_The Director_: “Those are the details I wanted to bring out. And that is the value of the Terrain Exercise. We come out here and learn to do the things that we must do in actual campaign when we do not have to pay for the mistakes with our own lives or the lives of our men. You have to draw upon your imagination to picture the situation that confronts you. You have to use your gray matter to figure out and decide just what you are going to do. Finally, you have to draw upon your power of speech to put your decision into words and express it in a clear and intelligent manner.
“When you get up to the outguard you find that the outguard commander is asleep. You decide not to awaken him. You tell the man on duty that you are going to the sentinel post. Now Lieutenant Barry I want you to tell us and show us just how you do it.”
_Lieutenant Barry_: “I would proceed cautiously in the direction of the sentinel post. When I figure I am within hearing distance I will give the recognition signal. The sentinel will give me the return signal and I will know everything is all right and be free to go up to him.”
_Lieutenant Hunt_: “I do not understand this recognition signal proposition. Can the director enlighten us on that?”
_The Director_: “Yes, we will go into that in a few minutes. Before doing so I wish to review and consider in detail this comparatively simple proposition of approaching a sentinel post at night. You must remember that the line of observation of an outpost is a ‘spooky’ place at night and that outpost sentinels are as easily flushed as a pheasant. Their nerves are strung to the breaking point. In every shadow an enemy lurks. They soon learn to take no chances. It becomes the rule to shoot first and challenge afterwards. If one makes a practice of running headlong into sentinel posts on dark nights he may get away with it a few times, but you are taking serious chances and the game will finally get you. Having these things in mind, let us review the process of approaching the sentinel post.
“1. The patrol leader halts his patrol some little distance from the post. He gives the orders for the other members to stand fast until he returns. He then goes to the outguard and notifies them that he is going out to the sentinel. There is no necessity for any other person than the patrol commander going up to the post. If others go it makes just that much more confusion and adds that much more chance for lurking scouts to locate the post and get information.