many of whom were well educated, were promoted rapidly after three months training at a military school operating at the headquarters, at the end of which they took examinations. Some of the Italian officers slightly changed their signatures to look Greek: Luigi Balduini Caprini, for instance, signed himself "Kaprinis". The uniform was dark blue in winter and white in summer. The constables wore the traditional Cretan vraka (voluminous breeches) and the officers wore trousers. The constables wore a round hat and the officers wore a kepi similar to that worn by officers of the Greek Army. Both officers and constables wore black boots. The constables were armed with rifle, bayonet, and revolver, while some also carried the traditional Cretan knife on their belts. The Cretan Gendarmerie in an autonomous Crete The Gendarmerie was busy upholding the public order, struggling against brigands and also performing services as saving people from drowning in the harbour of Chania. In a very short period of time, the Cretan Gendarmerie managed to gain the trust of the Cretans and the foreigners, although the latter had initially been prejudiced against the Cretans.. During the Theriso Revolt, the Cretan Gendarmerie remained loyal to Prince George and fought against the rebels, aided by a Russian expeditionary corps. Those members of the Gendarmerie who had defected to the rebels were not included in the amnesty the rebels received later, but were allowed to leave for Greece. From the departure of Prince George until the Balkan Wars On 16 December 1906 Eugenio Monaco, third and last head of the Italian mission, delivered command of the Gendarmerie to Artillery Lieutenant Colonel Andreas Momferratos, head of the Greek mission. The first objective of the Greek mission was the creation of a militia and the equipping of the Gendarmerie with new rifles of the Mannlicher–Schönauer type. They also tried to introduce more intensive military education. The creation of battalions of militia released the Gendarmerie from certain military duties. The Greek mission immediately began to promote of Cretans to commissioned officer rank. The first Cretans to be commissioned as lieutenants on 14 January 1907, in order of seniority, were: Evangelos Sarris, Dimitrios Kokkalas, Andreas Androulakis, Alexandros Hatzioannou, Nikiforos Nikiforakis, Zaharias Brillakis, Ilias Mourginakis, Minos Mylogiannakis, Emannouil Vogiatzakis, Georgios Vouros, and Ioannis Souris. On the eve of the Balkan Wars in 1912 there were 45 officers, 50 senior non-commissioned officers, and 1,371 junior non-commissioned officers