Get Set! point! Fire!?

During the Civil War volley fire was often directed by the drum, the human voice difficult to hear over the clamor and din of battle. The sequence was thus:

bump bump bump bump bump (ready). bump bump bump bump bump (aim). bump...bump...bump...BANG (the gun fires on the fourth beat). A another bump was the signal to reload.

In the British Army of the Napoleonic Wars the order was "Present, Take Aim, Fire".

To the best of my knowledge, the US Army has used the standard "ready, aim, fire" as the command for volley fire.

Alan Canfora, one of the nine students shot at Kent State has now released an audio tape he claims offers evidence the National Guardsmen were ordered to shoot the students. Canfora played the tape to reporters in which he says a Guard officer issues the command, "Right here! Get Set! Point! Fire!" Can any of my readers who served in the military or the Ohio National Guard in the Vietnam era verify that such a ridiculous firing sequence was ever used? I cannot hear the alleged order in the version I heard on TV, but if such words were uttered could it have been from the rioters?

Kent State represents the end of the Peace and Love era of the 1960s. The Woodstock Summer of Love was replaced by the riots at Kent State. Anyone who thinks this was a demonstration where the poor students sat around singing "Give Peace a Chance" and practicing non-violent revolution is sadly mistaken. This was a full-blown riot. Two days before, the students burned down the ROTC Building and prevented the firemen from putting out the fire. On the fateful day they threw rocks and refused to disperse. Too bad most of the videos on you tube only show stills, not the actual riot. The only one I could find was a German Documentary. The Guardsmen all testified they feared for their lives. The shooting was not justified, but one could understand what happened. In any case, the Shootings at Kent State remain one of our darkest days.