of the death of a retired officer, or of an officer on the active list who has no immediate commander, the medical officer, if one be present, or any officer having cognizance of the fact, will make the report to The Adjutant-General of the Army. 84. Inventories in duplicate of the effects of deceased officers, as required by the one hundred and twenty-fifth article of war, will be transmitted to The Adjutant-General of the Army. If legal representatives take possession of the effects, the fact will be stated in the inventory. 85. If there be no legal representatives present to receive the effects, a list of them will be sent to the nearest relative of the deceased. If not claimed within a reasonable time, they will be sold at auction and accounted for as in the case of deceased soldiers. Swords, watches, personal papers, trinkets, and similar articles will be labeled with the name, rank, regiment, and date of death of the owner and sent directly to The Adjutant-General of the Army to be forwarded to the Auditor for the War Department for the benefit of those legally entitled to them. The accounts of deceased officers will be settled as provided for in paragraph 164. 86. On the death of an officer in charge of public property or funds, his commanding officer will appoint a board of officers, three when practicable, which will inventory the same and make the customary returns therefor, stating accurately amounts and condition. These the commanding officer will forward to the chiefs of the bureaus to which the property or funds pertain, and he will designate an officer to take charge of such property or funds until orders in the case are received from the proper authority. Cash on hand may be invoiced by the board to the deceased officer's successor, but balances to his credit with the Treasurer, an assistant treasurer, a designated depositary, or a fiscal agent of the United States, over and above his outstanding checks, will be deposited to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States by the chiefs of bureaus when the board has reported to the bureaus the balances over and above such checks. The action herein prescribed will also be taken in the case of an officer in charge of public funds or property who becomes insane. 87. The remains of officers who die while on duty will be inclosed in coffins and, if the death occurred while on duty within the continental limits of the United States, will be transported to the nearest post or national cemetery for burial. The cost of such transportation is payable from the appropriation for army transportation. The remains of officers who are killed in action, or who die at military camps or in the field or hospital in Alaska or at places outside the continental limits of the United States, or while on voyage at sea, will, if desired by relatives or friends, be transported to their homes for interment. The cost of transportation in these cases is payable from funds specially appropriated for that purpose. Other expenses of burial are limited to $75, and will be restricted to the cost of the casket, hire of hearse, and the reasonable and necessary expenses of preparing the remains for burial. If buried at the place of death the fact will be reported to The Adjutant-General of the Army, ARTICLE XIV. VETERINARIANS, CAVALRY AND FIELD ARTILLERY. 88. Veterinarians are appointed by the Secretary of War, subject to competitive examinations as to eligibility, capacity, and fitness. The scope and conditions of such examinations will be announced in orders from time to time by the War Department. 89. A veterinarian has the pay of a second lieutenant, mounted, and is entitled to the same allowances in kind, of quarters, fuel, and lights. 90. It shall be the duty of the veterinarian to visit at least daily all sick or injured animals at his station, and to recommend such treatment as he may deem proper. He will have access to the stables at all times. Upon request he will attend such authorized private horses of mounted officers as may need his services. 91. The veterinarian will instruct company farriers in the proper care of the horse. In this he will give especial importance to the anatomy and pathology of the foot, showing the nature and uses of all its parts, illustrating the subject by dissections and specimens. He will also teach the principles and practice of horseshoeing. For the purpose indicated he will make such visits of instruction to companies of the regiment not at his station as may be deemed necessary by the regimental commander. 92. Wherever four or more troops of cavalry or three or more batteries of field artillery are stationed, a suitable building may be set apart as a veterinary hospital. ARTICLE XV. POST AND GENERAL NONCOMMISSIONED STAFF. POST NONCOMMISSIONED STAFF. 93. The post noncommissioned staff consists of ordnance, post commissary, and post quartermaster sergeants. They are appointed by the Secretary of War, after due examination, as follows: Ordnance sergeants from sergeants of the line who have served at least eight years in the Army, including four years as noncommissioned officers, and who are less than 45 years of age; post commissary-sergeants from sergeants of the line who have served five years in the Army, including three years as noncommissioned officers; post quartermastersergeants from sergeants of the line who have served four years in the Army. 94. An application for appointment to the post noncommissioned staff must be in the handwriting of the applicant, and will briefly state the length and nature of his military service, and for what time and in what organizations he has served as a noncommissioned officer. The company commander will indorse thereon the character of the applicant and his opinion as to his intelligence and fitness for the position. The application so indorsed will be submitted to the regimental or artillery district commander, who will forward the same, with his remarks as to the merits of the applicant, to The Adjutant-General of the Army. 95. While the law contemplates in these appointments the better preservation of public property at the several posts, there is also a further consideration— that of offering a reward to faithful and well-tried sergeants, thus giving encouragement to deserving soldiers to hope for substantial promotion. Commanding officers can not be too particular in investigating and reporting upon the character and qualifications of applicants. 