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 Inconsistency of Two Panels of Judges
Time and space. Drill competitions across the country are underway each school year. School campuses are taken over for one day out of the year with different drill decks on various grassy fields, the football field, and even inside the gym and field house.
FL Public Service Assoc. Cadet Honor Guard Competition
What a great day! Too bad other schools don’t join in on the learning! Atlantic Community High School LEO High School Pinellas High School San Volusia High School San Volusia High School (I pressed stop instead of pause, this is the rest) West FL High School
The Drill Meet Judge
It’s a difficult situation and I’ve been there a couple times. You are a judge at a drill meet and the next team steps up to take the field for competition and as soon as the team steps off, you notice something is wrong. The report-in isn’t the best but you continue observing but the performance just gets worse and worse. How on earth did we get to this point?
Your Bias and the Marine “Gathering Laundry”
We all have certain knowledge and experiences that define how we view circumstances around us. That’s called our bias. A bias isn’t necessarily bad but if you only rely on your knowledge and experiences and are closed off to learning something new, that is the bad part.
The World Drill Association Ultimate Inspection
When I was a cadet at New Mexico Military Institute, we had a yearly inspection competition between each company. It was called the Sally Port Inspection. A sally port is a controlled entryway to a fort or even a prison. In the image below is the entry point or Sally Port for Hagerman Barracks. What cadets call the “Box” at …
2023 Alabama State JROTC Drill Meet Performance Audio Critiques
It was a beautiful day at Jacksonville State University for the state drill championship. I had the pleasure of overseeing color guard and I again did my DrillMaster Performance Critiques for the Unarmed Color Guard category. Here are the MP3 files for you to download. Bob Jones Buckhorn Columbia Enterprise Gadsden Hillcrest Huntsville Lee New Century Murphy Pell City Ramsey …
Pershing Rifles 2023 Drill Meet Audio Critiques
It was a great day judging color guard and I made real-time audio (MP3) critiques for each team. Here they are in alphabetical order: Alabama A&M Appalachian State Bowling Green CBU G10 Clemson CUNY East TN State Herndon KS State Lackey 1 Lackey 2 Ohio State Paul R Brown Rutgers Spotsylvania UNC CH Uni of Cinci UVA Watts WVU
DrillMaster Video Critiques
The DrillMaster has given live audio feedback for performances for many years and now he has moved into video critiques.










