250 WARFARE IN THE HUMAN BODY 



as the last ends of the battalion's nervous system you had 

 to preserve more individuality than your men. Possibly 

 in certain cases you might explain to them why you are 

 drilling them — why you want so much to get them to act 

 together, to act with rapidity, to act instinctively or even 

 like a reflex. And a reflex action, I may remind you, is 

 one that has a short path. It is not pondered over by the 

 intellect ; it is done more than instinctively, it is entirely 

 a decentralized action for which no reference need be 

 made to the higher brain. Rapid reflex action to the 

 stimulus of an order are the essential results of all good 

 training. When there is no time for reasoning, when 

 action is absolutely necessary, nobody must stop to think. 

 But in a properly trained and organized body of men, 

 whether it be large or small, the thinking has been done, 

 the men have learnt to obey ; while the officers have learnt 

 not only to obey but to understand what is wanted almost 

 before the order reaches them. They are adapted to 

 their new environment. You have, of course, already 

 been instructed that when you get into the firing line, 

 and are in command of a platoon or a company, and the 

 order is given to advance, it is your place to lead. Prob- 

 ably it is true that the best leaders are those who, on 

 such occasions, are out of the trenches themselves before 

 they give the order. Now if this is so, it is what we should 

 expect from the very nature of the organism I have been 

 trying to describe. As you see, the platoon leader or the 

 company leader is essentially the nervous portion of the 

 platoon or company. But, as you must know, when a 

 nervous impulse comes from the brain it is obvious the 

 nerve is in action before the muscles react. So when 

 you get the order, or the time comes for you to move, 

 you necessarily do so before your men. Where you go 



