By Maj-Gen. Sir F. Maurice, K.C.M.G., C.B.
(Late Director of Military Operations)
The Times (London), Saturday, Aug. 10, 1918.
The Duke of Wellington described the quality of courage particularly needed by a military leader in war as "one-o’clock-in-the-morning courage." I take it by this he meant that the greatest test of leadership is the power to make cool, quick, and reasoned decisions at a time when vitality is at the lowest and mental and physical strain greatest. The Duke might have said with equal justice that the particular kind of memory most need in war is the one-o’clock-in-the-morning memory.
It is a comparatively easy matter to remember when life is running smoothly, when one is well-fed, rested and undisturbed, but to remember even the essentials when things are going wrong, when one is hungry, tired, and surrounded by noise and clamour is quite another matter.
This has always been recognized in the training of armies for war, and military authority has always insisted that it is enough for a soldier to know how to perform any particular exercise or duty, but that he must know it so well as to be able to carry it out automatically when his mind, owing to strain and disturbance, has ceased to function normally. This is why drill plays such a large part in the training of the soldier for war.
Now the Pelman system provides mind-drill based on scientific principles, and taught by experienced instructors. It claims to produce not only a good memory but concentration, self-concentration, self-control, initiative, and observation, and thousands of letters received from soldiers who have taken the course, both before and during the war, show that it makes no empty claims.
Now there are a few qualities which are more essential for the soldier than these, and in fact all the official drill-books in use before the war preached their importance, and indicated, the methods of producing them. In the renaissance of military training that followed the South African War, the Army began to recognize that his eyes are amongst a soldier’s most important weapons, either of offence or defence, and training in observation became a regular part of the soldier’s instruction.
Good as this was, if somewhat amateurish in the methods, it fell far short of the graduated and scientific system which is to be found in Pelmanism. This unquestionably does train the eye and mind, together to recall automatically all that comes within the range of vision, and in these days it is quite unnecessary to insist on the importance of this faculty to the soldier of any rank.
But the greatest value of the Pelman system from a military point of view appears to me to lie especially in its power to produce a one-o’clock-in-the-morning memory. I have known of the Pelman system for some seven years. I have served both before and during the war with many who have followed it, and it is this particular characteristic of its training which has struck me most.
To any officer responsible for the lives and welfare of men, memory which works instantly and automatically when roused suddenly from a short and insufficient nap, or when the brain is numbed by fatigue and want of sleep, is a priceless possession, and there are few gifts which lead more certainly to advancement in a military career.
Of the thousand and one things that an officer in a responsible position must remember at such times, some one, and perhaps a vital one, may, and probably will, be forgotten, unless both mind and memory have been trained to cope with emergencies. Emergencies are not of everyday occurrence, even in war, and it is difficult in the long strain of such a war as this to keep the mind fit to meet emergencies when they come.
The Briton, as a general rule, requires little persuasion to keep his body fit, and none at all to convince him of the necessity of having a fit body when he goes to war. Physical exercise and physical training of all kinds play a recognized part in the education of the recruit, in keeping the trained soldier up to the mark, and in restoring the convalescent.
But as a nation, if we appreciate in a general way that it is of at least equal importance to keep our minds fit, we are far less certain of how to set about it than we are when it is a case of keeping our bodies hard. I can think of no better method than Pelmanism, either for:
- keeping the mind fit in times of leisure or slackness, or
- for restoring mental vigour to a soldier whose mind has become flabby from overstrain or physical weakness,
and I can recommend no better investment than a Pelman Course to the soldier on convalescent leave.
The Pelman System was designed not for war but for peace, and its exercises were originally mainly adopted to the purposes of business and commercial training, but even in that form, which is the form in which I knew it first, it was followed with great benefit by many soldiers. But since the War the number of officers and men who have become Pelmanists has increased so fast that special courses of Army exercises have now been arranged, and are still being developed.
The Pelman System is not cram or trick, but a scientific method of training which has proved its value to the soldier in war, and it would, I am certain be of the greatest benefit if it were adopted to Army training generally.