96. Regulations for the examination of applicants for appointment as post noncommissioned staff officers will be published from time to time in orders by the War Department. 97. A post noncommissioned staff officer will assist the officer of his department, and will not be detailed upon any service not pertaining to his proper position, unless the necessities of the service require such detail, in which case the post commander will note the fact, with reasons therefor, on the sergeant's personal report. 98. A post noncommissioned staff officer at an ungarrisoned post or station will be responsible for the property of his own department, and for such other property as may be intrusted to him for safe-keeping. For all public property committed to his charge he will account to the heads of the staff departments concerned, and if the means at his disposal are insufficient for its preservation he will report the facts. 99. The military control of post noncommissioned staff officers serving at posts not occupied by troops is vested in the commander of the territorial department in which they are serving. All matters relating to them as soldiers subject to military command, as distinguished from the administrative duties imposed upon them by regulations and orders, will, except in cases of reenlistment, be determined at department headquarters, where their descriptive lists and accounts of pay and clothing will be kept. When they are discharged a copy of the descriptive list, upon which will be noted the fact of discharge, with the date, place, and cause, and the character given on the discharge certificate, will be forwarded to The Adjutant-General of the Army. 100. Each post noncommissioned staff officer will make a personal report on June 30 of each year. The officer under whose orders these noncommissioned officers are serving will indorse upon each separate report his opinion of the manner in which the noncommissioned officer has performed his duties, and the commanding officer will forward the report through military channels to the chief of the proper bureau or corps. In addition to the annual personal report, each post noncommissioned 'staff officer changing station under proper orders will report through his commanding officer to the chief of the proper bureau or corps upon arrival at his new station the date he left his former station and date he reported for duty at his new station. Similar report will be made upon return from any detached duty, furlough, or other absence. 101. A post noncommissioned staff officer may be reenlisted, provided he shall have conducted himself properly and performed his duties in a satisfactory manner. If, however, his commanding officer should not deem the reenlistment to be for the best interest of the service, he will communicate his reasons to The Adjutant-General of the Army in time to receive the decision of the War Department before the soldier's discharge. If serving at an ungarrisoned post, application for reenlistment will be made by the soldier to The Adjutant-General of the Army through department headquarters, and the reenlistment papers in such cases will immediately be forwarded through the same channel. A post noncommissioned staff officer will be furnished with a warrant signed by the chief of the proper staff corps or department. The warrant will remain in force so long as the soldier is continuously in the service, i. e., if he reenlists the day following that of discharge. Every such reenlistment will be noted on the back of the warrant by the officer who reenlists the soldier, as follows: Reenlisted (date); warrant continued. 102. Post noncommissioned staff officers, though liable to discharge for inefficiency or misconduct, will not be reduced. GENERAL NONCOMMISSIONED STAFF. 103. The general noncommissioned staff consists of noncommissioned officers of the Signal Corps, Hospital Corps, and Ordnance Department, except ordnance sergeants. They are appointed, promoted, reduced, and their warrants signed as follows: In the Hospital Corps, as prescribed in Article LXXVII. In the Signal Corps, by the Chief Signal Officer as prescribed in paragraph 1575. Their warrants may be continued in force upon discharge and reenlistment, if reenlistment be made on the day following that of discharge; each reenlistment and continuance will be noted on the warrant by the company or detachment commander. ARTICLE XVI. DETACHED SOLDIERS: DESCRIPTIVE LISTS. 104. When an enlisted man is detached from his company, a descriptive list will be prepared and forwarded to his new commanding officer. On the descriptive list will be shown the pay due the soldier, the condition of his clothing allowance, and all information necessary to the settlement of his accounts with the Government. When it can be avoided, the descriptive list will not be intrusted to the soldier, but to an officer or noncommissioned officer under whose charge he may be, or it may be forwarded by mail. The date of the last vaccination of the soldier and its result will be noted on the descriptive list. Articles of ordnance equipment in possession of a detached soldier will be transferred as prescribed in paragraph 1552. ARTICLE XVII. FURLOUGHS TO SOLDIERS. 