5. The detachment commander will be with the main body until 7 a. m., (d) Signal Troops: and thereafter with the advance Lieut. Dash. guard. 1 plat. Co. A. By order of Brig.-Gen. Forse: J. G. HAMILTON, Lt. Col., 1st Inf., _Acting Chief of Staff_. Copies to Colonels Adams and Byron, commanders of artillery and engineers, and to staff; to division commander by wire. There are certain SPECIAL CAUTIONS in regard to the writing of the field order. 1.—What is required in paragraph 3 of the _Body_ is that the order be logical—coherent.[13] 2.—An order tells a subordinate _what_ to do but not _how_ to do it. 3.—Conjectures, expectations, reasons for measures adopted, and detailed instructions for a variety of possible events, do not inspire confidence, and should be avoided. 4.—As a rule, an affirmative form of expression is used. Such an order as: “The supply train will not accompany the division,” is defective, because the gist of the order depends upon the single word “not.” It is far better to say, “The supply train will remain at so-and-so until further orders.” 5.—Do not use such expressions as “attempt to capture,” “try to hold,” “as far as possible,” “as well as you can.” Besides being indefinite, they divide responsibility. You, for example, receive an order “to try to capture” a certain position. Immediately there pops into your mind the suspicion that the commanding officer did not believe that the place could be taken, or was not anxious about having it captured. The commanding officer by the very wording of his order has taken on himself a part of the responsibility in the event of a repulse. At least he has not placed all the burden of the undertaking upon you. In the latter case he has been guilty of improper subordination. CHAPTER VII PROBLEMS IN THE FIELD ORDER After the plan of Trench of the English Service, we are going to take up the problems in the construction of the field order along the lines on which tactical situations naturally develop themselves during hostilities. We shall discover that the sequence will not only conform to actual conditions, but will lead from the more simple to the more complex. We shall, then, proceed with,— (1) The March Order. (2) The Attack Order. (3) The Order for Position in Readiness. (4) The Defense Order. (5) The Retreat Order. (6) The Pursuit Order. (7) The Halt Order. (8) The Outpost Order. Emphasis will be laid upon the march and attack orders, because they are the most usual and the most critical.