Hypothetical situation (yet common): “Well we use M1 Grands and ours weigh 15lbs.” Oh. Really? That would be Garand, named after the man who created the rifle, Canadian-born, John Cantius Garand. For some reason some Drillers think that the heavier the rifle is, the better a Driller you are. This is simply not true. All rifles, including 2lb color guard …
“Stand Still Laddy!”
That’s a line from Pink Floyd’s song, The Wall. And it fits perfectly. Judges: stop moving around the drill pad! Why? It’s distracting to the audience- which is not a main concern, but is part of the consideration. There are macro and micro moves a Driller can perform and if you are constantly moving around, you will miss those subtleties. …
Does Drill Team Style Matter to Win?
Q: I am the coach of a High school in MA and former captain of the armed drill team. Northeast drill seems to vary drastically from other parts of the country. We are a bit slower with more emphasis on military bearing, style and flavor, than much of the speedy Texas style drilling. Is this us not being with the …
The Drill Meet
What is a Drill Meet? In America, the drill meet, after putting in hours of hard work designing, choreographing, practicing, rewriting and practicing some more, is a competition for drill teams, Drillers and color teams (NOTE: military-based: “color team;” music-based: “color guard“). The organizations that compete are each services’ Jr., high school, and Sr., college, Reserve Officer Training Corps, Army …
Weapon and Tool Nomenclatures
Nomenclatures The M1 Garand The M14 The M1903A3 The Enfield Rifle The Fire Axe The Pike Pole This information if from The Honor Guard Manual and is (c) John K. Marshall
The Left Flank and The Column Left
Keep this image in mind as you read below. Span of Control CT asks: Hello DrillMaster, I would like to know if after giving left flank can the commander march backward while the platoon marches forward towards the commander during Regulation Drill. I have looked everywhere and nowhere can I find it. Answer: It’s good to hear from you; thanks …
Military Drill Judging
For decades the only requirement to be qualified to judge a military drill competition was graduation from a service’s Basic Training. That’s it. You’re now able to rank and rate and assign a score to what you see on the competitive field. And what’s better is if you are a Drill/Training Instructor or on an honor guard. Somehow, you are …
How to Switch Sides During a Column Movement
This will be for XD (Exhibition Drill) and is fairly easy. We need to number each of the elements/squads as usual: the far left squad is number 1 and the far right squad is number 3 (or 4). The movement is called as two consecutive right steps are taken. On the first left, the first squad leader executes a right …
Why do we Practice the way we do?
Sometimes students have a hard time understanding why it is we spend so much time working on individual skills, when it’s easy to see that most of the team can do the skills. I tell them it’s a lot like a sports team. Every experienced baseball player has skills – they already know how to run, how to hit, and …
Becoming a Professional Driller
Q: How can I become a professional Driller? A: What you are talking about is becoming an Independent (Indie) Driller which very few people have done successfully. Why very few? Most likely because the military drill world is relatively small and there hasn’t been anything offered to anyone who would like to drill after high school or even college. Within …