Left! Right! Left! Right! British Army Foot Drill Quiz

Answer: False

The term "dressing" relates to the spacing between individual soldiers and separate ranks. To train soldiers to a level where their "dressing" from each other is uniform and is obtained with the minimum of fuss (the military do not tolerate fuss), troops raise their right arms and use this as a means of spacing themselves from the soldier to their right; this method is always used during their basic military training. Within a very short time, the use of the arm can be dispensed with and, on the command to "Fall In", trained soldiers will achieve the correct spacing left-to-right and front-to-rear instinctively and without the requirement for any further words of command.

Answer: Tallest, shortest

Nothing is less pleasing to the eye of a Drill Sergeant or a Regimental Sergeant Major than a squad of men that appear to be untidily assembled. This drill movement will result in a squad with its tallest members on its left and right flanks moving inwards toward its shortest members at the centre; when viewed from the front, the squad will basically resemble a chevron.

After the soldiers have been assembled into a single rank with the tallest soldier on the right and the shortest at the left, they will receive the word of command "From the right, number". With this, each soldier will call out their number; the man on the far right being "one", the man to his left is "two" and so on down the line to the shortest man. Those men with even numbers then take a pace forward whilst the odd numbers take a pace backwards.

The front rank then turns to the right and the rear to the left. The man on the far right remains facing his front as he is known as the right marker. On receipt of the final command "Quick March" the soldiers will begin to peel off and form three ranks. Where there are insufficient soldiers on parade to form three full ranks from front to rear, what is known as a blank file will be formed. Where this occurs the blank file will always be at the second file from the left.

It sounds complicated when written down but it is quite a simple sequence in practice!

Answer: Halt

In actual fact, the majority of drill commands are given when the left foot strikes the ground. In this case for example, the instructor wishes the squad halt as one. In ninety-nine percent of cases any warning words of command will be given in good time in order that the squad know in advance what they are to be expected to do. In the case of the command to halt, the warning will be given as the word "Squaaaaaad..." After a break of a couple of paces the order to halt is given as the left heel hits the ground. The squad take a further pace with the right foot, known as a check pace, before halting on the next left foot. The resulting sound will be entirely different between a company of soldiers wearing rubber soled boots and that of, say, a company of highlanders wearing hob-nailed brogues! The sound of a battalion of six hundred highlanders halting in complete unison simply has to be heard.

The incorrect answer selections are genuine drill movements but are only ever executed at the halt.

Answer: Where the right arm, hand or both are incapacitated through injury.

Salutes are always performed using the right hand whether on the march or at the halt. In instances in which the right arm or hand is incapacitated through injury, a salute can be performed using the left hand; however this movement would feel entirely alien to a trained soldier.

In the most part, and in my experience, a soldier in this predicament who was required to pay the correct compliment to a commissioned officer would simply snap to attention if at the halt, or 'brace up'- a distinct movement akin to coming to attention whilst at the march, and execute an eyes right or an eyes left in the usual manner.

Answer: Forward

This command is generally used as a means of correcting the dressing of large groups of soldiers that may have started to close up on each other after executing a movement such as a Form on the march. This enables parade commanders to regain the correct spacing between ranks.

Although the modern drill manual states that drill should never be used as a method of punishment, in my day (which was around forty years ago) a squad that was not performing adequately would often receive a short, sharp drill session known affectionately as a 'beasting' often at a pace well over the usual 120 paces per minute and frequently well over the Light Infantry pace of 140 per minute. Beastings always consisted of extended periods of marking time and failure to perform after a beasting session often meant a morning of entertainment in the Guardroom!

Answer: False

Stepping off with the right foot will always confuse the soldiers marching behind you and, one by one, each rank will collapse into chaos. Once the soldier at fault has been identified, guess what follows very, very quickly? Yes, another period under the supervision of the Provost staff in the 'hotel on the corner'!

Soldiers always begin marching by taking the first pace with their left foot. There are no exceptions to this rule... Ever!

Answer: True

Many people who have visited one of Her Majesty's palaces will have seen this drill movement being performed. Important duties such as those in which the soldier is in close proximity to members of the public demand that he remain vigilant and that he never turns his back to the public.

This is performed simply to ensure that access cannot be gained into any out of bounds areas whilst the sentry's back is turned... And believe me, it happens! Those of you who have visited HM Tower of London will have seen the sentry on duty at Number One post - the post immediately outside the Wellington Barrack building - performing an About Turn to the left. Similarly, one of the two guardsmen on duty at Buckingham Palace will execute this movement whilst they are 'on patrol'. Both will come to attention in unison, shoulder their arms, make a turn to the left or the right and proceed on a short patrol of around fifteen paces.

The sentry on the right, from the viewpoint of the observer, will carry out all drill movements in the normal manner whilst the one on the left executes them in mirror image thus never turning his back on the public and maintaining eye contact with them at all times.

Answer: The Trooping of the Colour

Of all the methods used to change the direction in which a large body of men is moving, the left or right form is the most effective. It is possible to do this using other commands such as the left or right turn or left or right wheel. A squad marching in file which is given the command left or right turn will move in those directions but its frontage will be altered; in file its frontage will be three soldiers wide whereas after a left turn it may have a frontage of twenty or thirty men! The left and right form removes this and enables a squad to move anywhere on the parade ground without altering its frontage. Put simply, the squad rotates around the man at the extreme left or right of the front rank.

Answer: The SA80 rifle

The SA80 rifle has simplified arms drill in the British Army. Prior to its adoption, soldiers were required to learn arms drill using both the service rifle and the sub-machine gun or SMG, depending on their service arm. Soldiers serving in cavalry units for example were issued with the SMG simply because a weapon the size of a rifle would be impractical within the confines of an armoured vehicle.

The SMG was also issued to troops in the support arms such as chefs, drivers and technicians. Since the introduction of the SA80 the SMG has been phased out and all soldiers are expected to learn to drill using the rifle alone. Of the incorrect answer selections, the GPMG and M2 are very large and very heavy support weapons, the use of which would be impractical for the purpose of drill and the combat shotgun is a specialist weapon used in close combat situations as a result of experience gained in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Answer: Wheel

This manoeuvre, the wheel, is a very basic drill movement, is one of the first that recruits will learn during their basic training and is designed to move a squad through ninety degrees in situations where other drill movements may be impractical. For example, on receiving the word of command to left wheel, the soldiers in the left hand rank will shorten their pace and begin a gradual turn to their left.

The soldiers in the centre rank will maintain their pace as normal and manoeuvre in the same way whilst those soldiers in the right hand rank will extend their pace slightly with each rank moving through ninety degrees to their left. Providing that the soldiers in each rank maintain their dressing correctly, this drill movement can look very snakelike in execution but also very smart and effective to an observer.

The wheel and the form mentioned earlier are drill movements that, like many others, find their origins way back in time when drills were used to manoeuvre soldiers into position immediately before advancing into battle.