VOLUNTEERS. Persons who enter mili tary service of their own free will and not by constraint or compulsion. In the United States, especially during the Civil War, volunteers iva eluded solders of all bodies other than the regu lar army, but practically governed by the same laws when in service. In general the army of volunteers comprises to all intents and pur poses, (1) the regular unpaid forces of the State militia which when called into actual service receive pay from the government and are subject to the rules and articles of war, and (2) that class of troops which may from time to time be raised by Congress on occasions of national emergency. In the United States, by act of Congress, in 1914 the volunteer force.s are raised, organized and maintained only dur ing the existence of war, or while war is irnminent, and only after Congress shall have authorized the President to raise such a force. The terin of enlistment in the volunteer forces is the same as that for the regular army, ex clusive of reserve periods, and all officers and enlisted men composing such volunteer forces are mustered out of the service of the United States as soon as practicable after the Presi dent shall have issued a proclamation announc ing the termination of the war or the passing of the imminence thereof. When volunteer forces are to be raised the President issues his proclamation, stating the number of men de sired for each arm, corps and .department, within such limits as may be fixed by law, and he prescribes such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the purpose of examining, organizing and receiving into the service, the men called for. The power to organize volun teer forces includes the power to provide, within such limits as are or may be prescribed by law, the officers and enlisted men of all grades and classes, and the trained nurses, male and female, that may be necessary in the various arms, corps and departments. When three fourths of the prescribed minimum enlisted strength of any company, troop or battery, or when three-fourths of the prescribed minimtun enlisted strength of each company, troop or battery comprised in any battalion or regi ment of the organized land militia of any State, Territory or the District of Columbia, organized as prescribed by law and War Department regulations, volunteer and are accepted for service in the volunteer army as such company, troop, battery, battalion or regiment, such or ganization may be received into the volunteer forces in advance of other organizations of the same arm or class from the same State, Territory or District, and the officers in the organized land militia service with such or ganization may then, within the limits pre scribed by.law, be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as officers of corresponding grades in the volunteer army and be assigned to the same grades in the said organization or elsewhere as the President may direct. All enlisted men
received into the service in the volunteer forces, as far as practicable, are talcen from the several States and Territories and the District of Cohimbia in proportion to the re spective populations thereof. When the rais ing of a volunteer force has been authorized by Congress and after the organized land militia of any arm or class has been called into the military service of the United States, volunteers of that particular arm or class may be raised and accepted into said service regard less of the extent to which other arms or classes of , said militia have been called into said serv ice. The volunteer forces are subject to the laws, orders and regulations governing the regular army in so far as such laws, orders and regulations are applicable to officers or enlisted men whose permanent retention in the military service, either on the active list or on the retired list, is not contemplated by exist ing law, and no distinction is made between the regular army, the organized militia while in the military service of the United States, and the volunteer forces in respect to promo tion or to the conferring upon officers or en listed man of brevet rank, medals rif honor, certificates of merit or other rewards for dis tinguished service, nor in respect to the eligibil itY of any officer of said army, militia or volun teer force.s for service upon any court-martial, court of inquiry or military commission. The organization of all units of the line and of the signal troops of the volunteer forces is the same as that prescribed by law and regulations for the corresponding units of the regular army. When military conditions so require, the Presi dent may organize the land forces of the United States into brigades and divisions and such higher units as he may deem necessary, and the composition of tmits higher than the regi ment is as he may prescribe. To each regitnent of infantry, cavalry and artillery and to each battalion of engineers and signal corps troops, there is attached the same personnel of the Medical Department as are attached to lilce organizations of the regular army. The Or ganization of the coast defense, of machine-gun detachments, establishments of the Medical De partment, . remount depots. military trains, secret-service agencies, military prisons, lines of communication, including their supply depots, and of other adjuncts that may be necessary in the prosecution of war and the organization of which is not otherwise provided for by law, is as the President may from time to time direct.