Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

A governmental policy of carrying out inspections of military personnel, equipment and supplies at regular intervals or unexpectedly has three basic aims. It combats wastage of public funds by ensuring that money is paid only for services actually rendered; it checks the operational efficiency of armed forces; and it ascertains that the army does not possess more men than can be paid. The earliest form of inspection was the muster. Essentially, a troop or company was mustered before an official who verified that the officers and men present on parade corresponded with the names and numbers on the muster roll which had been presented to him by the commander. If all was well, the roll was signed and sent to the paymaster who issued pay to that company or troop according to the ranks and numbers listed on the roll. Company and troop commanders devised a number of frauds to inflate their commands on the day of the muster: hiring additional men, having one man answer to two names, retaining dead men on the rolls, etc. As the period between musters was often three to six months, captains could make a handsome sum of money by pocketing the pay of deceased or non-existent soldiers. Mustering was a constant war between captains trying to cheat the system and the central military administration. In the sixteenth century, the Spanish authorities made the tercios undergo revistas (inspections) ... log in or subscribe to read full text