Brewster 'A Glimpse of War through a Private's Eyes', a retrospective account of experiences in World War I, 1915-1917 / John James Brewster - Page 51
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[Page 51]
the greatest efficiency in the shortest time, together with the necessary amount of obedience, & discipline appertaining to a well trained army, & at the same time, retaining that amount of good feeling & comradeship, between the officers & men, without which the very best results will never be attained.
One of the very first "peculiar" things noticed in Egypt was the continual changing of junior officers probably caused by the effort & endeavour to obtain for the Company officers of the highest ability & best capacity among those available, but possibly arising from a desire of the higher officers to have about them those ready & willing to accept their diction as always correct right & proper, without the exercise of thought mind or brain
It is evidently not a very hard matter for a dictatorial superior to find very urgent work elsewhere for any junior, who may have the audacity to make a suggestion, or offer a proposal not strictly in keeping with the line of thought or conduct set out or laid down by the former. Officers in conflict must militate against the good working of the unit, & for its sake as well as for the individual, should be terminated, but only after personal observation by the higher officers of the faults and failings of each disputant followed by a full investigation of the whole circumstances.
If in the superior officer there is a tendency to crush all the developing personality in the junior, that helps to build up his character as a leader, the superior must necessarily become surrounded by officers who, in a tight corner, would be practically useless from a fear to offend, when stronger men could willingly accept a responsibility & act to the best of their grasp of the situation or of the unforeseen circumstances & risk the censure & condemnation if such action failed to be viewed in an approving light by the superior.
The period spent in Egypt afforded amongst the men, ample food for thought