08-02-2007, 07:51 AM
I answer your question with another question: How else do you keep a formation in line during movement? Especially in the case of testudo or tight phalanx formations.
There may not be a verbal cadence. Another audio signal such as weapon haft against shield or stomping a certain foot, or visual signals, provided by the unit standard. Perhaps by the time the soldier became a professional this wouldn't have been necessary, but definitely during initial training. In the modern military there are times when the formation is allowed to move without actually marking time. When this order is given, within a few paces the formation starts looking like a jiffy pop bag as helmets begin bobbing randomly.
There may not be a verbal cadence. Another audio signal such as weapon haft against shield or stomping a certain foot, or visual signals, provided by the unit standard. Perhaps by the time the soldier became a professional this wouldn't have been necessary, but definitely during initial training. In the modern military there are times when the formation is allowed to move without actually marking time. When this order is given, within a few paces the formation starts looking like a jiffy pop bag as helmets begin bobbing randomly.
Marcus Julius Germanus
m.k.a. Brian Biesemeyer
S.P.Q.A.
m.k.a. Brian Biesemeyer
S.P.Q.A.
