SCHOOL OF THE SOLDIER

PART I - LESSON II

Principles of the Direct Step

93. The length of the direct step, or pace in common time, will be twenty-eight inches, reckoning from heel to heel, and, in swiftness, at the rate of ninety in a minute.



94. The instructor, seeing the recruit confirmed in his position, will explain to him the principle and mechanism of this step-placing himself six or seven paces from and facing to the recruit. He will himself execute slowly file step ill the way of illustration, and then command:
    
    1. Squad, forward. 2. Common time. 3. MARCH.



95. At the first command, the recruit will throw the weight of the body on the right leg, without bending the left knee.



96. At the third command, he will smartly, but without a jerk, carry straight forward the left foot twenty-eight inches from the right, the sole near the ground, the ham extended, the toe a little depressed, and, as also the knee slightly turned out; he will, at the same time, throw the weight of the body forward, and plant flat the left foot, without shock, precisely at the distance where it finds itself from the right when the weight of the body is brought forward, the whole of which will now rest on the advanced foot. The recruit will next, in like manner, advance the right foot and plant it as above, the heel twenty-eight inches from the heel of the left foot, and thus continue to march without crossing the legs, or striking the one against the other, without turning the shoulders and preserving always the face direct to the front.



97. When the instructor shall wish to arrest the march, he will command:
    
    1. Squad. 2. HALT.



98. At the second command, which will be given at the instant when either foot is coming to the ground, the foot in the rear will be brought up, and planted by the side of the other, without shock.



99. The instructor will indicate, from time to time, to the recruit the cadence of the step, by giving the command one at the instant of raising a foot, and two at the instant it ought to be planted, observing the cadence of ninety steps in a minute. This method will contribute greatly to impress upon the mind the two motions into which the step is naturally divided.



100. Common time will be employed only in the first and second parts of the School of the Soldier. As soon as the recruit has acquired steadiness, has become established in the principles of shoulder arms and in the mechanism, length and swiftness of the stop in common time, he will be practiced only in quick time, the double quick time, and the run.



101. The principles of the stop in quick time are the same as for common time, but its swiftness is at the rate of one hundred and ten steps per minute.



102. The instructor wishing the squad to march in quick time, will command:
     
     1. Squad, forward 2. MARCH.

CONTINUE TO PART I - LESSON IV
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