GENERAL ORDERS, } WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, July 31, 1915. I__Paragraph I, General Orders, No. 14, War Department, 1914, is amended to read as follows: 1. A course for the instruction of firemen, Coast Artillery Corps, will be conducted each year in such coast defense commands as may be designated by the War Department. This course will begin on the first day of May of each year, unless that date falls upon Saturday or Sunday, in which case it will begin on the following Monday, and continue for six months. It will be under the general supervision of the coast defense commander and will be conducted by the coast defense artillery engineer, assisted by such enlisted specialists as may be designated by the coast defense commander. 2. The course will be as follows: First and second months.-Different methods of firing and cleaning fires, the proper use of firing tools; records required; different types of boilers, furnaces, and grates; fuels, feed water, combustion, and draft; repair and cleaning of boilers; repair of furnaces and grates; effect of scale, grease, and soot, and methods of preventing and removing same. Third and fourth months.-A study of the different types, necessity for and the practical operation and adjustment of the following: Stop valves, safety valves, injectors, feed pumps, feed-water heaters, condensers, steam traps, steam separators, oil separators, grease extractors, lubricators, the use of the thermometer, draft gauge, automatic damper regulator, combustion (CO2) recorder, steam gauge, and water column. Fifth month.-Repair work, to include packing of condenser tubes, valve stems, and piston rods, grinding valves, putting in new gaskets, caulking leaks, method of putting a new tube in a boiler, stopping leaks at ends of boiler tubes, repairing air leaks in boiler setting. Sixth month.-Practical operation of steam engine, condenser, generator, and switchboard; elementary electricity, to include magnetism, batteries, Ohm's law, dynamos, measuring instruments and switchboard appliances. 2 3. The following textbooks are prescribed and may be obtained from the library, Coast Artillery School, upon application to the commandant: "Steam Boilers," Shealey; McGraw-Hill Book Co. "Steam Boilers," Hawkins. "Power Catechism," McGraw-Hill Book Co. "The Fireman's Guide," Dahlstrom; Spon & Chamberlain. "Lessons in Practical Electricity," Swoope. Catalogs should also be obtained by the coast defense artillery engineer from the manufacturers of the apparatus installed in the power plants of the coast defenses in which he is stationed. The textbooks supplied by the Coast Artillery School will be returned thereto upon the completion of the course of instruction. 4. Upon the completion of the course, oral and practical examinations will be held as soon as practicable. They will be conducted by the coast defense artillery engineer, under the direction of the coast defense commander, at such places as the matériel or equipment pertaining to the subject in hand is located; and in determining the qualifications of candidates, credit will be given for practical knowledge of subjects rather than for textbook answers to questions. The attainment of 75 per centum of the maximum will be considered a satisfactory examination. The examination questions will be prepared by the Coast Artillery School Board and sent direct to the coast defense commanders concerned, due allowance being made for the matériel and equipment of the coast defenses in which the course is being conducted. 5. Upon completion of the examination, the papers, properly marked, will at once be forwarded to the commandant, Coast Artillery School. The commandant, Coast Artillery School, will prepare a list of eligibles for appointment to the grade of fireman as a result of this examination, and will forward this list to The Adjutant General of the Army. 6. Those candidates whose examinations are satisfactory will be furnished with certificates of proficiency and be eligible for appointment as firemen, Coast Artillery Corps. 7. In order to be eligible for this course of instruction, an enlisted candidate must have had at least one year's continuous service in the Coast Artillery Corps or the Coast 3 Artillery School Detachment immediately preceding the beginning of the course. 8. A candidate, if he is stationed in the United States, will make application to his coast defense commander on or before January 1 for permission to take the course; a candidate stationed in the foreign possessions will make such application on or before November 1. As soon as the coast defense commander has received all applications from men of the coast defense command, he will request directly from the commandant, Coast Artillery School, the proper number of sets of examination papers. Before being designated to take the course, a candidate who complies with the conditions stated above will be examined in writing, under the direction of his commanding officer, in the presence of a commissioned officer, upon the questions furnished by the school and prepared by the school board. 9. Examinations for the course will be held in the United States on March 1 and in the foreign possessions on February 1. Upon the completion of the examination, the papers will be marked by the officer who supervised it. Following this, all papers, with the applications of candidates, will be sent directly to the commandant, Coast Artillery School, each application to bear indorsements from the company, fort, and coast defense commanders, stating the qualifications of the candidate, and whether he has the character and reliability essential to the grade he would be eligible for upon satisfactorily completing the course. The commandant, Coast Artillery School, will, as soon as practicable, forward to The Adjutant General of the Army his recommendation as to the candidates to be selected to pursue the course beginning May 1. 10. Candidates for admission to the course for firemen will be examined in the following subjects: Elements of arithmetic, to include addition, subtraction, multiplication, long division, and decimals. The attainment of 75 per centum of the maximum will be considered satisfactory. 11. During the period of instruction and pending his appointment to the grade of fireman, the candidate will be detailed as an acting fireman and will be excused from all other duty. [2130179 A-A. G. O.] 4 II.1. The following instructions relative to the transfer of enlisted men to the Army Reserve, under the provisions of General Orders, No. 11, War Department, 1913, as amended, are published for the guidance of all concerned: a. The post or the regimental commander is authorized to furlough any enlisted man eligible to be furloughed and transferred to the Army Reserve under the provisions of sections (a) and (b), paragraph 2 of that order. b. If the character of a soldier who is otherwise eligible to be furloughed under the provisions of section (a) is believed to be such as not to warrant the granting of that privilege, the procedure prescribed in paragraph 148, Army Regulations, will be followed. The findings of the board therein prescribed, when approved by the convening authority, will be final. c. The post or the regimental commander is also authorized to retain in active service any enlisted man coming under the provisions of section (b) who makes application in writing to remain with the organization to which he belongs until the completion of his whole enlistment, without passing into the Army Reserve, provided that his conduct and physical fitness warrant such action. 2. In the case of every soldier who makes application to be furloughed and transferred to the Army Reserve at the expiration of three years' continuous service under the provisions of section (a), paragraph 2, General Orders, No. 11, War Department, 1913, a brief notation to that effect will be made in the space for remarks on his descriptive and assignment card and on his descriptive list. [2271133 A-A. G. O.] BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR: H. L. SCOTT, Major General, Chief of Staff. OFFICIAL: H. P. MCCAIN, The Adjutant General. |