The US military did not consider the hands until the early 1900s and at that time the description has an open hand curved inward. Below, you can see the development of the cupped hand from the earliest writings to the fully cupped hands of today. Note- “fingers in their natural curl” is an open hand, more or less, that is curved.
The photo at the top of the page is of a Marine in the 1960 edition of the Landing Party Manual. Imagine, as recently as the 1960s, we barely cupped ours hands when at Attention and while marching.
Department of the Army
51. Arms and hands hanging naturally, thumb along the seam of the trousers. Infantry Drill Regulations (1911, corrected 1917)
e. Arms hanging straight down without stiffness so that the thumbs are along the seams of the trousers; back of the hands out; fingers held naturally. FM 22-5, Drill and Ceremonies (1939)
20 f. Let your arms hang straight without stiffness along your sides with the backs of your hands outward, your fingers curled so that the tips of the thumbs are alongside and touching the first joint of your forefingers. Keep your thumbs straight and along the seams of your trousers with all fingers touching the legs. FM 22-5, Drill and Ceremonies (1964)
21. c. Let your arms hang straight, without stiffness, along your sides with the back of the hands outward; curl your fingers so that the tips of the thumb are alongside and touching the first joint of your forefingers. Keep your thumbs straight and along the seams of your trousers with all fingertips touching the trouser legs. FM 22-5, Drill and Ceremonies (1971) (emphasis mine)
3-2 d. Let the arms hand straight without stiffness. Curl the fingers so that the tips of the thumbs are alongside and touching the first joint of the forefingers. Keep the thumbs straight along the seams of the trouser leg with the first joint of the fingers touching the trousers. FM 22-5, Drill and Ceremonies (1986) (emphasis mine)
The image below is from TC 3-21.5 (2012) which was used to create the cartoon drawings in the 2021 edition. You can see the neutral wrist and the thumb at the trouser seam.
Department of the Navy
2-8 (5) Arms hanging straight down without stiffness so that the thumbs are along the seams of the trousers; backs of hands out; fingers held naturally. Landing Party Manual (1950)
2-10 (5) Your arms should hang naturally, thumbs along the trouser seams, palms facing inward toward your legs, and fingers joined in their natural curl. OPNAV P 34-03 (1960)
The first Marine Corps Drill Manual, written by the Marine Corps Association in 1956, mirrored the Landing Party Manual from 1950, but only concerned drill and ceremonies. It seems to have led to publishing the OPNAV that came out in 1960, which led to the NAVMC of 1980 and the MCOs that followed.
S. Your arms should be straight, but not stiff at the elbows; thumbs along the trouser seams, palms facing inward toward your legs, and fingers joined in their natural curl. MCO P 5060.20 (2003)
The image below, from the 2019 edition of the MCO, shows the Marine with two different techniques for his left and right hands. His left hand shows a neutral wrist, proper application of the technique, but his right hand shows ulnar deviation, improper application of the technique. See the USAF description below to learn about ulnar deviation.
Department of the Air Force
The USAF was made an independent service in 1947 and published its first drill and ceremonies manual in 1953 and then in 1956 with continuous updates ever since. The 1985 edition of AFR 50-14 begins the description of how we cup our hands today.
3.2. Arms hang straight down alongside the body without stiffness, and the wrists are straight with the forearms. Place thumbs, which are resting along the first joint of the forefinger, along the seams of the trousers or sides of the skirt. Hands are cupped (but not clenched as a fist) with palms facing the leg. AFMAN 36-2203 (1996, 2007)
In my view, the USAF has developed the best description, Army second. However, the photos to go along with the description for decades showed the wrists as “straight” as mentioned in the editions from the 1990s and early 2000s as shown above. That is known as a neutral wrist. It’s not bent in any direction. Suddenly, in 2013 and since then, the AF decided to use a photo of horrible technique but keep the accurate description. Now confusion has entered the chat room.
The image below on the left shows the wrong technique. We do not extend the thumb downward. The is known as ulnar deviation and is not an accurate portrayal of the description. Unfortunately, the SSgt’s blouse sleeve is a bit too long to be able to see the full wrist angle she is using. However, the image on the right is of my wrist with the my sleeve pulled up so that we can see the extreme difference in angle between the end of the forearm and wrist.
Ceremonial Drill
All of the information above is for what we call Regulation Drill. That is, all drill that comes from a military regulation that is applied to every member of the service from Basic Training or Boot Camp throughout their military career.
With ceremonial drill, drill and ceremonies at the honor guard level, a step above regulation drill, standards are a bit different, much more strict, and better explained in every single detail. Below is the C-Fist, the Ceremonial Fist.
Notice in the image how the middle finger is centered on the trouser seam and the knuckles are more horizontal. This squared-off look presents a cleaner, centered image, especially when wearing a white glove. Air and Space Force Honor Guard and Base Honor Guard (BHG) members are authorized to use this technique. Marine Barracks Washington Marines also use a similar technique. Fleet Marines and Sailors, Airmen and Guardsmen not on a BHG and Coast Guardsmen are not authorized to use this technique.
The Army’s C-fist is more flat. Members of the 3rd Infantry Regiment and Post Honor Guard members use the technique from 1964.
