Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1917-07-12
SELF HELPS for the
NEW SOLDIER
BY . Uni'ed Suite. Amy oeeer
soUAD-wHY AND WHAT IT IS.
tco,yAsh. isiI. By the Wheeler s,oa,e,,s n. +,

The squad Is the integral unit upon
which all collective movements arr.
based. Soldiers are rrouued int,
squads Of eight for the purpose of in.
structiOn and discipline; for control
us component factors in a platoon ar
company; and for convenience in OK
ecuting orders which ma call for n
small number Of men.
At the command s'fall in" the eight
men line up In two ranks Of four. The
man who stands ut the left Of the front
rank Is the base Of the squad, and il
usually forms w the position which he
has taken. He Is the squad leader-a
corpOral-while the other seven men
In the squad are privates.
The corporal gives the commands by
which the squad, when nn individual
unit, executes Its movements, IL the
squad Is formed with the company, the
captain will give the commands CON
trolling example. but the corporal will
repeat to his men the preparatory
command.
When n squad falls in, all the Mem
hers Except the corporal) assemble
In the order Of height from right to
left. The rank falls in 40 inches be-
hind the front rank. This is called
distance. At the command fright .
dress!" each ina places his left hand
fiat upon his hip, hand straight down
ward, fingers and thumb extended and
touching. Each man, except the front
and rear rank man on the right Of the
line, turns his head and eyes to the
right and takes steps OF two or three
inches so that his right arm, hanging
in the position of attention." will
lightly touch the elbow Of the raised
teft arm of the man on his right and
each man must also take Il position In
the line so that his eyes and shoulders
are In line with those Of the man Tor
the first two or three mem on his right.
The two men In the right file keep
their head and eyes to the front.
The e a rank men cover in file
that Is, each man places himself direct.
~ behind the a in front Of him, as
well as on line with those to the right
Of him. At the command Front" ev-
cry man drops his left hand to his side,
turns his head straight to the front,
snd takes the position of attention"
If the command Is left -.
nkESSW the squad dresses IN the ex.
IRENE left man, who keeps his head
straight to the front; but In both
right .DRESS!" and left
DRESS!" only the left arm Is raised.
BY means of the raised elbow, the men
get the proper space Tor i%nterval) be-
tween them, and the CO 1mand also
gains the proper alignment for a squad,
!, company. or a larger body Of SOL
diers.
In marching, unless otherwise COM
manded, the alignment described above
is preserved. A guide Is designated,
either guide right" or guide left"
and the men maintain their alignment
by yielding to pressure from the side
VI the guide fright or left, us the case
may be-, and resisting pressure from
the opposite side. ~,
In order that each man may know
his place in the s~quad-for, us will lat
cr be explained. the details Of his own
movements will vary according to his
position in the unit-the squad lead
or instructor will give the command,
count OFF" At this. each man, ex-
cept the right file, turns his head and
eyes to the right. The right file
(namely, the man 1T the extreme right
of the front rank and the man at the
extreme right of the ear rank, 40
inches behind him) keep their heads
and eyes to the front. Simultaneous
~, these two count "one!" the two
men In the next file. front and rear
rank, simultaneously count "two"
and as they count "two," they swing
their heads In unison back to the po-
siti0n Of attention. The same with
"three" and -four" When the count
is finished. the whole squad has re-
turned to the position Of attention, and
each man knows thereafter exactly
what he himself Is to do when certain
commands to the squad are given.