t with the
tactical situation.

664. Great care should be exercised in selecting sites. In general,
the following principles govern:

The site should be convenient to an abundant supply of pure water.

Good roads should lead to the camp. Interior communication throughout
the camp should be easy. A camp near a main road is undesirable on
account of dust and noise.

Wood, grass, forage, and supplies should be at hand or easily
obtainable.

The ground should accommodate the command without crowding and without
compelling the troops of one unit to pass through the camp of another.

The site should be sufficiently high and rolling to drain off storm
water readily, and, if the season be hot, to catch the breeze. In cold
weather it should preferably have a southern exposure, with woods to
the north to break the cold winds. In warm weather an eastern
exposure, with the site moderately shaded by trees, is desirable.

The site should be dry. For this reason porous soil, covered with
stout turf and underlaid by a sandy or gravelly subsoil, is best. A
site on clay soil, or where the ground water approaches the surface,
is damp, cold, and unhealthful.

Alluvial soils, marshy ground, and ground near the base of hills, or
near thick woods or dense vegetation, are undesirable as camp sites on
account of dampness. Ravines and depressions are likely to be unduly
warm and to have insufficient or undesirable air currents.

Proximity to marshes or stagnant water is undesirable on account of
the dampness, mosquitoes, and the diseases which the latter transmit.
The high banks of lakes or large streams often make desirable camp
sites.

Dry beds of streams should be avoided; they are subject to sudden
freshet.

665. The occupation of old camp sites is dangerous, since these are
often permeated by elements of disease which persist for considerable
periods. Camp sites must be changed promptly when there is evidence of
soil pollution or when epidemic disease threatens, but the need for
frequent changes on this account may be a reflection on the sanitary
administration of the camp.

A change of camp site is often desirable in order to secure a change
of surroundings and to abandon areas which have become dusty and cut
up.

_Water Supply._

666. Immediately on making camp a guard should be placed over the
water supply. If the water be obtained from a stream, places should be
designated for drawing water (1) for drinking and coo