DrillMaster shares a sample of the manual of arms for the firefighter’s ceremonial pike pole.
Weapon and Tool Nomenclatures
Nomenclatures The M1 Garand The M14 The M1903A3 The Enfield Rifle The Fire Axe The Pike Pole This information if from The Honor Guard Manual and is (c) John K. Marshall
Joint Service Order of the Colors
The regulation that directs this order of precedence was Department of Defense Directive 1005.8, Order of Precedence of Members of Armed Forces of the United States When in Formations (31 October 1977) and now that information is contained in each service drill and ceremonies or protocol manual. The more interesting part of the story is the history behind why that …
The POW/MIA Table Ceremony
Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA)Remembrance Ceremony Information Related: The Fallen First Responder Ceremony Use this article as a training guide for an indoor POW/MIA Ceremony. NOTE: The POW/MIA Ceremony setup and ceremony proper are NOT different for any service or organization, what you read below is it. There is no such thing as “POW/MIA USMC Regulations”* or POW/MIA Army Ceremony”. …
The Left Flank and The Column Left
Keep this image in mind as you read below. Span of Control CT asks: Hello DrillMaster, I would like to know if after giving left flank can the commander march backward while the platoon marches forward towards the commander during Regulation Drill. I have looked everywhere and nowhere can I find it. Answer: It’s good to hear from you; thanks …
Military Drill Judging
For decades the only requirement to be qualified to judge a military drill competition was graduation from a service’s Basic Training. That’s it. You’re now able to rank and rate and assign a score to what you see on the competitive field. And what’s better is if you are a Drill/Training Instructor or on an honor guard. Somehow, you are …
Hard Work, Discipline, Desire and…
I was introduced to a speech by Eric Thomas, “The Hip-Hop Preacher” (more motivational speaker than preacher) yesterday. I appreciate where he has come from, the struggles he has overcome and most of the message that he preaches. Much of what he says is inspiring and one of my friends made a great motivational video and placed it on his …
How to Become a Certified Visual Judge
The World Drill Association and DrillMaster now offer a training and certification program for judges for the military drill world. All aspects of military drill come under the visual category and should be judged as such. That is where the program comes in. There are four visual captions: 1. Overall Effect 2. Composition Analysis 3. Movement 4. Equipment Also a …
The Six-Man Flag Fold
I’ll begin with this statement: Just because the word, “man” is in the title does not necessarily mean, “male”. There is a right way and a wrong way to fold the American flag and there re a couple of different ways in between. to learn how to do it the right way, pick up my latest book, The Honor Guard …
Dipping the American Flag
I read this short article that was sent to me by a retired Marine friend of mine: The 1908 Summer Olympics were held in London, England were extremely controversial. Many of the medals were won by Irish and Irish-American athletes who were not only members of the Irish American Athletic Club of Celtic Park in Sunnyside, Queens, but also members …