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Updated: May 22, 2025
When the packs were done up, they sat on the empty hunks and drummed their feet against the wooden partitions waiting. "I don't suppose we'll leave here till hell freezes over," said Meadville, who was doing up the last strap on his pack. "It's always like this.... You break your neck to obey orders an'..." "Outside!" shouted the sergeant, poking his head in the door. "Fall in! Atten-shun!"
Those were the Huns. Then there were flags blowing very hard in the wind, and the sound of a band. The Yanks were coming. Everything was lost in a scene from a movie in which khaki-clad regiments marched fast, fast across the scene. The memory of the shouting that always accompanied it drowned out the picture. "The guns must make a racket, though," he added as an after-thought. "Atten-shun!
Slush, slog! went the heavy hobnailed shoes slithering through the mud and water of the roads. Mile after mile, hour after hour. At the end of each weary hour a short rest, an easing of the shoulders from the cutting pack straps. Ten minutes only did they rest. Then down the long columns rang the sharp commands, "Fall in. Fall in! ... Com-pan-ee ... Atten-shun! Forward, March!"
"Atten-shun!" "Right dress!" "Front! God, you guys haven't got no snap in yer.... Stick yer belly in, you. You know better than to stand like that." "Squads, right! March! Hep, hep, hep!" The Company tramped off along the muddy road. Their steps were all the same length. Their arms swung in the same rhythm. Their faces were cowed into the same expression, their thoughts were the same.
It all muddled into fantastic gibberish into sounds of horns and trombones and double basses blown off key while a piccolo shrilled the first bars of "The Star Spangled Banner." He had stopped sweeping and looked about him dazedly. He was alone. Outside, he heard a sharp voice call "Atten-shun!"
"Atten-shun!" shouted the red-headed boy to his army, and each soldier jumped up off the carpet and stood erect as possible. "I will now disband you, and deliver my farewell address."
The command "Attention!" is but one word, but it is the custom to divide it syllabically, thus, "Atten-shun!" All other commands taken from the military manuals have their proper warning and executive words; for example: "Count Off!" "About Face!" "Right Face!" "Company Halt!" "To the Rear March!" "Double Time March!" etc. The exceptions are the commands, "Rest!" "At Ease!" and "Fall Out!"
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