Stepping

off to music. In stepping off to music, or to the tap of the drum, it will be recollected, that the word of command is the signal to lift up the left foot, and that it comes down, or is planted, the instant the tap is given, or the music completes its first bar, so that the time must be invariably marked with the left foot, and not by the right, as has been practised by the British guards and the artillery, until a recent regulation. Balancing STEP . A step so called from the body being balanced upon one leg, in order to render it firm and steady in military movements, . Men at the drill should be frequently exercised in this step. The manner in which it is executed is as follows: At the word march , the left foot is advanced firmly, but without a jirk, the body is kept perfectly erect, the knee straight, the toe pointed out, the shoulders square to the front, and the whole weight of the body bearing on the right foot. Great care must be taken that the foot is thrown straight forwards, and that the shoulders do not go with it. When the men have remained in this position just long enough to make them perfectly steady, the word right , must be given. Upon which the left foot is planted firm, the body quite steady, and whole weight rests à plomb upon the left foot; the right foot is of course advanced as the left foot was before, and so on, the feet being thrown forward, alternately, at the words Right , Left . The drill serjeant or corporal must see, that the toe of each man comes rather first to the ground, that he rests on the flat of the foot that is planted, and by no means on the heel, that both knees are straight, and that his arms are kept close to his side without constraint. When a recruit has been rendered tolerably steady in this step, he must be made to stand on one leg, and move the other to front and rear gently; he must then bring that leg to the ground, and do the same with the other. He must be frequently practised in this until he becomes quite steady on his legs, and has acquired a free motion from his hips without working his body. Lock Step . See Lock . The side or closing Step . A step which is taken in order to gain ground to the right or left, without altering the front of the battalion, or of closing it to its centre, whenever a chasm occurs in the line after it has wheeled from column, . This step is performed from the halt, in ordinary time, by the following words of command:— Mark time. Side step to the right —March. Side step to the left —March. Back Step , ( Pas en arriére , Fr. ) A step taken to the rear from any position without any change of aspect. The back step is performed in the ordinary time and six inches pace, from the halt, on a given word of command. It will be generally recollected, that a few paces only of the back step can be nece ary at a time.