What's the verb for troop movement, when a unit of soldiers travel by foot together?

Question

I'm fairly certain there's a verb for this. It's on the tip of my tongue. These are the parameters of the word:

It's a verb for what they're all doing together (I'm not looking for words like "infantry" or "footmen"). It's an equivalent of "walk" or "travel."
It refers to the process in which a unit of soldiers travel from fort to fort, or campground to campground. This process is just simply for moving troops, especially in time eras before tanks or planes.
It does not refer to a battle formation or a battle technique. It does not directly involve enemies.
The process might take several miles or several days, and they might have to take a rest stop at some point during it.
They're probably bringing their equipment with them.
It's by foot, not by water.

So far, I've come up with "march," "trek," and "migrate." However, I really feel like there's a more accurate word for this process. Any help is appreciated.

Benjamin Harman · Accepted Answer

March is the standard verb.
In US military slang, the verb used is "hump," especially when grueling and/or carrying a rucksack. (e.g., We humped 15 klicks back to base.)
If it's a speedy march at twice the standard pace, the idiomatic verb is "double-time it." (e.g., "In 1966, we double-timed it in formation — full gear — packs, rifles, everything — to the top — 18 minutes.")
A verb for "march" that involves kicking one's leg forward, high, and straight is "goose-step," like what the Nazis did but also many other militaries do and have done.

SoronelHaetir · Answer

The usual word for this is 'march', first definition from MW is "to move along steadily usually with a rhythmic stride and in step with others".
And note that it's standard enough from the days when soldiers basically always moved on foot that a standard expression for getting ahead of the enemy by secret movement is steal a march.

Cascabel · Answer

Hike

to walk or march a great distance, esp. through rural areas, for pleasure, exercise, military training, etc.

A company commander once told me : "Hiking is the best conditioning for endurance...""
...and hiking is what we did a lot of. Sometimes we did mountain trails, but always around 10K with a 40-60 lB pack.  I think we called it humping it for the way we looked after.
You can say that they "march", (such as in Roman times against wide-spread frontiers), but modern  Infantry do not actually move in cadence (march).   This type of warfare pretty much died out after the American Civil War..."Marching"  would defeat the whole purpose of silence and stealthiness.
Marching in cadence produces a very regular thumping sound in the sub-soil, and as any old tracker will tell you, it announces your presence from miles away depending on the moisture content of the soil...
Para-military training exercises such as in  Boy Scouts, Ranger training,  RAT-SAR etc. may  include these anti-tracking methods, but maybe  they are also considered "cowboys and Indian" stuff these days...I hope not. For me at least, I learned a lot about the environment and our impact on it from an early age.

BoldBen · Answer

A British word which entered the wider British vocabulary from the military one as a result of news coverage of the Falklands campaign is yomp. This means, according to the Cambridge online dictionary

(often of soldiers) to walk quickly and energetically, usually while carrying a lot of equipment:

The British marines famously 'yomped' from San Carlos to Port Stanley in order to attack the Argentine garrison there and retake the Falklands capital and airfield. The yomp across inhospitable terrain is said to have taken the Argentines by surprise and contributed to the success of the attack.
"Yomp" isn't really an alternative to "march" as a "yomp" can be considered a special kind of march often under adverse conditions.

What's the verb for troop movement, when a unit of soldiers travel by foot together?

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