About The DrillMaster
What Others Say
I bought all of your books and wish I had them 20 years ago. They have been/are a great help. I teach Air Force Junior ROTC in Rock Hill, SC and use the info all the time.
~Larry W.Your books are fantastic!
~Albuquerque High School AJROTCI find myself reading your every post on Facebook in addition to saving them for future use in our Honor Guard. The information you provide is invaluable. Yes, you can teach an old Marine new tricks. I plan to purchase your book for use in our program.
~OFC. Robert V.John trained the newly formed honor guard for the UC Berkeley Police Department. He brought the needed expertise to teach ceremonial honors to experienced and inexperienced team members. He tuned his book, The Honor Guard Manual, to our needs and coordinated the training with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. He has become a mentor and a friend and I highly recommend him to all PD honor guards.
OFC. George H.
All About The DrillMasterJohn K. Marshall, The DrillMaster, served 20 years in the US Air Force with 14 of those years dedicated to the Air Force Base Honor Guard program. He retired in 2005. When his wife, an Air Force nurse, was stationed at Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, he became the first retired member of the Spangdahlem Base Honor Guard after both the officer and non-commissioned officer in charge were eager to have his experience on the team. By joining the Spangdahlem team, he also became the first and only AP3 member in Europe and quite possibly overseas.
Since 1986, he has been a member, instructor and/or judge for marching bands, drum and bugle corps, indoor guard and percussion units, military drill teams and honor guard units in Japan, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, and several states. In 2009, through DrillMaster Press, he began writing and publishing the first modern books for the military drill world. It’s not only about the length of experience, but also the breadth.
During the summer of 2013, Mr. Marshall created and taught the first ever Cadet Joint Service Honor Guard Academy at the National Cadet Training Center. The course was a two-week intensive for cadets from all organizations and is based on his book, The Honor Guard Manual.
For strictly military drill, he has worked in-person and through video with Air Force Base Honor Guard units, all of the service Jr Reserve Officers Training Corps programs, Sea Cadets, Civil Air Patrol, and even Boy Scouts. Most recently, he has begun work with the Seventh Day Adventist Pathfinder program.
Working outside military drill is where all his adjudication training and much of his teaching techniques come from. Teaching and judging marching bands, winter percussion and guard units, and drum and bugle corps in England, Tucson, Netherlands, California, and Germany, led to bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge that could be put into the military setting and used to enhance regulation, ceremonial, and exhibition drill.
“Education is key!” is the phrase used most often on DrillMaster social media accounts and continuing education is The DrillMaster goal. To this end, he is determined to study pageantry arts and apply that education to the military drill world.
Mr. Marshall is a certified General Effect adjudicator with Color Guard Nederland (Winter Guard International) and registered Field and Ensemble Visual adjudicator with the Marching Round Table Judges Academy (Drum Corps International and Bands of America adjudication training).
