"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." -- Animal Farm by George Orwell, a book we read in English class at Linton Hall.
Not all officers were equal. The difference was not just in rank, but in position, i.e., the role the officer played.
I've mentioned the not unusual case of an officer being demoted to Private, while keeping his position as Platoon leader or Company Commander, in a blog post in 2011 ("Getting Bumped: The Officer's Rite of Passage.") On the other hand, officers of the same rank could hold positions of far differing responsibility, challenge and prestige.
The top dog (to keep the animal analogy) was the Battalion Commander, who would typically reach the rank of Major. Second only to the Commandant in power and authority, he was of unquestioned loyalty, obedience, and compliance with Linton Hall's rules. His position made him feared by everyone, including his fellow officers, and this was a double edged sword, since it also had the effect of isolating him socially from others. Whereas it was not uncommon for a Second Lieutenant to be friends with a Captain, it was difficult for anyone to let his guard down around the Battalion Commander, for fear of accidentally committing some infraction or saying something negative about Linton Hall.
Since he, as well as his adjutant and the Battalion Sergeant Major did not belong to any company, he would end up sleeping in the dormitory of one of the companies. I had the occasion to have him in my dormitory one year, so I got to observe him a lot -- from a safe distance, as he did not cut anyone any slack.
It's a stretch to generalize about Battalion Commanders, since there was only one each year, but I think I can safely say that they were the most loyal and most qualified leaders; I say this as someone who was not even a potential candidate for that position. But another consideration was height -- which was mostly due to the Battalion Commander’s age, as he was about two years older than the typical eighth grader, and had the advantage of intimidating physical size working in his favor.
Second in command to the Battalion Commander was his Adjutant. I can best compare his position as that of the Vice President of the U.S.. Although a prestigious position, the Adjutant had a very limited role. He only took over the Battalion Commander's duties on rare occasions, such as when the Battalion Commander lay sick in bed from the flu. Other than reporting a count of cadets, which involved adding up the numbers reported by each of the Company Commanders, the Adjutant did not do much. Don't get me wrong -- I believe that the Adjutants were fully qualified to take over as Battalion Commanders -- it's just that the occasion rarely arose and, given the extreme loyalty and punctiliousness of Battalion Commanders, the Adjutant had no reasonable chance of taking the Battalion Commander’s spot, although typically he would be reach the rank of Captain.
The Adjutant did sleep in my dorm one year (not the same year as the Battalion Commander) and he was very much a slacker who went with the flow, followed the rules, but did not display much motivation or ambition. That's understandable, since he had little to do and no prospects of promotion. Just as an example, it was customary to rotate the responsibility of leading the dorm in the morning activities of getting dressed, washing and making one's bed between the Company Commander, the two Platoon Leaders, and eventually the Company Sergeant. The Adjutant was also given this opportunity as a courtesy, which he declined.
The battalion also had a Sergeant Major, a seventh grader who it was tacitly understood would be Battalion Commander the following year. I believe that most would agree with me that Adjutant was a position entailing less leadership, and thus being less desirable, than either Company or Platoon Leader.
Some years there was an additional officer in battalion staff, a Supply Officer, whose responsibility was to run the arsenal, where drill rifles and camping and hiking equipment were kept. As this position dealt with equipment and not people, it required little to no leadership skills, and appears to have been given as a reward to someone who tried hard, followed all the rules, may even have been outstanding at drill, but just lacked leadership skills.
When I was at Linton Hall there were five companies: two junior companies, A and B, two senior companies, C and D, and the Drum and Bugle Corps, sometimes also known as Company E, and was considered a senior company. Each company had three officers: a Company Commander and the First and Second Platoon Leaders.
The two junior companies had younger cadets, those in second through fourth or fifth grade, and the other companies had older cadets, generally in fifth through eighth grade. This was a general rule; those in the middle, specially fifth graders, could end up in a junior or senior company based upon their age or rank; for example, a fifth or sixth grader could end up as squad leader in a junior company, or a fourth grader who had repeated the fourth grade could end up in a senior company. The officers, however were always eighth graders, and the sergeants typically seventh graders, in both junior and senior companies. Some of the sergeants were eighth graders.
