Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of Cavalry of the Army: of the United States 1917. To be also used by Engineer Companies (Mounted) for Cavalry Instruction and TrainingUnited States. War Department
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Manual for Noncommissioned Officers and Privates of Cavalry of the Army: of the United States 1917. To be also used by Engineer Companies (Mounted) for Cavalry Instruction and Training
United States. War Department
United States. Army -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Avoid the food and drink found for sale in the cheap stands about
camp. The quality is generally bad, and it is often prepared in filthy
places by very dirty persons.
The use of intoxicating liquor is particularly dangerous in the field.
Its excessive use, even at long intervals, breaks down one's system.
Drinking men are more apt to get sick and less liable to get well than
are their more sober comrades. If alcohol is taken at all, it is best
after the work of the day is over. It should never be taken when the
body is exposed to severe cold, as it diminishes the resistance of the
body. Hot tea or coffee is much preferable under these circumstances.
CARE OF THE FEET.
A soldier can not march with sore feet, and marching is the main part
of an infantryman's daily duty in the field. _All soldiers_ should be
familiar with the proper methods of caring for the feet. Sore feet are
generally due to carelessness, neglect, or ignorance on the part of
the soldier.
The most important factor in the care of the feet and the marching
ability of the soldier is the shoe. Civilian shoes, particularly
light, patent leather, or low shoes, are sure to cause injury and in
time will ruin a man's foot. Only the marching shoe issued by the
Quartermaster Corps should be worn, and they must be properly fitted
to the individual. It will not suffice to order a marching shoe of the
same size as one's ordinary civilian shoes, for it must be remembered
that a soldier may have to march many miles daily over rough roads and
carrying a heavy pack. The pack itself causes the foot to spread out
to a larger size, and the rough roads give so much exercise to the
muscles of the feet that they swell greatly through the increased
blood supply. (For directions as to measuring the foot for the
marching shoe, see General Order No. 26, War Department, 1912, a copy
of which should be on hand in each company.)
Do not start out on a march wearing new shoes. This is a frequent
cause of sore feet. New shoes should be properly broken in before
beginning a march by wearing them for several hours daily for a week
before the march, and they should be adapted to the contours of the
feet by stretching them with shoe stretchers with adjustable knobs to
take the pressure off painful corns and bunions. Such stretchers are
issued by the Quartermaster Corps, and there should be one or more
pair in every company of infantry. Should this be impracticable, then
the following is suggested:
The soldier stands in his new shoes in about 2-1/2 inches of water for
about five minutes until the leather is thoroughly pliable and moist;
he should then walk for about an hour on a level surface, letting the
shoes dry on his feet, to the irregularities of which the leather is
thus molded in the same way as it was previously molded over the shoe
last. On taking the shoes off a very little neat's-foot oil should be
rubbed into the leather to prevent its hardening and cracking.
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