The British Army from WithinVivian, Evelyn Charles
History
The British Army from Within
Vivian, Evelyn Charles
Great Britain. Army
As has already been stated in a different connection, the barrack-room
life of the cavalryman is easier than that of the infantryman. Kit
inspections and arms inspections take place at stated intervals, and
barrack-rooms are kept clean, though not kept with such fussy exactness
as in infantry units. The trained cavalryman in normal times finishes
the main part of his work at midday. He then has his dinner, and after
this makes down his bed as it will be for the night. Unless it is his
turn for fatigue, he generally snoozes through the afternoon until
about half-past four, when it is time to get ready for stable parade.
In India especially a cavalryman has a light time of it, for there
is allotted to each squadron a definite number of syces, or native
grooms, who assist the men as well as the non-commissioned officers
in the care of their horses, and who do a good deal of the necessary
saddle-cleaning. Cavalry serving in Egypt also get a certain amount of
assistance in their work, and, on the whole, a cavalryman is far better
off on foreign service than he is in a home station. The advantages of
the home station consist mainly in the presence of congenial society
among the civilians of the station. The soldier abroad is a being
apart, and for the most part civilians leave him very much alone. There
remains, however, the ever-present football by way of consolation.
As in infantry units, bodies of signallers and scouts are necessary
to the establishment of every cavalry regiment. Signallers, for the
period of their training, are excused from all duties connected with
horses and stable work. Cavalry scouts, on the other hand, have to use
their horses in the course of their training, and thus attend stables
like the rest of the men, although stable discipline in their case is
somewhat relaxed. The cavalry scout requires more training than the
infantry scout; with his horse he is able to go farther afield, and
his work is more definitely that of reconnaissance and the obtaining
of information which may be of more use to a brigade or divisional
commander than that any infantryman is capable of obtaining without a
horse to carry him.
To his other accomplishments the cavalryman is expected to add some
slight knowledge of veterinary matters, in order that, when forced
to depend on himself and his horse, he can find remedies for simple
ailments, and keep the horse in a state of fitness. The shoeing-smith
and farriers who form a special department of every cavalry regiment
are under the control of the veterinary officer included in the
establishment of each cavalry unit, and the veterinary officer
constitutes the final court of appeal when anything affecting a
“long-faced chum” is in question.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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