Certain demands are placed on Drillers for each kind of routine they may march: solo, tandem, and drill team. With a solo performance, it’s all about the Driller and his/her capabilities With a tandem routine, the pressure is halved With a drill team performance the pressure is somewhat diminished Does this mean that Drillers on a team can relax and …
A History of Drill and Training Rifles Part 24
JAPANESE TRAINING RIFLES Starting in the 1920’s, the Japanese government required all junior and senior high school boys to have two hours a week of military training. Several companies started producing the necessary training rifles for this purpose. Unfortunately most training rifles did not bear markings that identified their origin. These training rifles had no standard design and were often …
No Drill Please, We’re British
Actually, the original title doesn’t have the word “drill” in it… For those in the American military drill world who have yet to acquaint themselves with military drill and ceremonies outside of the United States of America, allow me to introduce you to Britain’s Air Training Corps Banner Drill Competition. While it may seem odd (as I noted in the …
The Color Guard Every Left On
How many times has your color team come across a situation where if you entered in reverse order, the team would be correct when finally posted? These pictures may help to illustrate the issue: In this picture, the team probably entered correctly: single file with the American flag in front, but they had to turn to the right which places …
Drill Team Training: Ripple Lines
Drill team training: Ripple lines (not dominoes, they fall once and that’s it) can be fun and exciting during a drill team’s routine. However… Please use imagination during the design process! Here are some tips for a ripple line, armed or unarmed. What is a ripple? For military drill purposes, it is an action that begins at one point and …
Written Critique of the USAF Drill Team 2012 Routine
If you’d like to read my critique of the American Air Force’s Honor Guard Drill Team 2012 routine, go to their YouTube channel. If you have any questions or comments about the critique, fire away! DrillMaster Do you have a video you would like critiqued by The DrillMaster? Then please send an email!
Regarding a Driller’s Bearing
Some Driller colleagues of mine tried to put together a list of what one might consider the “basics” of drill. However, this title brings Standing Manual, marching and even the manual of arms to mind. So, “basics” as the title does not work to fully describe this attempt. ”Bearing” however, does. From Thesaurus.com: Main Entry: bearing Part of Speech: noun …
Does a Drill Rifle Type Matter?
Hypothetical situation (yet common): “Well we use M1 Grands and ours weigh 15lbs.” Oh. Really? That would be Garand, named after the man who created the rifle, Canadian-born, John Cantius Garand. For some reason some Drillers think that the heavier the rifle is, the better a Driller you are. This is simply not true. All rifles, including 2lb color guard …
“Stand Still Laddy!”
That’s a line from Pink Floyd’s song, The Wall. And it fits perfectly. Judges: stop moving around the drill pad! Why? It’s distracting to the audience- which is not a main concern, but is part of the consideration. There are macro and micro moves a Driller can perform and if you are constantly moving around, you will miss those subtleties. …
The Six-Man Flag Fold Part 2
Note: “man” does not mean “male” The standard six-man flag fold is accomplished with either 6 or 8 honor guard members The positions are, from top left: HandOff, CrossMark, (Dead CrossMark*), Fold Carry, Mark, (Dead Mark*), Commander of the Pall Bearers *There is no pun intended as these positions do the same thing as their center counterparts for a flag …