Drill (military)

“ An enthusiastic reception was accorded by these companies to President Andrew [28] Jackson, June 24, 1833. These soldiers may not have been as efficient as modern troops must be; but they made a splendid appearance on parade; and beyond question were a powerful military asset when judged by the standard of their own times.
An attempt was made to increase efficiency by issuing books of drill regulations available for all, instead of depending upon oral instruction. In the earliest days drill was regulated by Prussian and French systems of tactics. ”

“ Squad drill is one of the painful necessities of military discipline, and no one regrets his experience of it, however displeasing it may have been at the time. It is squad drill and hazing that so successfully mould the coarser characters who come to West Point into officers and gentlemen. They teach him how to govern and be governed. They are more effectual in polishing his asperities of disposition and forming his character than any amount of regulations could be. They tame him, so to speak.
Squad drill was at once a punishment, a mode of hazing, and a drill. ”

“ And as veterans in arms they behave at gun drill. At mounting or dismounting field-pieces, at charging or discharging the truck-guns, they are equally smart. How well the crews are trained, both in the use of rifle, cutlass, and cannon, and in their more extensive and complicated application to military tactics, is demonstrated by the photos, illustrating a sham-fight between a party of sailors and an imaginary enemy. ”

“ In extended order not only do the soldiers furnish a smaller target for the enemy to shoot at, but they also get room in which to fight with greater ease and freedom.
The object of extended order drill is to practice the squads in team-work by which they are welded into a single fighting machine that can be readily controlled by its commander. ”

“ Drill means discipline, training, education. The first drill of every people is military. It has been the first education of nations. The duty of obedience is thus taught on a large scale,—submission to authority; united action under a common head. These soldiers,—who are ready to march steadily against vollied fire, against belching cannon, up fortress heights, or to beat their heads against bristling bayonets, as they did at Badajos,—were once tailors, shoemakers, mechanics, delvers, weavers, and ploughmen ”

“ Gymnastics, drill, and riding are taught as follows: Regular gymnastic instruction is conducted by a superintendent and three sergeants, for at least six months, and practised through all the terms. Artillery drill, with gun, sword, and other military drill and tactics, are conducted partly by military officers and partly by the professors and instructors of artillery. Riding drill is conducted under the officers of the Royal Artillery, in the last two terms, and is practised four or five hours a week. ”

“ Field-gun drill. Exercise of heavy guns on ground and traversing platforms, mortar drill, rocket drill, Armstrong gun drill, practice with hot shot and molten iron shells, gun and transporting carriage drill. ”

“ Barrack square drill is not, as it was in the Eighteenth Century, the end-all and be-all of military training, but it is an indispensable foundation for it, and no effective substitute has ever yet been found to take its place. ”

“ A deviation peculiar to oblong rifle projectiles. See Projectiles.
Drill. Is a general name for the exercises through which soldiers and sailors are passed, to qualify them for their duties. There are many varieties of drill,—that of the cavalry, infantry, and artillery,—all have different drills conformable to their different organizations.
Drill-Sergeant. A non-commissioned officer, whose office it is to instruct soldiers as to their duties, and to train them to military evolutions.
Drogheda. A seaport town of Ireland, in the counties of Meath and Louth, built on both sides of the Boyne. ”

“ If we attribute so much importance to the rigorous carrying out of movements, if we push to the point of mania our fondness for these drill-ground evolutions which you regard as useless and ridiculous, it is because they break down thought, rout it, weary it, put it to sleep, and annihilate it; because they reduce the human being to the level of a pure automaton. Show me a man who, by persistent drilling, has been emptied of thought, and I will show you a good soldier!
“On the battlefield, automatic obedience and fear of the superior officer take the place of courage. ”

“ Our “intensive training” was continued here. We were rejoiced that we hadn’t that awful hill to climb, and somehow we got away with using the field to drill on. The mornings were taken up with problems, and before long we were well acquainted with those woods; then there was bayonet drill, bombing, the everlasting gas mask drill, musketry, physical drill, and so on. The afternoon was devoted to special drill for Lewis gun, V. B. and hand bombers, runners, etc., while the rest of the company did problems or musketry. ”

“ I had the good fortune to witness one of these reviews, and the spectacle dwells vividly, still, in my imagination. Drill of the soldiers, singly, and in squads, is the chief labor of the garrison. Skilful drill-sergeants, for the most part young, active, intelligent men, having the port and bearing of gentlemen, are constantly at work, morning and afternoon, breaking in the raw material as it arrives, and rendering it fit to be moulded into the common mass. Company officers move their companies, to and fro, unceasingly, lest the men should forget what the drill-sergeant has taught them. ”

“ As has been mentioned there are many kinds of drills in the army, but the new recruits, such as Ned, Bob, and Jerry, found, according to their squad leader, that the physical drill was the most important one for them at first. Later on would come rifle drill, drill in the trenches, bayonet practice, machine gun drill, rushes with hand grenades and so on. ”

“ Shortly after we had started drilling on the manœuvring ground, we began to drill by pelotons on foot. The cavalry drill on foot is essentially different from the infantry drill, as all the movements are performed in the same way as the mounted drill; for instance, the troopers being dressed on two ranks, to break off by fours they swing on a pivot as if they were mounted, and the drill on foot is, indeed, especially intended as a preparation for the mounted drill. ”

