Now, a great many officers were unable to find even the North Star!
Perhaps in civil life they had been men who laughed at the boy scout
in his shirt and shorts because they couldn't see the good of it! But
when we came face to face with bare Nature we had to return to the
methods of primitive man.

More than once I found it very useful to be able to judge the time by
the swing of the star-sky.

Then again, many and many a young officer or army-scout on outpost
duty was shot and killed because, instead of keeping still, he jerked
his head up above the rocks and finding himself spotted jerked down
again. The consequence was, that when he raised himself the next time
the Turks had the spot "taped" and "his number was up."

This means unnecessary loss of men, owing entirely to lack of training
in scoutcraft and stalking.

Finding your way was another point. How many companies got "cut up"
simply because the officer or sergeant in charge had no bump of
location. As most men came from our big cities and towns, they knew
nothing of spotting the trail or of guessing the right direction.
Indeed, I see Sir Ian Hamilton states that owing to one battalion
"losing its way" a most important position was lost--and this happened
again and again--simply because the leaders were not scouts.

Then there were many young officers who when it came to the test could
not read a map quickly as they went. (Boy scouts, please note.) This
became a very serious thing when taking up fresh men into the firing-