#foot guards

[blackswaneuroparedux]

What people want, above all, is order.

- Stephen Gardiner (1483 – 1555)

...that and for British trains to run on time.

Photo: soldiers from the Welsh Guards regiment board the train for a dress rehearsal in London for the King’s coronation.

[bantarleton]

Gregory S and the Brigade of Guards, portraying the Foot Guards on campaign in North America between 1776 and 1781. 

[ctyguidelondon]

This is the Dismounting Ceremony at Horse Guards (or 4 O’Clock Parade), which takes place everyday in that little courtyard behind the horse boxes. A smart officer comes storming out of the gate with his big boots making a metallic slapping sound on the concrete and goes down the line of Foot Guards inspecting their hats and haircuts and the shine of their shoes, etc., making sure that they all look respectable. Once he's happy he orders them to sheath their swords and head inside.

[cuirassier]

The  British 3rd Foot Guards on the march, 1825, painted by R. Wymer

[doktorphil]

The Duke of Cambridge.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Non nobis solum nati sumus ortusque nostri partem patria vindicat, partem amici.

- Cicero, De Officiis - On Duties (44 BC)

We are not born for ourselves alone; a part of us is claimed by our nation, another part by our friends.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

The NCO is the backbone of the Army.

- Rudyard Kipling

Kipling was the man who coined one phrase familiar to every soldier: "The NCO is the backbone of the Army." Kipling first said it in 1895, in a poem called "The 'Eathen." The poem, written in a Cockney accent, contains 19 stanzas. The famous phrase about noncommissioned officers comes at the end of stanza 18:

The 'eathen in 'is blindness bows down to wood an' stone; 'E don't obey no orders unless they is 'is own. The 'eathen in 'is blindness must end where 'e began, But the backbone of the Army is the Non-commissioned Man!

The poem is really a ballad, or story, which emphasises that discipline and leadership are the keys to military success. The story starts with a description of the hassle endured by trainees.

As the trainees see it:

"The cruel-tyrant-sergeants they watch 'im 'arf a year;" But then the tale turns to discuss how sergeants care for their men: An' when it comes to marchin' he'll see their socks are right, An' when it comes to action 'e shows 'em how to fight. 'E knows their ways of thinkin' and just what's in their mind; 'E knows when they are takin' on an' when they've fell be'ind.

Speaking of the bravery of all soldiers:

An' now the ugly bullets come peckin' through the dust, An' no one wants to face 'em, but every beggar must; So, like a man in irons, which isn't glad to go, They moves 'em off by companies uncommon stiff an' slow. Of all 'is five years' schoolin' they don't remember much Excep' the not retreatin', the step an' keepin' touch. It looks like teachin' wasted when they duck an' spread an' 'op. But if 'e 'adn't learned 'em they'd be all about the shop.

About leaders:

'E's just as sick as they are, 'is 'eart is like to split, But 'e works 'em, works 'em, works 'em till he feels 'em take the bit; The rest is 'oldin' steady till the watchful bugles play, An' 'e lifts 'em, lifts 'em, lifts 'em through the charge that wins the day!

The poem ends in a refrain which admonishes:

Keep away from dirtiness - keep away from mess, Don't get into doin' things rather-more-or-less! Let's ha' done with aby-nay, kul, and hawr-ho; [Don't put things off] Mind you keep your rifle an' yourself jus' so!

One reason Kipling was such a popular writer, and the reason his stories have become motion picture hits, is that he was a great story teller. But beyond that, his stories focused on people who lived by values he thought were important: values such as courage, candour, and commitment to duty.

[cuirassier]

A group of ladies in the uniforms of the British Foot Guards, 1787, plate by R. Wymer