A much-debated question, which has good arguments on both sides, is whether it was more difficult, and thus more prestigious, to be an officer in a junior or senior company. On the one hand, it may seem easier to be an officer in a junior company, since the major advantage in age and size made an officer more intimidating to younger cadets, even though officers were not allowed to use corporal punishment. As an aside, I agree that it would have been wrong for a 13-year old officer to hit a younger child. Yet why was it allowed for a 40-plus year old man or woman to repeatedly strike a child with a wooden paddle or leather strap?
On the other hand, although older cadets were often not intimidated by an officer's size, they were better able to understand the consequences of demerits and court martials.
As to drill, it was more challenging to deal with younger cadets, who had not yet developed the motor skills, or ability to understand the details of the various commands. This became very clear to me one time when supervising third grade study hour (officers were rotated among the different grades, so each of us had the opportunity to supervise cadets of the various grades.) There was a third grader who, although trying his best, would get right and left confused. I realized that he was well-intentioned and tried to explain the difference between right and left without yelling at him, but I was unsuccessful.
I had no personal experience with the Drum and Bugle Corps, but I believe that it was the most challenging company to lead, or, for that matter, to be in, as those in that company had to spend time practicing their instruments, in addition to drilling. Someone who had been in the Drum and Bugle Corps contends that holding a certain rank in the D & B Corps was the equivalent of holding a rank one level higher in another company; for example, a PFC in the D & B Cwould be the equivalent of being a corporal in another company, but I disagree.
Company Commanders would generally rise to the rank of Captain, although some graduated as First Lieutenant, sometimes not having been promoted to Captain, but more often having previously reached the rank of Captain but been demoted by one level for disciplinary reasons.
Each company consisted of two platoons. Neither the Company Commander nor the Company Sergeant belonged to either platoon.
The platoons were called First and Second Platoon, but despite the name implying that First was better or more prestigious, I think most will agree with me that the Second Platoon leader had a more challenging job at drill. As the First Platoon marched in front of the second, the Second Platoon leader found it more difficult to hear and repeat the Company Commander's commands, and had to get the timing just right when saying the second part of the command, as in "Reverse ... March!" Also, in the specific case of "Reverse ... March!" as soon as the command was given, the Company Commander ended up at the back of the marching platoon, with the leader of the Second Platoon leading the company until the Company Commander could make his way to what was now the front of the company. Outside of drill, the responsibility and challenge of leading the first or second platoon was the same. The Commandant had once mentioned that he did his best to balance the distribution of cadets who were either disciplinary problems, or especially good or bad at drill, both between the two platoons within a company and between competing the two junior and the two senior platoons. In his office he had a wall rack with a card for each cadet, arranged to show who was in which platoon and company, and what rank and position he held. The Commandant mentioned that many times he had taken an instant picture with a Polaroid camera, to study the composition of the Cadet Corps in the evening. (That was the state of available technology at the time.) He deserves credit for that.
Some Platoon Leaders had risen to First Lieutenant at the end of the year; others either had not been promoted to that rank, or had been promoted and then demoted, and graduated as Second Lieutenants. A few who had been bumped to private and had not had their rank restored but still retained their position, often because it would not have been fair to those under their command to be assigned a new officer shortly before the Military Day drill competitions, ended up being listed in the Military Day program as "Platoon Leader ... John Doe ... First Platoon Leader" instead of the typical "First Lieutenant ... John Doe ... First Platoon Leader." What may have looked as a mistake in the program to many parents and guests was painfully clear to those in the know.
I won’t repeat my dscription of officer insignia, as I’ve previously covered the topic. The Commandant was once asked why the insignia was different than in the U.S. Military. His explanation (I’m paraphrasing) was that it was “Because if you’re sitting in some shopping mall and some serviceman who’s just come back from Vietnam sees you wearing officer insignia, he has to salute you.” When someone said that he could obviously see that we were kids and not real officers, he said that it didn’t matter; if he sees the insignia, he has to salute you.
This post reflects my thoughts on the matter. Others will disagree with some of my views about the responsibility, and desirability of the various positions. As always, I welcome differing point of view, as they can point out things I haven't thought of. I only ask that you explain your reasoning, and that it be based on more than just “I was a ----- and I think my position was far more important and challenging than you describe.”
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Read more in my book, "Linton Hall Military School Memories,"
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