Duties of Commissary Personnel in Combat

Excerpted from Instructions for Use in Preparation for the Rating of Ship's Cook 2c and 1c, 1939

Besides the general duties of a cook in the field referred to elsewhere in this course, commissary personnel should be fully informed as to their duties in combat, as follows:

• To learn the details of first aid and to give assistance when necessary.

• When ordered to reinforce the stretcher men, to assist in bringing wounded men to the dressing station or hospital.

• To recover arms and ammunition, if possible, of the dead and wounded.

• To perform other duties as officers and petty officers may direct.

The details of first aid are fully set forth in Chapter K, First Aid, Bluejacket's Manual. While this is one of the subjects required of all men, regardless of rating, particular attention should be given to "first aid" by commissary personnel detailed to the landing force, as these men are available as assistants to the stretcher men during action. An understanding of first aid may result in the saving of life in the case of badly wounded men.

During an engagement, in order to reduce the number of ineffective men to a minimum, the messmen, stewards, and others who are not actually engaged in their own legitimate duties may be employed to reinforce the stretcher men. When so employed they should recover the arms and ammunition of disabled men, and perform such other duties as the commanding officer may direct. Those who assist the stretcher men should lay aside their arms and wear the Red Cross badge.

Bibliography:

Bluejacket's Manual. 9th ed. Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute, 1939. The Bluejacket's Manual was originally written by Lt. Ridley McKlean, USN in 1902. The following editions were published prior to World War II: 1914, 1916, 1918, 1922, 1927, 1938, 1939 and 1940.

Bureau of Navigation. Instructions for Use in Preparation for the Rating of Ship's Cook 2c and 1c. Washington: GPO, 1939. 243pp. This information is taken from pages 185-6.

March 2000

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