Delays can increase fatigue and cause legs to stiffen, making it more difficult to resume the march. During the march, hold passing vehicles to a reasonable speed to promote safety and to prevent dust, rocks, or mud from being thrown on soldiers. If dust conditions are offensive, move troops to the upwind side of the road. Ensure soldiers to the rear of the formation receive a full breaktime. Ensure leaders at all echelons march with their soldiers throughout the duration of the march.
Soldiers quickly detect the presence or absence of their leaders in a foot march.
Ensure availability of adequate water at rest stops and throughout the march. The individual's combat load is that mission-essential equipment as determined by the commander, which is required for the soldier to fight and survive immediate combat operations. The load can be divided into an approach march load and fighting load. The combat strength of a unit cannot be counted solely by the number of soldiers but must be counted by the number of willing and physically able soldiers. Therefore, they must be required to carry less into battle than they are conditioned to carry during training.