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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1894)
THE BATTALION. KXTriACTSF ROM MANUAL OF GUARD DUTY OF THE II, S. ARMY. To post a relief its corn >ral f >rm-! it by the coinni.inds : 1. (Such) relief, 2. fai.l in ; The re lief is formed in double rank facing to the front, with arms at an order ; the men place themselves according to the numbers of their respective pofcts, viz : two, four, six and so on, in the front rank, one, three, five and so on, in the rear rank. The corporal standing about two paces in frontof the center of his re lief, then commands : Gall off. Commencing on the right, the men call off alternately, rear and front rank, “one,” “two,” “three,”“four,”und so on. The corporal then commands : 1. Port, 2. arms 3. Open, A. chamber, 5. Close, 6. .chamber, 7. order, 8. arms; faces the commander of the guard, exe cutes the rifle salute, reports, Sir, the relief is present, and then takes his place on the right at order arms. Having inspected the relief, the com mander of the guard directs the corpo ral, Post your refie/. The corporal sa lutes and commands: 1. Right, 2. face, 3. Forward, 4. MARCH. In wet weather the relief may be marched at secure arms. The corporal marches on the left, and near the rear file, in order to observe the march. When the relief arrives at six paces from a sentinel, the corporal halts it and commands, according to the number of the post: 1. No. (- -). The new sentinel comes to a carry, halts at about one , , both execute port arms. The corporal advances and places himself a little in advance of the new sentinel, at a carry or order, and ob serves that the oid sentinel transmits correctly his instructions. The instruction relative to the post having been communicated, the corpo ral commands: Post, then steps back about two paces and commands: apnroaches the old. Dace from him. and ]. Forward, 2. march. To dismiss the old relief, it is halted and faced, to the front at the guard house by the corporal of the new relief, who then falls out; the corporal of the relief steps in front of the relief, and commands: 1. Port, 2. akms, 3. Open, 4. cham ber," 5. Close, G. CHAMBER, 7. DIS MISSED- When challenged by a sentinel while posting his relief, the corporal com mands: 1. Relief, 2. halt; to the senti nel’s challenge he answers “Relief,” and at the order of the sentinel, he advances alone to give the countersign, or to be recognized. When the sentinel says “Advance Relief,” the corporal com mands: 1. torward, 2. march. If to be relieved, the sentinel is then relieved as prescribed. As a general rule he will advance par ties approaching the guard at night in the same manner that sentinels on post advance like parties. Thus: The senti nel at the guardhouse challenges and re ports the answer to the corporal as pre scribed hereafter; the corporal advancing at port arms, says: “Advance (so and so) with the countersign,” or “to he recog nized” if there is no countersign used; the countersign being correctly given, or the party being duly recognized, the cor poral says: “Advance (so and so);” re peating the answer to the challenge of the sentinel. When officers of different rank ap proach the guardhouse from different directions at same time, the senior will be advanced first, and will not be made to wait ;or his junior. Out of ranks and under arms, the cor poral salutes with the rife salute. He will salute all officers, whether b}" day or night. If marching his relief he will have the relief at a carry before saluting. When calling for any purpose, chal lenging, or in communication with any person, an infantry sentinel will take the position of port arms. Between retreat (or the hour desig na - ted by the commandant) and broad day-