Rum issue. A daily formation at which Tommy receives a spoonful of rum; that is if any is left over from the Sergeant's Mess. Runner. A soldier who is detailed or picked as an orderly for an officer while in the trenches. His real job is to take messages under fire, asking how many tins of jam are required for 1917. S S.A.A. Small Arms Ammunition. Small steel pellets which have a bad habit of drilling holes in the anatomy of Tommy and Fritz. Salvo. Battery firing four guns simultaneously. Sandbag. A jute bag which is constantly being filled with earth. Its main uses are to provide Tommy with material for a comfortable kip and to strengthen parapets. Sap. A small ditch, or trench, dug from the front line and leading out into "No Man's Land" in the direction of the German trenches. Sapper. A man who saps or digs mines. He thinks he is thirty-three degrees above an ordinary soldier, while in fact he is generally beneath him. Sausage Balloon. See observation balloon. S.B. Stretcher Bearer. The motive power of a stretcher. He is generally looking the other way when a fourteen-stone Tommy gets hit. Scaling ladder. Small wooden ladders used by Tommy for climbing out of the front trench when he goes "over the top." When Tommy sees these ladders being brought into the trench, he sits down and writes his will in his little pay-book. Sentry Go. Time on guard. It means "sentry come." Sergeant's Mess. Where the sergeants eat. Nearly all of the rum has a habit of disappearing into the Sergeant's Mess. Seventy-fives. A very efficient field-gun of the French, which can fire thirty shells per minute. The gun needs no relaying due to the recoil which throws the him back to its original position. The gun that knocked out "Jack Johnson," therefore called "Jess Willard." "Sewed in a blanket." Term for a soldier who has been buried. His remains are generally sewn in a blanket and the piece of blanket is generally deducted from his pay that is due. Shag. Cigarette tobacco which an American can never learn to use. Even the mules object to the smell of it. Shell. A device of the artillery which sometimes makes Tommy wish he had been born in a neutral country. Shell Hole. A hole in the ground caused by the explosion of a shell. Tommy's favorite resting-place while under fire. Shovel. A tool closely related to the pick family. In France the "shovel" is mightier than the sword. Shrapnel. A shell which bursts in the air and scatters small pieces of metal over a large area. It is used to test the resisting power of steel helmets. "Sicker." Nickname for the sick report book. It is Tommy's ambition to get on this "sicker" without feeling sick. Side Parade. A formation at which the doctor informs sick, or would-be sick Tommies that they are not sick. Sixty-pounder. One of our shells which weighs sixty pounds (officially). When Tommy handles them, their unofficial weight is three hundred weight.