Three powerful concepts—Building Cohesion, Competition Simulation, and Peer Leadership—will build a truly dominant and strong drill team and color guard.
Judge Training Guidance: Evaluating Flight Commander Positioning in Regulation Drill
This guidance provides judges with a consistent framework for evaluating flight (platoon) commander positioning during regulation drill, ensuring assessments are based on published drill standards rather than regional practice, instructor habit, or competitive normalization.
Exhibition Drill Is Not Pageantry
In recent decades, military drill teams—particularly those performing exhibition drill—have increasingly adopted visual elements commonly associated with pageantry arts. Audiences often see this overlap and assume the two are functionally equivalent. They are not.
Pageantry vs. Exhibition Drill — The Essential Difference
Although exhibition drill may borrow tools from pageantry arts, the two are not the same discipline. They differ fundamentally in purpose, authority, design intent, and evaluation philosophy.
Authority to Judge: Why Experience, Rank, and Instruction Do Not Automatically Confer Judging Authority in Drill and Ceremonies
For decades, the military drill and ceremonies community has struggled with a persistent and often unspoken problem: who is actually qualified to judge drill and ceremonies.
When “Joint” Does Not Mean Authorized
Recently, Virginia elected a new Governor. The image at the top of the page was shared on the VA State Defense Force Facebook page. There are many things wrong and here is what I noted on social media based on this image
Ceremonial Mourning, Authority, and the Proper Use of Bunting
When a public official or community leader dies, the desire to honor them is immediate and sincere. For first responder agencies in particular, this instinct often manifests through visible symbols of mourning—flags, apparatus positioning, uniforms, and, increasingly, bunting.
For Drill Meet Judges: Why Accent Is Not Excellence in Regulation Drill
Judging regulation drill requires a fundamentally different evaluative lens than judging exhibition or performance-based disciplines. When that distinction is not explicitly defined, even experienced judges can unintentionally reward behaviors that fall outside regulation doctrine. This article clarifies what regulation drill is asking you to evaluate, what it is not, and how to avoid common visual traps that distort scoring. Regulation …
When Standing Out Breaks the Standard: Accent vs. Authority in Regulation Drill
In regulation drill, excellence is not demonstrated by visibility—it is demonstrated by compliance. Yet in competitive environments, a recurring behavior has emerged: teams introduce subtle pauses before flanking movements, exaggerate foot sweeps on facing movements, or add slight timing accents that are not prescribed by doctrine. These additions are often intentional, designed to “stand out” to judges when technical execution …
The Pathfinder Drill and Ceremonies Manual: 6 Surprising Takeaways
Introduction: More Than Just Camping and Crafts When you picture a youth group, you probably think of camping trips, community service, and crafts. You might not picture a 318-page technical manual detailing the precise angle of a foot or the specific cadence for a funeral procession. But that’s exactly what I found when I analyzed the Pathfinder Drill & Ceremonies …