Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Commentary”
Why do all of this ceremonial “stuff”? Some believe (wrongly) that all this is just a, waste of time, effort, money, etc. Gone are the days of the Army never entering Rome, which was seen as an act of aggression and possible overthrow of the government, which, in that day, it was. Read about crossing the Rubicon and the phrase “The die is cast”, alea iacta est.
Pearls are expensive and fairly rare. That’s why cultured pearls came about. A pearl is made by an oyster that has sand creep into its shell. The sand is rough and uncomfortable, so the oyster mixes the sand with secretions that create a smooth ball that can be tolerated. When people discovered the process, sand was then purposefully inserted into as many oysters as possible to force them to create pearls. “Forced pearls” just doesn’t sound all that great so, “cultured” was the name given them.
In a similar way, “honor” is constantly forced.
It was a beautiful morning at Patrick Space Force Base! Click on the links below to download each DrillMaster Audio Performance Critique file. Brandon Homestead Lake Pines Tamiami
I’ve been told twice in two days that I “cherry pick” information. In one instance it was purely an insult, but it came from an adult who doesn’t like accuracy or the truth. The second time came from a college level cadet who thought the two USAF D&C standards and who is authorized to follow them, doesn’t make sense.
I received such a great question that it spurred me into creating a new tag #DrillMasterRecommends, and writing this article. Thank you, Jari Villanueva, The Taps Bugler! Question: I’m looking at updating our organization’s flags. Our new Honor Guard would like to purchase an American flag a state flag, poles for each, and bases. What do you recommend? For a …
As the 135th MMA Corps of Cadets completes the first days of training for the year and begins academic classes on Monday, I want to share a message that will soon be sent out in our Eagle magazine. I want to remind you, our alumni and friends, of the strength of our conviction and belief in the education we provide for our cadets. As always, thank you for your support of the Academy and our young men. Together, we make a difference in their lives!
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.
Quoted from an AFROTC cadet. A cadet who is going to commission into the USAF/USSF. The quote was relayed to me. If the above statement is true, then writing AFMAN 34-515 (the USAF Honor Guard manual) culminated in several years of wasted of time and abuse of resources. Standards are written and applied to uphold laws and regulations and avoid …
Military uniforms grew out of fashion preferred by French Nobility of the 17th Century
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 …