A pace stick is a tool that looks like a large pair of wooden calipers (or school compasses) which is opened to the distance of the standard military marching pace. It can be manipulated by a marching instructor to ensure that marching trainees take the exact measured pace. It is also used to lay out ceremonial parade grounds and measure the placement of start, turn, and finish point markers.

In the Australian army (a Commonwealth army) it is not carried by a Non Commissioned Officer (NCO). It is only carried by the Regimental Sergeant Major as a symbol of his appointment. (An RSM is a Warrant Officer)

The Royal Regiment of Artillery (UK) claims to have originated the pace stick, originally as a "Gunner's Stick" used by Field Gun Teams to measure out the correct spacing between artillery pieces on the battlefield.