Staff Officers

Staff officer Kyle Wichtendahl “explains the situation”.

Our senior officers are sometimes accompanied by impressions of support staff officers such as Adjutant and Aide-de-camp. The portrayals present how staff officer functions were often difficult and delicate.

Staff officers seen accompanying senior officers. Courtesy Craig Smith Photography. www.craigsmithphotographs.com

Usually personally selected as close confidants, they typically enjoyed the full confidence of the senior officer under whom they were employed by directly representing him, in writing orders, in carrying them in person if  necessary, in communicating them verbally.

Field desk at the surgeon's tent... a staff officer's duty is not finished until the paperwork is complete.

It is necessary that their knowledge be sufficiently comprehensive to understand the object and purpose of all orders, and also to judge, in the varying circumstances of duty, whether it is necessary to modify an order in person as changing circumstances may require, or if there be time to return for new instructions.