A military drill team is an armed or unarmed marching unit that performs routines based on military drill. All drill teams, no matter what size, perform or exhibit their routine. Hence, all teams are “exhibition drill teams”. In the military drill world, we have taken the term, “Exhibition Drill” (XD) and given it a more narrow definition (which is fine) along the lines of Precision Drill, Fancy Drill, Trick Drill, and Freestyle Drill, with Freestyle Drill being a more accurate term. So the American military’s service drill teams are in fact exhibition teams, but they are non-competitive (mainly for “show”) which brings in the idea of a “Ceremonial” sub-classification. See this Graph of Military Drill.
Military drill comes in three classifications:
Drill Team classifications
A Ceremonial Drill Team does not have competition as its goal. A competition may come and the team may compete, but the goal of the team is performance. You can see this in the writing of the marching and equipment books. The intent is not to write a routine for a competition, but for a public showing, entertainment. The service drill teams are there for a purpose and that purpose is not to create and march a competitive program, but to show the public what excellence, hard work, teamwork, etc., are like. It’s also used as a recruiting tool.
All of the United States military service branches have an official drill team that is part of their respective Presidential Honor Guard. The service academies have drill teams, as well as many university ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) and high school JROTC (Junior ROTC) units. Additionally, many community-based organizations such as the Naval Sea Cadets, Young Marines, Civil Air Patrol and civilian-based organizations maintain military drill teams. Click here for more on cadet programs.
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