USAWOCC 04
USAWOCC, functions as Training and Doctrine Command's executive agent for all warrant officer training and education in the U.S. Army, “# 12, Punctuation -- The Colon and Semicolon”, United States Army Warrant Officer Career College, 12 May 2004, https://web.archive.org/web/20051109001422/http://usawocc.army.mil/IMI/wg12.htm
The colon introduces the following: A list, but only after "as follows," "the following," or a noun for which the list is an appositive: Each scout will carry the following: (colon) meals for three days, a survival knife, and his sleeping bag. The company had four new officers: (colon) Bill Smith, Frank Tucker, Peter Fillmore, and Oliver Lewis. A long quotation (one or more paragraphs): In The Killer Angels Michael Shaara wrote: (colon) They may find it a different story from the one they learned in school. There have been many versions of that battle [Gettysburg] and that war [the Civil War]. (The quote continues for two more paragraphs.) A formal quotation or question: The President declared: (colon) "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The question is: (colon) what can we do about it? A second independent clause which explains the first: Potter's motive is clear: (colon) he wants the assignment. After the introduction of a business letter: Dear Sirs: (colon) Dear Madam: (colon) The details following an announcement For sale: (colon) large lakeside cabin with dock A formal resolution, after the word "resolved:" Resolved: (colon) That this council petition the mayor. The words of a speaker in a play: Macbeth: (colon) She should have died hereafter.