105. Furloughs in the prescribed form for periods of three months may be granted to enlisted men by general officers commanding posts, and for periods of one month by other commanding officers of posts, or by regimental commanders if the companies to which the men belong are under their control. . A furlough will not be granted to a soldier about to be discharged, nor shall the number of enlisted men furloughed from any command in the field exceed 5 per cent of the enlisted strength present therewith. 106. The commander of a tactical division or separate brigade may grant furloughs to enlisted men for two months; the commander of a tactical corps, territorial division or department for three months, or they may extend to such periods furloughs already granted. Chiefs of War Department bureaus may grant furloughs for three months to enlisted men of their respective corps or departments serving under the exclusive control of themselves or their subordinates or they may extend to that period furloughs already granted to such enlisted men. For a longer period than three months the authority of the War Department is necessary. Permission to delay may be granted to enlisted men traveling under orders as authorized for furloughs. The conditions under which furloughs to soldiers on reenlistment are authorized will be announced from time to time in orders. 107. The commanding officer of a corps, or of a separate command in the field, may suspend the granting of furloughs in any or all organizations within his command whenever, in his opinion, circumstances render it necessary, or advisable, or for the best interests of the service. 108. The approval of the War Department must be obtained to allow an enlisted man on furlough to leave the United States to go beyond the sea. The limits prescribed will be stated in the furlough, and if exceeded, it may be revoked and the soldier arrested. A company commander in forwarding an application for furlough will state previous absences on furlough that are of record in the company. The authority under which a furlough is granted (whether under Army Regulations or in pursuance of the orders of a superior) will be cited on the face of the furlough by the officer granting it. 109. On the application of a soldier on furlough, made at a military station and showing clearly the urgency of his case, the department commander may order transportation and subsistence to be furnished to enable him to rejoin his proper station, and the company commander will charge the cost thereof against the soldier's pay on the next muster and pay rolls, in accordance with paragraphs 1119 and 1254. The date of the application will be entered on the furlough. 110. Furloughs granted to enlisted men serving in Porto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, the Philippine Islands, Alaska, or at any station beyond the continental limits of the United States, for the purpose of returning thereto, will take effect on the dates they reach the United States, which will be indorsed on the furloughs by the transport quartermaster if travel is by United States transport; otherwise the certificate of the captain, purser, or other proper officer of commercial steamer upon which journey is made, as to date of arrival in home port will be indorsed thereon. The furloughs will direct the soldier to report for duty at the close of the last day thereof at the military post nearest the particular home port from which transports or commercial steamers usually sail for the islands or stations above referred to, and the commanding officers of these posts will assign such enlisted men to organizations under their command for the purpose of subsistence during the time they are detained at their posts, and they will be returned to their proper stations by the first available transport, or commercial steamer if there are no United States transports sailing to destination. Commanding officers will cause notation to be made on the furloughs showing the dates when the men report at their posts and at the proper time will issue the necessary orders directing them to rejoin their stations, reciting therein the date of their arrival in the United States, date of reporting at post, and whether or not commutation of rations has been paid. A copy of the order will be furnished to the soldier and to the commanding officer concerned. The quartermaster and commissary of the transport, or proper officer of commercial steamer on which these enlisted men return, will indorse on such orders the dates during which they were subsisted aboard the transport or commercial steamer. The order will be retained by the enlisted man, who will deliver it to his commanding officer as evidence of his authority to be absent from his post during the time required for travel in rejoining the same. 111. When the station of an enlisted man is changed while he is on furlough, he will, on joining his new station, be entitled to travel allowances for the excess of distance from the place of receipt of the order to the new station over the distance to his old station. A soldier who has returned to the station from which furloughed, his company having changed station during his absence, is entitled to transportation at the expense of the Government from the old to the new station of his company. Charges for transportation furnished to enlisted men on furlough, in pursuance of paragraph 109, will be adjusted in accordance with the requirements of this regulation. 112. Soldiers on furlough will not take with them their arms or accouterments, and no payments will be made to them without authority from the War Department. |