Quote Originally Posted by bach01
The reason that the military still practices these drills has more to do with installing discipline then to drill units on propare comba techniques.
This is exactly what I thought when I first read HoreTore's comments on lines being a military thing. Certainly there is some application of it in combat situations, but the rigidity of the drilling is not even a remote consideration on the battlefield - you stay in a line, but no one is being super-anal about maintaining the formation absolutely perfectly as if you were on parade. I don't think there's any question that the ultimate goal of such military drills is to relieve a soldier of his individuality, and get him used to doing things the exact way other people want him to do them. The entire basis of the military is that you do what you're told when you're told to do it and don't ask questions, and IMO the tedious drilling is primarily aimed at conditioning you to be able to do that as effectively as possible, rather than actually being aimed at keeping perfect straight lines in battle.