1574
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 32

SECTION VI.—TRAINING AND EDUCATION.

MILITARY TRAINING.

315. General instructions as to the principles and system of training are contained in the training-manuals of each arm. These manuals, periodically issued and revised by the Army Council for use throughout the Empire, embody the results of the latest experience and developments of military science, and the principles and procedure therein laid down will be strictly adhered to by all concerned.

316. The aim of all military training is to improve and develop the physical and moral fitness of the individual, encourage and direct initiative, instil a high sense of duty, discipline, and honour, based on knowledge, mutual respect, and confidence, and to provide systematic and progressive instruction in the use and application of military weapons.

317. The training of the Cadets will be specially devoted to ensuring good physical development, inculcating the habits of obedience and discipline, with a preparatory groundwork of elementary drill and field exercise to fit them for posting to the Territorial Force on completion of their Cadet service.

318. The system of training laid down in these regulations does not permit of the rank and file being fully trained in peace-time, but where officers and non-commissioned officers have in peace-time been trained to a high standard of efficiency the rapid mobilization of complete units and expansion for war will be assured. For this reason every effort is to be made to perfect the training of officers and non-commissioned officers in order that they may be at all times efficient and capable of filling their places in their unit in a national emergency.

319. Home training—i.e., drills, whole-day or half-day parades—should be carried out continuously throughout the year, the groundwork of individual and sectional training being laid during these periodical drills and parades in preparation for the unit and collective training at the annual camp.

The essential features of efficient training are that it should be systematic and progressive, which can be ensured only by the adoption of the unit system as laid down in the various training-manuals, under which regimental officers and non-commissioned officers carry out and are responsible to their Commanding Officer for the training and instruction of their own men.

320. The success of the training will depend on the standard of military knowledge of the officers and non-commissioned officers and on their ability to instruct their men intelligently. It is therefore one of the most important of a Commanding Officer’s duties to ensure that all his officers and non-commissioned officers are thoroughly trained both as commanders and as instructors. He must ensure that his officers and non-commissioned officers are afforded opportunities for obtaining the necessary instruction, and that they avail themselves of these facilities.

321. Where a permanent Adjutant is available it will be his special duty, under the orders of the Commanding Officer, to give this instruction. Assisted by the Permanent Staff, he will undertake the thorough instruction of junior officers on joining the unit, and will assist all officers in preparing themselves for examination and in acquiring a further knowledge of their military duties.

322. The duties of the Permanent Staff attached to a unit, in so far as the training of the unit is concerned, are mainly those of instruction, under the orders of the Commanding Officer, of the officers and non-commissioned officers of the unit, and of supervising the instruction given by the officers and non-commissioned officers to the men.

In certain cases it may also be necessary for the Permanent Staff to undertake the elementary training of recruits before they join their company, but the system to be aimed at, as far as possible, is that the officers should be the instructors of their own non-commissioned officers, and that both officers and non-commissioned officers (and not the Permanent Staff) should instruct their own men. By this means only can officers and non-commissioned officers acquire the habit of command and powers of instruction, and become, as they should be, the leaders and instructors of their men.

323. The training-year for all units of the Territorial Force, Reserve, and Cadets, with the exception of secondary-school Cadets, will commence on the 1st June and terminate on the 31st May. The training-year for secondary-school Cadets will commence on the 1st January and terminate on the 31st December.

324. Training programmes showing dates, times, and places of parades in the Territorial Force and Cadets will be issued in advance by unit commanders. These training programmes will be arranged as far as possible to suit the convenience of trainees, their employers, and local conditions.

325. Attendance at parades and drills so ordered, and at any other parades or drills ordered by the proper authority, is obligatory on the part of the person notified to attend.

326. Those who fail to carry out the training so ordered will be prosecuted under section 51 of the Defence Act.

327. Leave of absence may be granted by and at the discretion of Commanding Officers subject to the training being made up at some later date.

All applications for leave must be made in writing, and must state the reasons for which leave is required. (See also paras. 642 and 643.)

328. In addition to obligatory parades and drills, voluntary parades may be arranged, but attendance thereat will not be compulsory, and will not count towards the minimum amount of training required under paras. 324, 325, and 333.

329. At every parade or drill of the Territorial Force or Cadets the attendance will be recorded against the name of each officer and trainee in the section or platoon, &c., parade roll-books, and from these parade roll-books the unit attendance roll-book will be compiled.

The attendance roll-book will be examined from time to time by the Inspecting Officer and compared with the section or platoon, &c., parade roll-books.

330. From the attendance roll-book, unit attendance returns, as may be required, will be compiled. At the end of each training-year individual attendance will be summarized, and all ranks will be classified as “efficient” or “non-efficient” according to whether the individual has performed in a diligent manner the obligatory training required of him. A summary of training performed, and the classification, will be entered in the trainee’s personal records.

331. An officer or soldier may, in exceptional cases, be permitted to carry out any portion of his drills, musketry, or training in camp with another unit, if possible of the same arm of the service, provided the written consent of the two Commanding Officers is obtained and no extra expense is entailed. A certificate, signed by the officer under whom the training was performed, will be forwarded to the officer’s or soldier’s Commanding Officer, in order that such training may be properly recorded.

332. An officer or soldier residing temporarily in the United Kingdom or a British Dominion, colony, &c., may, with the approval of the General Officer Commanding, apply to be attached to any unit in that country for the purpose of carrying out the training required of him by paras. 324, 325, and 333. Such attachment will not, however, exceed two years, and will not entitle the officer or soldier to any pay or emoluments at the expense of the N.Z. Government.

Obligatory Training.

333. The obligatory training to be carried out annually by members of the Territorial Force, Reserve, Cadets, and General Training Section will be prescribed annually in General Orders before the 1st June.

DEFINITION OF DRILLS: WHOLE- OR HALF-DAY PARADES.

Drills.

334. A “drill” will consist of one and a half hours’ actual instruction, except that in the Cadets a drill may, at the discretion of the officer commanding company, be reduced to one hour’s instruction, provided that the number of hours for instruction at drills is not thereby reduced below the total prescribed.

335. Drills are particularly suitable for individual instruction, and therefore the training performed at drills should be of an elementary character, and in the Infantry should consist of individual, section, or platoon training, with corresponding training in the other arms.

336. Attendance at such parades as may be ordered by the General Officer Commanding or O.C. Command for State or ceremonial occasions will be compulsory. Such parades will be additional to those prescribed for training.

337. Attendance at church parades, funerals, guards of honour, or on street duty will not count as part of the obligatory training required under para. 333.

Half-day Parades.

338. A half-day parade will consist of not less than three hours’ continuous instruction, and will, when weather permits, be carried out in the open. These parades, which may be held in the evening, will, in addition to drill, include instruction in route marching, outposts, entrenching, signalling, driving, and such other subjects as cannot conveniently be carried out indoors. A half-day parade may be counted as the equivalent of two drills.

Whole-day Parades.

339. A whole-day parade, both in the Territorial Force and Cadets, will consist of not less than six hours’ continuous instruction in the open. A whole-day parade will be allowed to count as two half-day parades.

ANNUAL TRAINING IN CAMPS.

340. Camps may be held at any convenient season of the year. Commanding Officers will submit the proposed date and place of annual camps to the O.C. Command for approval.

341. In the case of the N.Z. Medical Corps, attendance at a hospital or other selected institution, or special duty in Defence-works or at manoeuvres, may be counted in lieu of an equal period of annual training in camp.