Let’s talk about Countermarch and the Wheel for a 5-man color guard for the Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard.
The Photo at the top of the page shows a color guard with Marine Forces, Europe and Africa, retire the colors during an Assumption of Command Ceremony MarForEURAF at Panzer Kaserne, Stuttgart, Germany. There are big problems in the photo.
- ❌The national is lower! Org bearers, adjust your sockets, that why God made them adjustable.
- ❌You are not a Close Interval.
How the 5-man Exists
Notice the color guard has two organizational colors. That’s because one General heads two different commands, Marines in Europe and Africa. The Marine Corps has maybe three of these instances where a CG has two commands (one in Louisiana and one in the Pacific?).
Countermarch or Marine Corps Wheel?
Can a 5-man color guard perform Countermarch? Yes! “But how”, I hear you ask. “The MCO doesn’t have that guidance.” You’re right, the only 5-man color guard movement is the Wheel with the rotation point in the center (not the Army Wheel, the MCO calls that a Turn) and the text says the team must be joint service. Hear me out on this:
- A joint colors team begin at 5 members and can be larger. The guidance for a joint team to perform the Wheel in the MCO centers on the number of team members. The MCO *should* state the Wheel is for teams of 5, joint or otherwise but since it doesn’t, .
- The reason for the MC Wheel is time. A 4-man Turn/Army Wheel, with rotation on the guard, takes 8 steps on average, where you don’t look like you are running nor taking forever. Add one more person and the steps increase by 2. A Marine Corps Wheel reduces the step count to 6.
Tulane, You’ve Done it Again
Each year, Tulane University’s NROTC hosts a drill meet during Mardis Gras for college teams from around the country and each year there is some sort of change to try to keep things interesting. Most of the time, the change is never researched, it’s just decided. For 2025, a color guard Wheel movement was replaced with Countermarch and since the competing color guards must march five members (possibly reflecting joint service standards) and Countermarch for 5 is not explained in MCO 5060.20, teams are scrambling and asking questions.
My guidance: Countermarch with 5? See the guidance in TC 3-21.5 for Counter Column for 5 and maintain the MCO standards.