The sergeants are appointed in the number of one to a troop, and are
held responsible for the efficiency of the corporals and troopers.
They take turns as "sergeant of the week" for their squadrons, a duty
corresponding to that of the orderly-sergeant in the British Army.
Nominally, the sergeant of each troop is responsible to the lieutenant
or sub-lieutenant of the troop, but in reality the sergeant is more
under control of the squadron sergeant-major, and, through him, of the
captain. The sergeant drills the men of his troop; he is responsible
that the troop barrack room is properly kept; that kits and clothing
are kept clean and complete; that arms and saddlery, also, are kept in
order. As sergeant of the week, the sergeant inspects and reports to
the sergeant-major the correctness of morning and evening roll-call;
he keeps the roll of fatigue men, and also of men in the squadron for
guard; he parades the sick for inspection by the doctor and also
parades all men for fatigues and guards. The sergeant _fourrier_
holding the rank of sergeant is more of the nature of squadron clerk,
as his duties, with the exception of escorting men sent to hospital,
consist mainly in keeping books and accounts, in which he has the
corporal _fourrier_ to help him.
The corporal of the French Army is placed in charge of a squad of about
ten men; he sleeps in the same room with them, is responsible for their
personal cleanliness and the arrangement of their kits, and sees that
any men of his squad for guard or special duty turn out correctly.
He superintends the general cleaning of kit which the captain orders
weekly, and a rather curious duty which falls to his lot is to see
that the troopers of his squad change their linen once a week. This,
however, is not so curious as may appear at first sight, for it must
be borne in mind that the French Army sweeps up every class of citizen
into its net, and with some of the men personal cleanliness is so
little a habit that insistence on the point by one in authority is a
necessity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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