He then steps back
to his original position. During this process of "grounding" the rifle,
the front rank man must keep his left foot strictly in its position.
Each front rank man then draws his bayonet from the scabbard and sticks
it in the ground by the outside of his right heel. Now in order to
insure the bayonet being properly aligned, thus producing a straight
line of tents, the company officers (first and second lieutenants),
sometimes are required to align the line of bayonets while the men are
unslinging and opening their equipment. The equipment is then unslung
and laid on the ground. The packs are opened and the shelter half and
pins removed therefrom. Each man spreads his shelter half, small
triangle to the rear, on the ground that the tent is to occupy, the
rear-rank man's shelter half being on the right. Then the front-and
rear-rank men button the halves together, the rear-rank man's half on
top. The guy loops at each end of the lower half are then passed
through the button holes provided in the lower and upper halves; next
the whipped end of the guy rope is passed through both guy loops and
secured; this is done at both ends of the tent, the rear-rank man
working at the rear and the front-rank man at the front.
Pages:
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302