General Orders

GENERAL ORDERS,

No. 41.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

WASHINGTON, July 1, 1915.

1. By direction of the President, the National Guard of the District of Columbia will be reorganized as follows:

a. The 1st Infantry, National Guard, District of Columbia, and the 2d Infantry, National Guard, District of Columbia, will be consolidated into one regiment to be known as the 3d Infantry, National Guard, District of Columbia.

b. One additional battery of field artillery and one company of coast artillery will be organized, the former to be known as Battery B, Field Artillery, National Guard, District of Columbia, and the latter as 1st Company, Coast Artillery Corps, National Guard, District of Columbia.

c. The designation of the existing battery of field artillery is changed to Battery A, Field Artillery, National Guard, District of Columbia.

2. In order to carry into effect the provisions of the preceding paragraph the commanding general of the Militia of the District of Columbia is directed:

a. To submit recommendations as required by law in regard to the selection of the commissioned personnel of the 3d Infantry.

b. To transfer to the newly organized units the enlisted personnel of the 1st and 2d Regiments of Infantry.

c. To assign suitable designations to the component units of the 3d Infantry and to complete the organization of that regiment in accordance with the Tables of Organization, Organized Militia, Peace, 1914.

3. Officers of the 1st and 2d Regiments of Infantry rendered surplus through the execution of the measures herein directed will be retired upon their own applications if eligible under the law; and an increase of one grade in rank upon retirement will be authorized in every case where the officer, at the date of making application, has been continuously in the same grade for 10 years, or where his service has been especially meritorious. Officers desiring to resign will be permitted to do so. Surplus officers who do not resign or retire will be honorably discharged.

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BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:

H. L. SCOTT,

Major General, Chief of Staff.

OFFICIAL:

H. P. MCCAIN,

The Adjutant General.

GENERAL ORDERS,
No. 42.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

WASHINGTON, July 15, 1915.

The following regulations governing the disposition of applications of persons not in the military service of the United States for appointment as officers of volunteers under the provisions of section 7 of the act of Congress approved April 25, 1914, are published for the information and guidance of all concerned:

1. Lists, as hereinafter specified, of candidates for appointment as officers of volunteers, who have been found qualified subject to future physical examination, will be kept in The Adjutant General's Office.

(a) Of all candidates who have successfully passed examination for volunteer commissions under section 23 of the act of Congress approved January 21, 1903.

(b) of the graduates of civil institutions of learning, having officers of the Regular Army detailed as professors of military science and tactics, who have been recommended by the presidents of the institutions and the professors of military science and tactics as especially qualified for the military service, and of students who have attended at least two camps of instruction for college students and who have been recommended by the camp commanders for appointment as officers of volunteers.

(c) Of officers and enlisted men and former members of the Organized Land Militia or National Guard of the District of Columbia, States, or Territories, former officers or enlisted men of the Regular Army or Volunteers, and all other persons who have made application for appointment as officers of volunteers, or who have been recommended for appointment, or have tendered their services as officers of volunteers, and who have been recommended by the board of officers hereinafter provided, as qualified for appointment.

2. The applications and recommendations of all candidates for appointment as volunteer officers in the classes enumerated in section (c) of paragraph 1, now on file in The Adjutant General's Office, or hereafter received, will be referred to a board of officers convened at such times as may be necessary by the Secretary of War. The board shall consist of three commissioned officers of the Regular Army, and will be sworn to recommend candidates for appointment as volunteer officers, solely on their probable efficiency and aptitude for the military service.

3. The Adjutant General will refer to the board all data on file in his office bearing on the qualifications of the candidates for volunteer commissions whose names are before the board for consideration.

With reference to each candidate whose name is before it, the board will make thorough inquiry into and report upon the following:

His antecedents; his morals and character; his educational opportunities and qualifications; his business and professional experience; his previous military training and experience; his probable efficiency and aptitude for the service. The board is authorized to call on candidates to submit in writing any desired information not filed with their applications or not in its possession.

The board will determine the qualification and the office for which qualified or the nonqualification of each candidate, and will transmit to The Adjutant General, for file in his office, a list of the candidates who are qualified, and a list of the candidates who have failed to qualify, together with all data and information considered in each case.

The decision of the board when approved by the Secretary of War as to qualification or nonqualification in each case will be final and each candidate will be notified by The Adjutant General whether he has qualified or failed to qualify, and in event of qualification, that his name is borne on the records in the War Department as qualified for commission as an officer of volunteers, subject to future physical

examination and that such notification shall not be construed as giving the candidate a vested right to appointment as an officer of volunteers.

4. Applications of officers and enlisted men of the Organized Land Militia of the District of Columbia and of the States and Territories for appointment as officers of volunteers, accompanied by the information required by paragraph 3 of this order will be forwarded through militia channels. Applications from members of the Organized Land Militia of the States and Territories will be forwarded through the governors thereof and should receive their approval before being sent to the Division of Militia Affairs for transmission to The Adjutant General of the Army.

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