that enables men to perform efficiently on the defensive or from behind parapets, where both the liability to confusion and the personal danger are minimized: but that higher discipline which enables men to force the fight home, seek the bayonet's contact, and if need be die is not easily acquired. It can only result from long, severe, and continued training. Such discipline is peculiarly Infantry discipline in that no other even measurably fits the Arm for its part in war. Upon Infantry falls the shock of battle; by it is both borne and inflicted more than four-fifths of the losses. To the existence of prestige discipline is as essential as it is difficult to instil. Once acquired, guard it as a precious treasure-lovingly, as a child; tenderly, as a wife; reverently, as a mother. Infantry prestige will reach its flood only when every officer of our Arm appreciates a personal duty in maintaining it. Every man must realize the prohibitive nature of the existing conditions against training Infantry, and both the need and the propriety of dignified attack on these conditions on all proper occasions, with a view to early correction or elimination. There must be manifest pride in her accomplishments and history affords no end of reasons for such pride; and there must be appreciation of the unending care and patience required in future development and training. We must not expect a few workers to accept and satisfactorily discharge every obligation devolving upon the Arm or made possible to it; nor is it the part of wisdom to permit a few to shoulder the burdens of the many-to barter the thought of many minds for that of a few when all are trained in the same school. Every Infantryman knows the necessity of constant personal endeavor for |