an exceptional man.
Ninety-nine out of every hundred normal, virile men are more or less
nervous when they first step up for rapid fire. Practice and will power
are the correctives.

Let us suppose that you have ten shots to fire in two minutes. If you
fire your ten shots in one minute it is plain that you return unused one
minute given to you. This minute may have been of great use to you in
getting closer to the bull's-eye. If you fire at the rate of ten shots
in three minutes, it is plain that when your two minutes shall have
expired you have missed the opportunity of firing four times at the
bull's-eye.

Get one of your bunkies to go back of your tent and time you. Then swap
about and you hold the watch for him. Try to make of yourself a machine
that finishes the ten shots just before the time expires.

And here is a little rule of thumb we want you to bear constantly in
mind while you are having rapid fire: Load your piece quickly, but aim
and squeeze your trigger deliberately. Keep cool.

The best shot in the company is the man who practises the most.

CHAPTER X

PRACTICE MARCH OR "HIKE"

The manoeuver practice march will be the most instructive, the most
pleasant, and one of the hardest periods of your service. You will
return from it proud of the hardships you have undergone and capable of
speaking with authority on many practical matters pertaining to
soldiering. You will be able to amuse yourself and your friends with
reminiscences of the many incidents which you will never forget. It is
during the practice march that you will put into practical use the
tactical principles and battle formations of which, up to that time, you
will have heard at lectures, or which you will have executed in a
mechanical manner at drill. You will return from each march with a
knowledge of many practical points on camp sanitation, of the pleasures
and hardships incident to manoeuver warfare, and of the manner in which a
soldier adapts himself to changing conditions, all of which cannot be
learned from books or lectures.

The practice march demands a large expenditure of physical and mental
energy; however, the hardships are greatly exaggerated by the old
soldiers. To make up a set of equipment, to assist in cleaning up camp
and loading trucks, to march and fight for a distance of ten or twelve
miles while carrying a heavy pack on the back and a nine-pound gun on
the shoulder, and upon reaching camp to pitch you