At the command march, given as either foot strikes the ground, advance and plant the other foot in double time; resume the quick time, dropping the hands by the sides.
TO MARK TIME
Being in march: 1. Mark time, 2. MARCH. At the command march, given as either foot strikes the ground, advance and plant the other foot; bring up the foot in rear and continue the cadence by" alternately raising each foot about 2 inches and planting it on line with the other.
Being at a halt, at the command march, raise and plant the feet as prescribed above. Common errors are to raise the feet several inches and to run up the cadence, i.e., go too fast.
Take steps of 15 inches in quick time, 18 inches in double time.
Forward, half step, halt, and mark time may be executed one from the other in quick or double time. Any step less than the full step (i.e., half step, right step, or backward) is apt to be too fast, i.e., greater than 120 steps a minute.
To resume the full step from half step or mark time: 1. Forward, 2. MARCH.
SIDE STEP
Being at a halt or mark time: 1. Right (left) step, 2. MARCH.