no noncommissioned officers are playing and that no outsiders are
present. The first sergeant who confined himself to publishing the
order to the company and then doing nothing more, would be neglectful
of his proper duty.

Noncommissioned officers clothed in the proper uniform of their grade
are on duty at all times and places for the suppression of disorderly
conduct on the part of members of the company in public places. Men
creating disorder will be sent to their quarters in arrest and the
facts reported to the company commander without delay.

Noncommissioned officers can do much to prevent the commission of
offenses by members of their commands, both when on and when off duty,
and such prevention is as much their duty as reporting offenses after
they are committed; in fact, it is much better to prevent the offense
than to bring the offender to trial.

Company commanders should drill their noncommissioned officers
thoroughly in the principles of discipline.

=875. Noncommissioned Officers Authorized to Confine Enlisted Men.= A
company or detachment commander may delegate to his noncommissioned
officers the authority to confine enlisted men in the guardhouse and
to place them in arrest in quarters, provided the case is immediately
reported to the company or detachment commander, who confirms the act
of the noncommissioned officer and adopts it as his own.--W. D.
decision, December, 1905.

=876. Reduction and Resignation.= A noncommissioned officer should
never be reduced to ranks, except for grave and sufficient reasons.
Nothing demoralizes the noncommissioned officers of a company so much
and upsets discipline to such an extent as the feeling that upon the
slightest pretext or fancy one is to be sent back to the ranks, to
associate with the privates he has been required to discipline.

In some regiments noncommissioned officers are permitted to send in
formal resignations, while in other regiments they are not, but, with
the approval of the company commander, they may ask for reduction,
giving proper, satisfactory and specific reasons. Of course,
resignations submitted in a spirit of accepted insubordination or
pique should not be considered, nor should they ever be in
substitution for deserved disciplinary punishment. If a
noncommissioned officer has good reasons for requesting reduction and
the granting of the request would not result in detriment to the
company, there is no reason why his application sh