The Pattern of Military Publications

The publications system was based on two types of documents—the field manual and the technical manual. The field manual group included a general series, covering the fundamental employment of combined arms and services, and a particular series, containing instructions on the employment of specific units of the several arms and services. The technical manual group, on the other hand, described materiel, its maintenance and operation, and contained other data mote specialized in nature than was considered appropriate for inclusion in field manuals. These two groups furnished basic doctrine for the employment of CWS procedures and materials. 

Although the field and technical manuals were conceived as being relatively permanent in form, the demand for increasing CWS support 

In the field of visual training aids, the film bulletin was introduced during the war to complement the training film in much the same way that the technical bulletin complemented the technical manual. It dealt with new military developments, not necessarily based on doctrine, but issued for the information of officers and enlisted men. 

Through this wide range of publications manuals, bulletins, films, film bulletins, graphic training aids— ran two divergent currents. One was the distinction between the tactical and the technical publications, as represented by the field manual and the technical manual. The other was the need for quick dissemination of data on new technical developments, without too great a disturbance of the old and well established. These views could be accommodated within the scheme of official publications. The Chemical Warfare Service emphasized the technical rather than the tactical and the new methods and materials rather than the old. 

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