I doesn't seem like very serious "disorder," if it can be ended simply by giving everyone an order. Why not just give them the order to muster? And if there was disorder, isn't there already a very strong possibility of punishment? Surely the officers aren't going to just pretend there was no disorder in the first place. So is punishment added punishment really a threat? It does seem like the sidearm has some significance and that's why it's particularly mentioned. Again, it seems like you had to live then to fully understand it.