Drill Regulations a Guide; their interpretation.= The Drill
Regulations are furnished as a guide. They provide the principles for
training and for increasing the probability of success in battle. (4)

In the interpretation of the regulations, the spirit must be sought.
Quibbling over the minutiae of form is indicative of failure to grasp
the spirit.

=54. Combat principles.= The principles of combat are considered in
Pars. 50-363. They are treated in the various schools included in Part
I of the Drill Regulations only to the extent necessary to indicate
the functions of the various commanders and the division of
responsibility between them. The amplification necessary to a proper
understanding of their application is to be sought in Pars. 364-613.
(5)

=55. Drills at attention, ceremonies, extended order, field exercises
and combat exercises.= The following important distinctions must be
observed:

(a) Drills executed at =attention= and the ceremonies are
=disciplinary exercises= designed to teach precise and soldierly
movement, and to inculcate that prompt and subconscious obedience
which is essential to proper military control. To this end, smartness
and precision should be exacted in the execution of every detail. Such
drills should be frequent, but short.

(b) The purpose of =extended order drill= is to teach the =mechanism=
of deployment of the firing, and, in general, of the employment of
troops in combat. Such drills are in the nature of disciplinary
exercises and should be frequent, thorough, and exact, in order to
habituate men to the firm control of their leaders. Extended order
drill is executed =at ease=. The company is the largest unit which
executes extended order drill.

(c) =Field exercises= are for instruction in the duties incident to
campaign. Assumed situations are employed. Each exercise should
conclude with a discussion, on the ground, of the exercise and
principles involved.

(d) The =combat exercise, a form of field exercise= of the company,
battalion, and larger units, consists of the =application of tactical
principles= to assumed situations, employing in the execution the
appropriate formations and movements of close and extended order.

Combat exercises must simulate, as far as possible, the battle
conditions assumed. In order to familiarize both officers and men with
such conditions, companies and battalions will frequently be
consolidated to provide war-strength organizations. O