A question about "Fall In"

[Charles Kaiser]

Hallo Kameraden,

we had a little trouble in our Unit about the "Fall in". We use the Casey for to drill.
Some say you have to "fall in" with shouldered arms, because in the "school of the soldiers" is it the Basic Position, from which the other Position like order arms or support arms are learned.
The other say, that in the school of companies the first motion soldiers are learned is 1. Company- Fall In 2. Shoulder- Arms.
Who is right ?

[john duffer]

Re: A question about "Fall In"

What does your unit do when you form up without arms - roll call, arms are stacked, etc?

[Charles Kaiser]

Re: A question about "Fall In"

Companie- Fall in
Attention- company
Dress- right
Eyes- Front

Oh oops, I have to correct my post, please replace "Company- Fall in" by "Attention- Company"....

[Silas]

Re: A question about "Fall In"

Here's a little help regarding the manner of forming the troops. You're not going to find your answer by sticking solely to Casey or even by consulting Hardee. You'll need to go to pre-war manuals.

From Scott :

http://books.google.com/books?id=x2zzAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA99#v=onepage&q&f=false

From Baxter :

http://books.google.com/books?id=nK_aJx-jkjMC&pg=PA66-IA5#v=onepage&q&f=false

From Gilham :

http://books.google.com/books?id=xmw9kXUyOlcC&pg=PA105#v=onepage&q&f=false

Casey didn't include it :
http://books.google.com/books?id=cmo...page&q&f=false (See, para. 4 SoC, "The men will take their places in ranks as prescribed in No. 15 Title Il, and without any preliminary formation.") Here's a link to para. 15 : http://books.google.com/books?id=cmo...page&q&f=false

Hardee's Revised isn't any help either :

http://archive.org/stream/rifleinfantrytac11hard#page/92/mode/2up

I'm partial to Gilham's method. There's something very clean about the command, "fall in - company" which works for me. Merely saying, "fall in," is lacking. The book linked here is to an edition published during the war, but the text in question is the same as in his prewar edition.

[the other nathan]

Re: A question about "Fall In"

Late to the game, but one other source to may shed some light.

In Augusta Kautz's "Customs of Service" he discusses roll call as follows:

"427. At roll calls the first sergeant takes his place six or eight paces, according as the
company is small or large, in front of the opposite the center of his company, facing towards it.
If the company is forming without arms, the men fall in and take the position of parade rest, and
the first sergeant takes the same position. (Reg. 335.)
428. They should fall in in two ranks, whether with or without arms. With arms they fall
in at the shoulder arms instead of parade rest. The company is formed in the interval between
the musicians’ call and the last note of the assembly, when every man should be in ranks; and
those who fall in afterwards should be punished for being late.
429. When the music has ceased, the first sergeant commands, “Attention!” whereupon
the company, if at parade rest, take the position of the soldier, and if with arms, the sergeant
adds, “Support—ARMS.” The roll is then called, ...."

My 2 cents.