GENERAL ORDER 1 IN ARMY

GENERAL ORDER 1 IN ARMY

            Generally, in army there are usually three orders which control the operations of the soldiers on their line of duty, the first order being “I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post when properly relieved.” This order implies that for any soldier who is on duty, he or she has to remain available and attentive to the assigned post. He or she is as well remains to be accountable for anything which might happen during his assigned duration in the post and therefore expected to be prompt and always on time without taking a break from the post up to the moment when he is set free by being replaced by another officer, who then takes on the same responsibilities which had been bestowed on the first soldier.

Observing this order is of great importance especially for the officer on duty because he or she remains accountable for anything that might happen within the limits of this post while during the moments he is on duty. The soldier has the mandate of investigating any unusual or rather suspicious activities on and around the post and leaving the post would give a chance for such occurrences. The soldier is expected to apprehend all the suspicious activities around the scene as well as the people who are triggering such activities near the post. Chaos would therefore occur if the order is not followed to the latter.

In any case that the soldier leaves his post of duty before he or she is relieved in accordance to proper routine of being replaced immediately, then all the responsibilities which had been bestowed on him at the assigned post are left without anybody to attend unto them. This implies that if there were equipments to be taken care of is exposed for any available person to have access and make use of them without being reprimanded. This increases the risk of those equipments to be stolen or botched inventory. In addition, absence of the guard exposes the property belonging to the post to vandalism which turns expensive to clean up incase.

At any time when the soldier is away from the assigned position, he also remains in darkness as far as knowing what takes place around the post is concerned. This is because they are not in a position to carry out investigations on unusual and suspicious activities which might be taking place near the post or even inside the post. This makes the property belonging to post as well as the post as a whole subject to undetected threats which could cause huge damages beyond repair. For instance, a stranger could be approaching an unauthorized place but because there is nobody present to warn him or rather stops him from proceeding, he or she becomes a victim of the circumstance and the whole blame definitely points at the post administration.

Terror attacks are organized to hit the security sector mostly, and what makes them too hard to be successfully executed depends on the availability of enough guard in the posts in association with the intelligence sector. It therefore creates a golden chance for the terrorists whenever they realize that a police post is unguarded at any moment in time. Any chance they encounter even if it’s a matter of minutes could be fully utilized to cause damages beyond expectations. This further adds to the importance of the post guards ensuring their availability at any moment in time as well as transferring the responsibilities in harmony to the subsequent soldier in style to mitigate some of these attacks from happening.

There are some duties which a soldier on duty is supposed to accomplish some of these duties are more sensitive if left unattended and may lead to further risks in the post. Switching on security lights when darkness appears is one of these duties. Leaving the post before the due time especially when the soldier was on an evening session could mean that the lights won’t be switched on. When the darkness appears, malicious people could take the advantage of the darkness to enter into the post and carry out illegal activities. In addition to illegal activities, this could also pose a threat to the next soldier on duty considering that he or she will enter the post full of darkness and unknowingly could be targeted by the malicious people who would have already gained access and familiarized themselves with the environment within the post. Further, in a case where its terrorists who manages to enter the post under such conditions, the great and humble environment facilitated by the darkness could enable them to executed their attacks to the maximum since they will have familiarized themselves fully with such an environment as well as knowing every corner of the post.

A soldier who gets distracted by other commitments like relaxing with friends instead of being in the post attending to his call of duty may be easily lured by people with bad intentions for them  get a chance of accessing the post from outside. Interacting with people will make them realize his or her point of weakness, out of this knowledge they can easily draft a plan of trapping the soldier while on the other side they gain access to the post. This cannot be blamed to the soldier however because as a normal human being, he or she is expected to have that one area of weakness. The blame goes to his or her exposing his point of weakness to the people. For example, a soldier may be obsessed with gaming. Through exposing himself and being mastered by thieves whom main target is to steal from the post, they will utilize this chance by creating a conducive environment of gaming as the others get access into the post. This results into huge loses inside the post whenever the thieves succeed in stealing and the whole burden is later on placed on the officer on duty as he or she was expected to be on duty. Prosecutions may also be applicable leading to financial loses as well as reputation.

Apart from leaving the post earlier before the assigned time is unacceptable but also showing up late on duty under this order, this is because it leads to inconveniences to the soldier who expects to leave the post. This is because it may irritate the soldier who was supposed to leave the post at a certain time after accomplishing his turn successfully. This makes him distracted with her personal disdain that carrying out his duties properly is not possible. This makes the officer to become grumpy even toward innocent bystanders which may tarnish the reputation of the army in general.

Also, at any time when the soldier is away from the assigned position, he also remains in darkness as far as knowing what takes place around the post is concerned. This is because they are not in a position to carry out investigations on unusual and suspicious activities which might be taking place near the post or even inside the post. This makes the property belonging to post as well as the post as a whole subject to undetected threats which could cause huge damages beyond repair. For instance, a stranger could be approaching an unauthorized place but because there is nobody present to warn him or rather stops him from proceeding, he or she becomes a victim of the circumstance and the whole blame definitely points at the post administration.

In general this first general order sets the basic guidelines which enable the soldiers know what they are supposed to do, be in charge of while in their line of duty and lastly enable them  understand the manner to conduct themselves as military personnel’s. Basically, this order helps them in two ways; first it enables them to conduct themselves in an orderly manner as a military body and secondly instilling discipline among the army.

Failure to adhere to this order while on duty has its own consequences just like any other military order. It can result into various punitive courses of actions against the involved soldier. Also, failing to adhere to the order as scrutinized above may result into damages which are non-repairable, putting other people away into the harm, or facilitating disorders within the company. Remembering what is expected while in the line of duty is therefore very important as it avoids damages and other inconveniences as expressed in this case “I will guard everything within the limits of my post and quit my post when properly relieved.” it is also essential to always remember ones responsibilities while in the line of duty as stated above, and will restate again: the guard remains responsible for all what happens within the limits of the post while on duty, including every equipment and property kept within the limits of the post. A guard is also expected to carry out investigations whenever he or she suspects any unusual activities to be taking place around or within the post provided he does not leave the post to do so.

References

Duby, G. (2012). The three orders: feudal society imagined. University of Chicago Press.