Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of Cavalry of the Army / of the United States 1917. To be also used by Engineer Companies (Mounted) for Cavalry Instruction and Training

by United States. War Department

70. All steps and marchings and movements involving march are executed in quick time unless the squad be marching in double time, or double time be added to the command; in the latter case double time is added to the preparatory command.

Example: 1. Forward, double time, 2. MARCH.

71. It should be explained to the recruits that in collective drills and exercises one of the troopers, termed the guide, habitually has to follow a leader or direct himself upon some designated objective, the other troopers regulating their march so as, in line, to march abreast of the guide, maintaining their approximate intervals. The necessity, in this connection, for learning to march steadily in a given direction without wavering from side to side should further be pointed out. Each recruit should then be practiced individually in marching upon a designated objective, selecting for that purpose two points of direction on the straight line that passes through the trooper and the objective and keeping constantly in the prolongation of that line. When the objective is sufficiently distinct it should be taken as one of the points of direction and another point in line with the trooper and the objective, and either nearer or more distant than the latter be selected as a second point to fix the direction of march.

QUICK TIME AND DOUBLE TIME.

72. Being at a halt, to march forward in quick time: 1. Forward, 2. MARCH.

At the command forward, shift the weight of the body to the right leg, left knee straight.

At the command march, move the left foot smartly straight forward 30 inches from the right, sole near the ground, and plant it without shock; next, in like manner, advance the right foot and plant it as above; continue the march. The arms swing naturally.

73. Being at a halt, or in march in quick time, to march forward in double time: 1. Forward, double time, 2. MARCH.

If at a halt, at the first command shift the weight, of the body to the right leg. At the command march, raise the forearms, fingers closed, to a horizontal position along the waist line, take up an easy run with the step and cadence of double time, allowing a natural swinging motion to the arms.

If marching in quick time, at the command MARCH, given as either foot strikes the ground, take one step in quick time and then step off in double time.