Aide-de-camp

Aide-de-camp, an officer attached to the personal staff of a general officer. He carries all orders on the field of battle, and, when thus acting as the mouthpiece of the general, is to be implicitly obeyed: the importance of clearness and accuracy is therefore manifest. In garrison and quarters, the aide-de-camp superintends the general's household, and acts as his secretary, assisting him in his correspondence, introducing military officers, and likewise aiding in dispensing the courtesies of his house. Before an officer can be appointed an aide-de-camp, he must have served two years with his regiment; an officer who has not passed the final examination at the Staff College must have passed the examination for promotion to the rank of captain, and is required to exhibit proficiency both in speaking and writing French. A major-general has one, a lieutenant-general two, and a general three aides-de-camp; in the field, four aides are allotted to the officer commanding in chief, and two to a brigadier; each receives 9s. 6d. a day in addition to the pay of his rank. There is no limit of rank, and personal intelligence and good horsemanship are generally taken into account; but in practice, officers above the rank of captain are seldom selected as aides. As nominal head of the army, the sovereign may have an indefinite number of aides-de-camp, and the office is much sought after, both as an honour, and as conferring the army rank of full colonel. In 1887 the queen had forty-one aides-de-camp, some of whom were taken from the navy and from the militia, in which cases the appointments were honorary; the military aides, however, were chosen for distinguished war services.—In the United States army, a lieutenant-general is allowed two aides and a military secretary, with the rank and pay of lieutenant-colonel; three and two aides respectively are allotted to major-generals and brigadiers, selected in the former case from captains and lieutenants, in the latter from lieutenants in the army, but with no additional rank attached to their position.