“ A greater number than the capacity of the armory would admit of drilling at one time, presented themselves daily. Many of the evenings were spent in taking the men out on the streets and to vacant lots near by, exercising them in marching drill. Through the influence of Governor Sprague the company was furnished with a complete battery of twelve pounder James guns, which arrived here some time in May, I think, and then the drills became spirited in exercise in the manual of the piece, mechanical maneuvres, as well as in marching. ”

“ The mere mechanical part of the drill of all the arms is not difficult as regards its execution on the peaceful drillground but it requires much training to carry out these same things on the battlefield. ”

“ The United States blue-jackets often have to perform the services of a soldier in time of war, and that they may be familiar with those duties special drills are devised. Often, when a ship is in port, the men will be landed and go through 121 these drills on shore. But now, in the case of the Georgetown, they took place on the big decks.
The manual of arms was gone through with again and again, and the light artillery was brought up and put into action against an imaginary enemy, blank charges being fired. Frank, Ned and their chums greatly enjoyed this drill. ”

“ No other sort of drill equals in fascination that which the embryo M.F.B. man must go through. Unlike a soldier or sailor, he must undertake many of the actual dangers of warfare during ordinary drill on the parade-ground. The instruction, conducted by superintendents who have gone through the mill themselves and know [Pg 245] every detail of the work, is divided into two parts—theoretical and practical.
The room in which most of the theory is taught is particularly interesting. It contains a half section of every apparatus or device used by or in connection with the brigade. ”

“ The enthusiasm that pervaded all ranks was, of course, immense, and the amount of drilling done, especially by the Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers was enormous. A golden age was this for the Army Drill-Instructors. Elderly recruits of a nervous temperament hesitated to exhibit themselves in the ranks until they had been privately coached in the initial mysteries of drill, in the seclusion of their own apartments. Uniform was worn on every possible occasion, at drill or on the range. ”

“ It is true that we find very little information about the mediæval drill or tactics, but it is very possible that there was more of both than is commonly supposed. Any man whose duty it was to marshal and handle a body of troops would very soon, even if left to his own wit, invent enough of drill to enable him to move his men about from place to place, and to put them into the different formations necessary to enable them effectively to act on the offensive or defensive under different circumstances. ”

“ Two days in the week the regiment went out on picket, and while there got but little sleep and suffered much from exposure. When they were not on picket, all the men not needed for camp guard had to drill. It was nothing but drill, drill, drill: company drill, regimental drill, brigade drill, and once even division drill. ”

“ Other troops were camped round about, all in fine spirits, fast learning to be soldiers, always keeping up the drills, company and regimental. Colonel Garland was a fine drill officer and had the regiment well drilled. While here General Longstreet had brigade drills a few times, but this did not amount to much, and was never tried again. In battle the maneuvers practiced in drilling were seldom used; but drilling learned the men to keep together, rally and get into line quickly when separated. ”

“ But before we proceed to their detail consideration, we must answer the question how far the drill ground only suffices for the purpose of training. Generally, one can subscribe to General von Schlichting's principle—that forms and principles must be learnt in the drill book, but their application in action only in the open country. Tactical exercises on the drill ground, which have not for sole purposes to bring to expression certain formal principles, are always an evil, and mislead the troops. ”

“ For miles across the great plain the "Bull Ring" is alive with men. Here in one section they are doing physical drill and learning to go over all kinds of obstacles—trenches, fences, barbed wire, shell holes, and ditches. There they are practicing musketry and advancing under cover. In one place the artillery is in full swing, and in another you hear the sputter of the machine guns. In one section they are taught to dig trenches and in another to take them. ”

“ The drills are light enough to be easily erected and dismantled, and compact, so that they can be used in restricted and out-of-the way places, while their simplicity entails little special training on the part of the workman. With pneumatic and other power-drills the cost of piercing holes for explosive charges is reduced to less than one-quarter of that of "jumping" with a crowbar and sledgehammers. With the hand method two men are required, usually more; one man to hold, guide, and turn the drill ”

“ Drills form a large part of the instruction method and are provided to prepare the officers and men for any emergency. They include battle drills such as Strip Ship, General Quarters and Torpedo Defense Quarters, emergency drills such as Fire, Collision, Abandon Ship and Watertight Integrity, and gun drills. There are, besides these, the ship manuals, guard mounting, general muster and inspection. There was on the Gyandotte, however, no need for the Strip Ship drill, for everything not necessary in war time had been removed at the navy yard before sailing ”

“ Often those who were so treated "got the chevrons" after all.
"Plebe drill," or, more familiarly, "squad drill," has always been a source of great amusement to citizens, but what a horror to plebes. Those torturous twistings and twirlings, stretching every nerve, straining every sinew, almost twisting the joints out of place and making life one long agonizing effort. Was there ever a "plebe," or recruit, who did not hate, did not shudder at the mere mention of squad drill? ”

“ The previous lack of drill causes much difficulty for company officers when in battle, as the recruit must then be taught on the spur of the moment what ought to have been drilled into him in camp, where in fact his time has been spent in wielding a trowel. ”

“ The average layman conceives of a charge as a rush. So it is on the drill-ground, but not where its movement is timed to arrival on the second before a hissing storm of death, and the attackers must not be winded when there is hot work awaiting them in close encounters around traverses and at the mouths of dugouts. No one was sprinting ahead of his companions; no one crying, "Come on, boys!" no one swinging his steel helmet aloft, for he needed it for protection from any sudden burst of shrapnel. ”