Cadence and lines

[Beth]

This might be a duh questions but were songs like Gerry Own and The Girl I left behind used to set cadence especially when they left camp in the morning?

Also when people are riding in formations, are they generally always in the same place or did they sort of line up in any order.   In other words would John, James, George and Gerry always make a four together and always ahead and behind the same sets of four?

[tubman13]

Gerry Owen was a curling song. Written so you could curl your fingers around your brew, then curl your arm with that brew to your lips. While you wrap your thoughts around that, look up the words that originally filled the tune that became our national anthem.

Regards,
Tom

[montrose]

The sets of fours would always be different. Remember every day details arrive requiring folks to detached duty, orderlies, work details, pack details. Then you have sick folks.

So the procedure is that at first formation the 1SG forms the company in 4 ranks, and that is your set of 4 for the day. But even that isn't set in stone. If conditions change enough, the 1SG just does it again.

Human nature and common sense would lead to a tendency for certain sets to normally be the same 4 soldiers, but field service was the exception. Most of the lives of these men were in garrison.

[Yan Taylor]

As the company (at full strength) had five line sergeants and four corporals, would the corporals make up the sets of fours too? I was always wondering if each set of four would contain a leader maybe some equivalent to a PFC, but nine NCOs in total split between 15 sets of fours (not counting Standard Bearers, Trumpeters, Farriers, Saddlers and Blacksmiths) does not compute, so I would expect at least the line sergeants to ride outside any line of four to keep the column well “in line”.

Ian.

[Beth]

Mar 13, 2015 7:05:22 GMT -6 tubman13 said:

Gerry Owen was a curling song. Written so you could curl your fingers around your brew, then curl your arm with that brew to your lips. While you wrap your thoughts around that, look up the words that originally filled the tune that became our national anthem.

Regards,
Tom

We have a great talent for adapting songs for other uses.  Are you familiar with circus screamers?  They have more than one purpose.  They get the crowd going, but they are also used for the cadence in horse acts and to time other acts.  That is one of the reasons that I wondered if Garyowens was in part to set the cadence to begin the march.