Your 11 General Orders

[Art]

# 11 got me a Captains Mast when some goof ball Lt tried to catch people sleeping on guard duty. He failed to halt and be recognized in the dark. He halted when I racked the shotgun and made him lay in the dirt road then whisper the pass word. I had one day of extra convoy duty, but I didn't see him around the bunkers again. Co knew I did it on purpose. RVN 68.

My father told me an officer (I think he said Lt. Commander) on Samar was shot and killed by a SeaBee sentry for failing to halt while being driven through a checkpoint in a jeep. It turned out his driver said the officer had been drinking and told him to drive straight through the checkpoint.

Dad said no action was taken against the sentry.

[Bill D]

Old joke was, "call halt three times and then shoot". Seebees "shoot three times and call halt". It was generall accepted during WWII that screwing around with the Seebees could very well be hazardous to your health.

[John Sukey]

Early in WW2 there was a shortage of rifles and on some instalations sailors were walking guard with Trapdoor Springfields!

[Peconga]

Old joke was, "call halt three times and then shoot". Seebees "shoot three times and call halt". It was generally accepted during WWII that screwing around with the Seebees could very well be hazardous to your health.

Average age of a Seabee during WW2 was 37 years old, and many of them were WW1 veterans. Just proves that you don't want to pick a fight with an "Old Man"...

[alibi]

Guard duty has for the most part served a purpose and failure of guards or patrols to do their job has resulted in some military disasters. It could be said that the Lieutenant that said “Don’t worry about it.” to the radar operator in Hawaii that reported detecting a large formation of aircraft an example of letting his guard down.

I’ve heard many stories of incidents of guard duty some of which are likely true and some that are more likely fantasy. The one I heard several versions of is the guard sleeping on post that awakens to detect someone standing near him and says, “Amen” and then challenges or acknowledges the person.

I first encountered the general orders as a collector of militaria. When I was in high school we memorized the then 10 general orders, but what has stayed with me is “How’s the cow?” a non-sense recitation of a memorized response, that it seemed important to say as fast possible to make it even more meaningless. Another of these was “What time is it?” which response was a similar nonsensical response that I never fully learned.

After I was inducted into the Army we memorized the three general orders, which I recognized as revised consolidations of the 10 general orders. The first occasion I actually pulled guard duty was in Military Police AIT at Ft. Gordon. My duty was to guard a small exchange facility and my recollection is that there was no instructions, no one to call or any way to call, and I wore a helmet liner (which presumably would provide protection from an assailant) and an pick handle. On another occasion I was assigned guard duty in a closed motor pool with another trainee. Sometime after dark he started yelling there was someone in one of the trucks, we made a brief search, and I tried to phone the NCO of the guard and got no answer. My “partner” then started yelling that someone in the yard again, and we went through the same drill. When I went back to the gate to call it happened the NCO of the guard pulled up to the gate in a quarter ton. As I was reporting to him the “events” I got the distinct impression he wanted to say “Don’t worry about it.” and drove off. I’m convinced that the other guy that sounded the alarm was bored and never saw anyone except in his imagination.

The general orders have changed over time. The “Manual of Interior Guard Duty, United States Army, 1914” GPO, 1914, illustrates how seriously guard duty was taken and that there were twelve general orders for sentinels. The 9th order “To allow no one to commit a nuisance on a near my post” has always intrigued me as to the precise meaning of “nuisance” in this order. This manual goes on to define in great detail what each of the general orders mean and the correct response by sentinels, but omitted defining nos. 9 and 10.

[Guamsst]

We seem to only have one general order now.

General Order #1 No Drinking, No screwing, no gambling, no dirty pictures, no alcohol, no sex, no imbibing, no fornication, no porn......whatever you do, do not have a good time in the desert.

I may have broken one or more sections of that rule. Oddly enough, while researching my defense....LOL I found out you can do those things on a U.S. government owned Aircraft or Ship. Unfortunately I had limited access to both.

[Art]

We seem to only have one general order now.

General Order #1 No Drinking, No screwing, no gambling, no dirty pictures, no alcohol, no sex, no imbibing, no fornication, no porn......whatever you do, do not have a good time in the desert.

I may have broken one or more sections of that rule. Oddly enough, while researching my defense....LOL I found out you can do those things on a U.S. government owned Aircraft or Ship. Unfortunately I had limited access to both.

Back in the day when I was in, the Army actively or passively promoted every one of those, especially if you happened to be deployed to some foreign cesspool. Times do change. Oh, I never did memorize all those general orders. You are correct though, about the desert as far as we can glean from our son, no fun allowed.

[Griff Murphey]

Look at it this way, the present wars may be the first wars we as a nation fought where you could pretty well say everybody was largely substance-free. Also with an all-volunteer force I would say when we went in on Desert Storm with an untried force, it was probably the most well-trained untried force we ever began a war with. Compare with WW-2 where I would say it would not be unusual or impossible for a draftee to be in combat within a few months of being drafted.

[Michaelp]

Excellent observation.

[blackhawknj]

The Army had reduced the 11 General Orders to 3 when I enlisted in June, 1967. Starting in early 1971 when I was in Germany we didn't take weapons on Guard Duty, one consequence of the Vietnam Bungle was that it gave the brass heartburn and anguish to have the troops armed with weapons and live ammo.