NCO General Description
A. Non-commissioned officers (NCOs) are entitled to implicit obedience from the soldiers, and they should be obeyed and respected by the men; and when an NCO fails in obtaining this regard and obedience from the men, he fails in his most essential qualification.
B. The confidence of the soldiers in the integrity of an NCO can only be obtained by his being rigidly just and impartial to those under him, and by keeping his temper on all occasions, and discharging his duty without passion or feeling. An NCO who cannot control himself will find difficulty in controlling those over whom he is placed.
C. Confidence and energy are the progressive traits of the NCO who would be successful. Let him first feel he is right, and acting in obedience to orders and instructions, and then do his duty with decision and firmness; and success will be more certain, and failure much less discreditable.
D. The NCO should provide himself with a pencil and note-book in which to enter the names of forming the details. Orders and instructions given to him verbally should at once be reduced to writing, and not trusted to memory.
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