In 1902, the United States Army was looking across the Atlantic for a new way to train its soldiers.
After American generals watched British troops perform an elaborate display of military gymnastics at Aldershot, they were impressed enough to invite a dozen of Britain’s best non-commissioned officers to the United States. Their mission was to teach American soldiers the same system of strength, balance, coordination, and group exercises.
These were not simple calisthenics. The British soldiers performed athletic formations and rapid “pyramid” poses, including a dramatic arrangement known as the “fountain tableau.”
The plan called for American non-commissioned officers to learn the techniques and then pass them on to the rank and file, making British-style military gymnastics part of Army training on this side of the Atlantic.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — At the invitation of General Young, Lord Roberts and War Secretary Brodrick have consented to send a detail of a dozen non-commissioned officers of the British Army to the United States, to teach our soldiers military gymnastics.
The British war office will pay the expenses and the men who take the trip will be the pick of the 14 British training schools. Their pupils in this country will be non-commissioned officers, selected to learn the system and teach it to the rank and file.
General Young says the gymnastic exhibition given for the American generals at Aldershot was the finest thing he ever saw in that line. The men were all finished athletes, and went through a number of pyramid poses, such as the “fountain tableau,” shown, with great rapidity and ease.
The United States probably will send a dozen officers to England, to study the system further, and to repay the Britishers’ visit.
Source: The Spokane Press. Spokane, Wash. November 19, 1902.
