Almost from the beginning The Boys' Brigade had its critics, and they had plenty to say. The main attack was against the B.B.'s military look. The Founder's own words were: 'The Boys' Brigade is a religious movement, using military methods'. William Smith wanted to use 'Drill and Discipline' to produce some order in an unruly Sunday School. He believed that lively boys would enjoy the novelty of wearing uniform and the discipline of obeying orders smartly. The Volunteers were his model, and the B.B. was organized quite openly with the military pattern of Privates, NCOs and Officers, drilled in Squads, Companies, Battalions, not to speak of Colours, the Band, Camp, and an Annual Inspection or Review under the eye of a Field Marshal.

William Smith thought he had nothing to apologize for.He knew what he was doing. 'The Boys' Brigade does not concern itself about recruiting for Her Majesty's Services, but it holds that, were all our forces largely leavened by men of the types aimed at in the training of the Boys, this country would be indebted to The Brigade.'

It was the rifles which caused the deepest offence.William Smith's training was with the lst Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteers, and the rifle was as important as a soldier's right hand. Indeed, it was part of the training of the Volunteers that they never went to bed at night without their rifles and uniforms ready for instant use at the call of duty. It seemed only natural in those days that the only good drill was one that included the precise thud and slap and smart control of rifles exercised in precision.Some of the earliest manuals available from B.B. Headquarters were:

Infantry Drill: as revised by Her Majesty's Command.Price one shilling. Manual Exercises for the Rifle and Carbine. 3d post paid, and Firing Exercises. Threepence. There was also a note in The Boys' Brigade Gazette to say that the Regulation Rifle approved by the Executive of the B.B. was now available at a reduced price of four shillings each.

The rifles, of course, were dummies, for training purposes only. But some of the churches, the religious newspapers, and the members of the Peace Society swung into attack on the B.B. Peacelovers they might claim to be, but they did not mince their words. The religious papers cried out that the Boys of the B.B. had caught 'the dangerous fever', all thirsting to be soldiers in the Army or Militia. A speaker in Liverpool claimed that the Boys were full of the spirit of jingoism, ready 'to blaze up like matchwood and plunge us into desperate strife! Others said that the B.B. was a dodge of the W war Office to introduce conscription.

The Secretary of the Peace Society had a rush of words to the head in a letter he sent out to newspapers all over Britain:

I am of the opinion that this new-born Scottish monster, which claims God and the Devil for parents, will require unceasing watchfulness on the part of friends of peace generally. It is unquestionably the master-stroke of Mars, by which ministers of Christ's Gospel are used as recruiting sergeants for the British Army.

He urged a crusade against The Brigade, in season and out of season, to crush this 'young praying and fighting monster.'

Many worthy church people were horrified at the idea of boys playing at soldiers in mission halls up and down the land. But William Smith was not to be daunted. Certainly he believed in drill and discipline, he declared, but the aim of the B.B. was to subdue and temper the warlike spirit, not to encourage it. He held to drilling and marching as the finest way of teaching Obedience, Order, Reverence and Self Respect, and the rifle was a traditional part of drill. So William Smith went up and down the country, speaking at every annual meeting of The Brigade in all the major cities, defending the Object and method of The Boys' Brigade, pointing to the manly appearance of the Boys, appealing to the pride of their parents and the good feeling of the citizens at large. He knew that he had on his side a goodly array of Honorary Vice-Presidents - Field-Marshal Viscount Wolseley, Commander in Chief of Her Majesty's Forces, Field-Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar, heroes both to old and young, G.A. Henty, whose thrilling adventure tales were devoured by every healthy British boy, and Archbishops, Bishops, Moderators in plenty to support and applaud the ideals of The Boys Brigade. Against such an establishment the voices of do-gooders were thin and shrill.

The rifle was not compulsory, but most Companies were equipped with them, as many of the early photographs show. The Enfield Companies came to be famous for their display of bayonet exercises. But there were places where rifles were not used, Belfast, for example, where even a dummy weapon was too warlike a symbol for that troubled part of the United Kingdom.Dublin Battalion also tactfully decided to drill without rifles.

When The Boys' Brigade began in Plymouth there was a special resolution precluding the use of rifles because the 2nd Plymouth Company was connected with The Society of Friends.

William Smith was satisfied that in military organization and drill he could create a movement which had real attraction for boys, and foster an esprit de corps which would hold their loyalty. By and large the nation backed him, though there was always a murmur of criticism about the rifles until eventually they were abandoned after World War I. The basic Aim and Object of the Boys Brigade, except for one word, has remained unaltered since the founding of the Company in 1883.

First Officers and N.C.O.'s 1st Glasgow Company 1885.