AF Training

The Purpose of Military Drill and Ceremonies

DrillMasterColor Guard/Color Team, Commentary Leave a Comment

The benefits of drill and ceremonies (D&C) are numerous and I won’t restate them here but I will use a couple of them to make my point about the purpose and to see how we are generally failing to use drill and ceremonies for its intended purpose and thus unable to reap the benefits.

USN CG Colors

What Does “Order Arms” Really Mean For A Color Guard?

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Order Arms for a color guard can be confusing. Let’s see how. TC 3-21.5 – Army While this is for the Army only, AFJROTC and SFJROTC cadet color guards are currently, more or less, forced to follow the TC. For a thought-out approach to the AF/SF regulation drill color guard, click here to read this article. The command “Order Colors” …

Spang BHG Colors in Luxembourg

Carrying a Foreign National or All Service Flags

DrillMasterColor Guard, Color Guard/Color Team, Honor Guard Training, Instructional, Protocol and Flag Leave a Comment

This is huge. This changes 95% of color guards overseas as to make up (what flags are carried and when) and also affects some of the stateside teams as well. The protocol behind carrying foreign national flags was just assumed for many years. We can’t just assume anymore.

School Flag Detail

No School JROTC or CAP Program?

DrillMasterAsk DrillMaster, Color Guard/Color Team 2 Comments

No problem! There are all kinds of cadet and explorer programs attached to elementary and high schools around the country. Read more about them here. Some schools have a small program that concentrates on providing a color guard and/or a Flag Detail. But how do you start one? I have received this question before and provided guidance and now that …

Pentagon River Entrance Arrival

Joint Service – Separated

DrillMasterColor Guard/Color Team, Honor Guard, Instructional 2 Comments

I received a great question the other day. Why are the color guards at the Pentagon and sometimes at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier carrying the American and a foreign national flag with guards and what dictates the order of the manning for both teams? Joint Service A full joint service arrival ceremony for a foreign dignitary at the …

The Argument From AFPAM 34-1203

DrillMasterColor Guard/Color Team, Commentary, Instructional, Judge Training, Regulation Drill 2 Comments

What argument would this be? It’s about using the other two service manuals. It gets a bit complicated, but bear with me as we go through why the AFPAM has so little information and what to do about it. We need to understand that all three drill and ceremonies manuals are lacking in certain aspects and using ones best judgment …

The Personal Color

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A Note To Those Who Mount Personal/Positional Colors The stars point up. The stars point UP. Definition -Personal Color For the US government and military, a personal color is a flag that represents an individual’s rank and/or office. This is where the term Flag Officer comes from. General Officers (GOs), Generals and Admirals, are Flag Officers because they have a …