Turkish Stampede

During the Turkish stampede in Thrace, a small detachment found itself confronted by a wide and deep river. However, they discovered a boat in which two children were rowing about. It was so small that it would only carry the two children, or one grown person.
How did the officer get himself and his 357 soldiers across the river and leave the two children finally in joint possession of their boat? And how many times need the boat pass from shore to shore?

Given two numbers, if we subtract half the smaller number from each number, the result with the larger number is three times as large as the result with the smaller number.
How many times is the larger number as large as the smaller number?

There is an interesting five digit number A. With a 1 after it, it is three times as large as with a 1 before it. What is A?