engineering officer informed as to your workload and work  progress.  It  also  will  aid  him  in  deciding  on priorities for rush jobs. Do not allow your personnel to assign priorities to work.  Only  you,  the  supervisor,  or  the  engineering officer, when rush jobs or top priority jobs are requested, should be responsible for assigning priorities. FIELD  ENGINEERING  SECTION The field engineering section performs such field engineering  work  as  the  following: 1.  Reconnaissance,  preliminary,  topographic,  and location  surveys 2. 3. place 4. Construction  stakeout;  line  and  grade Regular  measurement  of  quantities  of  work  in As-built  location  of  structures  for  preparation  of as-built record drawings 5.  Measurement  and  computation  of  earthwork quantities 6. Calculations for establishing line and grade 7.  Plotting  survey  data 8. Special surveys, such as property, triangulation, hydrographic,  and  the  determination  of  true  azimuth In  combat,  the  field  crews  gather  needed intelligence  by  scouting,  patrolling,  and  manning observation posts. They are also trained as damage survey teams for emergency recovery operations. Survey Parties As  you  learned  in  your  previous  studies,  a  survey party  is  organized  and  designated  according  to  the  type and  purpose  of  the  proposed  survey.  Whatever  the purpose and scope of the survey, the job must first be planned. You know that the first step in preparing for a field party  mission  is  to  decide  upon  a  job  plan   b y determining the answers to the following questions: 1. What is the exact nature of the job? 2. What is the best way to accomplish it? 3.  How  many  men  are  required? 4.  What  tools,  materials,  and  equipment  are required? 5.  What  is  the  tactical  situation  in  a  wartime situation? A large construction project requires continuous survey activity; that is, the survey can seldom be done in a single operation. Often, phases of a construction survey overlap preceding phases. When two or more survey missions are being carried on at the same time, the question of where and when to use available crews must be decided. Sometimes it is best to use all the crews on one phase of the surveying work sometimes it is best to shuttle crews from one phase to another. The type of party sent out will depend, of course, on what the party is to do. You should already be familiar with   a   typical   party   organization;   however,   the paragraphs below serve as a refresher. RECONNAISSANCE PARTY.—  The manning level of a reconnaissance party is a flexible one. The number  of  personnel  needed  depends  upon  the  purpose of the reconnaissance survey, engineering data required, terrain features, and mode of transportation. We have reconnaissance  surveys  for  triangulation  stations, routes,  airfields  and  base  sites.  Each  of  these  should  be treated independently when you are planning. One consideration that also will affect the composition of the party is the choice of instruments and equipment. In a difficult situation, the weight and accessories of the survey  instrument  and  equipment  should  be  given careful   consideration. TRANSIT PARTY.—  A transit party consists of at least three persons: instrumentman, head chainman, and party chief. The instrumentman operates the transit; the head chainman measures the horizontal distances; and the party chief, directing the survey, is usually the note keeper and may also serve as rear chainman. The party chief  should  be  at  the  spot  where  any  important measurement is made so that he can verify the reading personally.  He  should  develop  the  ability  to  estimate distances and the sizes of angles so that he may detect any large error at the moment the dimension is called off. STADIA PARTY.— A stadia party should consist of three persons: instrumentman, note keeper, and rodman. However, two rodmen should be used if there are long distances between observed points. That way, one can proceed to a new point, while the other is holding on a point being observed. The note keeper records  the  data  called  off  by  the  instrumentman  and makes the sketches required. PLANE-TABLE  PARTY.—  A  plane-table  party should consist of at least three persons: instrumentman (or topographer), note keeper, and rodman. Again, a second  rodman  may  be  used  when  there  are  long distances between observed points. The note keeper records  the  data  called  off  by  the  instrumentman  and 14-8