Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/273

MILITARY INSIGNIA Kan., are situated the Army Staff College, the Army Signal School, the Army Field Engineer School, the Army School of the Line, the Army Field Service and Correspondence School for Medical Officers. Finally at the head of all these schools and designed to give intensive work to the higher officers of the army is the Army War College at Washington, D. C. Nearly all of these schools are open to National Guard officers, and to graduates of military schools whose course of study has been approved by the Army General Staff. Military instruction is also furnished by many State Institutions, and by private schools. In recognition of the service a private military school renders the government, the General Staff details an officer to be stationed at the institution and direct the military work.

There are two great military schools in England which are supported by the government, the Royal Military College at Sandhurst for cavalry and infantry cadets, and the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich for artillery and engineer cadets. The period of instruction in these schools is short—only two years, but on the other hand the examinations for entrance are very exacting and require considerable amount of college education to enable a student to pass. The expense to the cadet under the British system is considerable, and this with the high standard for entrance limits the cadets to one class of the population.

France has also two great schools for military education, the Ecole Spéciale Militaire for cavalry and infantry at Saint-Cyr, and the Polytechnique at Paris for officers of the artillery and engineers. This latter school trains men also in the building of roads, bridges, naval construction, and many of the other scientific branches of the government. Entrance is by competitive examination and by a law passed in 1905 all the successful candidates must serve one year in the ranks before taking up their two years' course in the schools. This is designed to democratize the Officers' Corps and prevent the formation of cliques of men such as were revealed in the Dreyfus case.

Belgium follows much the same system of military education as France, there being one school for officers of all arms of the service, the Ecole Militaire at Welles. Entrance is by competitive examinations. 

MILITARY INSIGNIA, devices in the form of badges, epaulets, straps, chevrons, buttons, braid, mottoes, and the like, worn to differentiate the ranks and divisions of the military and naval forces. Insignia for these purposes are to-day in use in the forces of all nations, though differing according to the country to which the army and navy belong. In all countries the insignia are identical for officers or non-commissioned men of the same rank, though they differ according to the branch of the service.

In the United States the devices used in the army and navy underwent considerable changes during the period intervening between the Revolution and the Civil War, but from the period of the Civil War the process has been rather of development than of change, and the insignia employed have been largely the same. The letters U. S. are worn by officers on the collar, volunteers being distinguished by the addition of the letter V. Officers of the National Guard wear the initial letter of their States. To indicate the various corps or departments devices relating to the work of each are employed. Thus the General Staff Corps is indicated by the U. S. coat of arms on a silver star; Adjutant-General's Department by a shield; Judge-Advocate General's Department by crossed sword and pen; Medical Corps by a caduceus; Engineers by a turreted castle.

The insignia indicating ranks are worn on the sleeves and shoulders. The shoulder insignia are as follows: two silver stars, a major-general; one silver star, a brigadier-general; one silver eagle, colonel; one silver leaf, lieutenant-colonel; one gold leaf, major; two silver bars, captain; one silver bar, first lieutenant; one gold bar, second lieutenant. The sleeve insignia are as follows: two silver stars, major-general; one silver star, brigadier-general; five strands of gold wire lace in the form of a knot, colonel; four strands, lieutenant-colonel; three strands, major; two strands, captain; one strand, first lieutenant; without gold lace, second lieutenant.

The devices employed in distinguishing ranks and divisions in the United States army are largely modeled on those which obtain in other countries. In the German army crescent-shaped epaulets are the distinguishing mark of the commissioned officer, combinations of batons and stars being used to indicate the higher ranks, while the arms of the service are indicated by the color of the tunic lace, and the state by the color of the cockade. In the British army the royal arms, arms of cities and counties, castles, antelopes, guns, bugles, crosses, and the like are used to designate the various regiments. Stripes of gold or silver braid are the main devices used to indicate rank in the French, Italian, Spanish, and Japanese