DrillMaster explains all about the firing party at a funeral or memorial service.
When to Drape the Deceased
My firefighting friends in California had a great question for me. Here are my thoughts. What a tragedy to lose a fellow firefighter, emergency medic, or law enforcement officer, let alone a member of the armed forces. However, it does happen and all too often. Since we know that death comes to us all and that it is just a …
Weapons Inside a Chapel?
I received an email recently with a dilemma: Hey John, I hope you’re doing well. I had a question for you. Our team was asked to post colors in a synagogue yesterday. When we arrived, one of the synagogue members stated that we could not be armed inside the sanctuary. Our policy does not allow us to be unarmed (sidearm) …
“Guard, Fix the Flag”
It’s a windy day. Your JROTC color guard is up next for the competition. You move into position on the drill, colors at Carry and rifles at Right Shoulder, pad and give the order to go to Present Arms. The rifles guards execute the Present Arms position, the American flag is flying in the breeze, and the spade at the …
Firing Party: Stop Taking Aim!
A Firing Party fires a ceremonial Three-Volley salute using modern or traditional rifles (military), shotguns, or pistols (law enforcement). It is not the 21-Gun Salute, that is fired by guns (canons) and only in the Army and Navy. The Numbers: Anywhere from three to seven members firing with a commander. The smaller amount of members on the team does not …
Complete Exhibition Drill Team Tetrad Routine
I have many free downloadable resources on the Downloads page and here is another! Click the link above to go to the Downloads page, scroll down to DrillMaster Downloads and at the bottom you will see the link for the routine. The PDF package outlines a complete tetrad (4- or 5-man) exhibition routine with the rifle work included in the …
How To Present the Colors at an Event
I was talking with one of the JROTC instructors at one of the local high schools where I teach in the afternoons and he was relaying the story of their color guard presenting the colors for a professional ball club and how the training I gave the team really helped since it provided the cadets and the instructors with a repertoire of moves from which they could choose to make their colors presentation look as professional as possible.
The Graveside Sequence For Funeral Directors Part 3
The military funeral with cremated remains, “cremains”. Sequence The honor guard, as few as two members or as many as six, arrives one hour before the ceremony and makes a couple of dry runs in their travel uniform. Fifteen to 20 minutes before the funeral, the team changes into their ceremonial uniform and forms up each element, pall bearers should face …
The Little Honor Guard Members
I have been scouring the internet for many years learning about the differences in military drill around the world. One thing that isn’t different is the interest that many young men and women enjoy in the hours of work it takes to present a superior drill team (called an “honor guard” in Asia) performance and in some cases, age does …
The Firefighter’s Ceremonial Axe Manual
See also the article, Resistance to Change: Betrayal?, for some insight that may help dealing with this sometimes rather touchy issue. Why an axe manual in the first place? Firefighter honor guard units use two of their tools as ceremonial equipment that are normally used to fight fires. When I first began writing my book, The Honor Guard Manual, I wanted …