Eleven General Orders of a SentryNormally, general orders for a sentry call forreporting to the petty officer of the guard. However, atany given station, you will make your reports to thepetty officer of the watch, officer of the day, officer ofthe deck, or to the person designated as your immediatesupervisor of the watch. Before standing watch, youneed to know your chain of command for the watch.There are 11 general orders for a sentry. They arereproduced here in bold letters, along with a briefexplanation of each. You should memorize them wordfor word. You don’t need to memorize the explanations,but you should understand the meaning of each order.1. To take charge of this post and all governmentproperty in view. The number of the post, type of sentryduty, and limits of your post are part of your specialorders. Within the limits of your post, you have authorityover all persons, and it’s your duty to challenge and, ifnecessary, detain all persons acting in a suspiciousmanner. You should apprehend all persons involved indisorder or discovered committing a crime. All personsdetained or apprehended are turned over to the pettyofficer of the guard. You should fire your weapon only asa last resort. Smoking in a prohibited area, for example, ishardly a shooting offense. There are times, however,when firing at another person may be justified, but onlyafter all means of defense or crime prevention havefailed. In general, such times are as follows:a. To protect your own or another’s lifeb. To prevent the escape of a person known tohave committed a serious crime, such asarmed robbery, rape, or murderc. To prevent sabotage, espionage, arson, andother crimes against the governmentd. If you must fire your weapon, try to woundinstead of kill the person you’re aiming at2. To walk my post in a military manner,keeping always alert and observing everything thattakes place within my sight or hearing. Keep turningyour head as you walk your post, observing everythingahead and to the sides. If you hear a strange noise,investigate it.You cannot expect to stand all your watches in fairweather. When the weather is bad, you will be issuedappropriate clothing. Do not stand under a tree to keepout of the rain or stay behind a building to get out of acold wind; during times of bad weather and darkness,you must be particularly alert.3. To report all violations of orders I aminstructed to enforce. If a person is acting fromthoughtlessness, you need only remind the offender ofthe regulation being broken. For example, if you see aperson starting to light a cigarette in a no smoking zone ora visitor blundering into a restricted area, you need onlytell the person the regulation in effect. If the person iswillfully violating a regulation, however, like trying tojump the fence or stealing Navy property, you must stopthe person and place the offender under apprehension;then call for the petty officer of the guard. If the persontries to escape, give the order to halt. If the person doesnot obey, fire into the air; if the person does not stop, fireat the fleeing party’s legs, subject to the limitations givenunder general order 1. If the offender escapes, report thematter as quickly as you can to the petty officer of theguard. In every instance, try to remember what theoffender looked like so that you may identify the person.Do not leave your post to chase the offender unlessimmediate action is essential.By firing your weapon and shouting, you can alertother sentries to intercept the offender. Do not fire at anoffender if anyone else is around who could be hit byyour shot. It is better to let the wrongdoer escape for thetime being than to shoot an innocent person.4. To repeat all calls from posts more distantfrom the guardhouse (quarterdeck) than my own.Suppose your post is number 3. To call the petty officer ofthe guard for any purpose other than relief, fire, ordisorder, you call, “Petty officer of the guard (or corporalof the guard), post number 3.” Sentry number 2 willrepeat your call, giving your number, and so will sentrynumber 1. Thus the petty officer will know immediatelywhich post to go to. Similarly, if sentry number 4 callsout, repeat the call, giving his or her number.5. To quit my post only when properly relieved.If you aren’t relieved on time, don’t abandon your post,but call the petty officer of the guard for instructions. Ifyou require a relief because of sickness or other reason,3-8Student Notes:
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