A Little Bit About Pace Sticks

A little bit about Pace Sticks. It is not only is the Sergeant Major who carries a Pace Stick but the art of Pace Sticking itself shows the corp values and standards of the British Army.

The Pace Stick can often be described as a huge protractor and its usage goes as back as far as when the Romans first started building roads. The Pace Stick was used to mark straight roads. It is said that turning a Pace Stick 500 times is the equivalent of 1 Roman Mile. Later on the Pace Stick was adopted by the British Army, namely the Royal Artillery and was used to mark the distance between Artillery Guns. In 1928 the Pace Stick started being used on the drill square and is described in 2015 by a member of the Royal

Military Academy of Sandhurst as being used in the following way

"The pace stick is used to gauge the correct length of pace and measure distance between ranks for uniformity and cohesion," explains WO2 Steven Boyle, the Sgt Maj for IMJIN Company at The Royal Academy Sandhurst.