Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “color guard”
In some organizations, particularly groups like the Sons of the American Revolution (from where I received the question below), it is common to see a “color guard commander” standing outside the formation, often carrying a sword and issuing commands to the guard. This raises a frequent question: Is this practice derived from early American military drill? The short answer is …
Color guards are carefully structured ceremonial formations. Every flag within the formation represents a specific authority: the nation, the foreign nation, the state or territory, a military service, or the organization hosting the ceremony.
Public discussion frequently merges two separate realities:
Congressional recognition of World War II Merchant Mariners as veterans and legal and doctrinal authority to form or represent a color guard
Joint color guards representing the Department of Homeland Security are increasingly visible at national ceremonies, public events, and major sporting venues. Their presence reflects the broad mission of DHS and the service of its many law-enforcement components.
In recent years, I have seen an increasing number of color guards—military, veteran, cadet, and ceremonial—placing swords or sabers in escort positions.
Drift in Drill & Ceremonies is not accidental.
It is not generational. It is not ignorance alone. And it is not simply ego.
Authority, Emulation, and Ego in Drill & Ceremonies The category error: elite ceremonial technique being imitated in environments where it is not authorized. This is subtle — and therefore more dangerous — because it looks disciplined. What People Are Copying The maneuver being imitated is the four-man color guard countermarch executed with simultaneous pivots, as performed by: This technique is …
This is a doctrinal bleed-over problem: honor guard practice migrating into regulation drill competition.
The two environments are not the same mission set.
Army JROTC follows the TC to the letter. Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard JROTC follow the same guidance with MCO 5060.20 guidon techniques. Air and Space Forces JROTC follow the same guidance with AFPAM 34-1203 guidon techniques.
This subject is one of the most common sources of confusion in Color Guard training, especially in scholastic and cadet programs. The root problem is that people treat flags as decoration, local pride, or a “nice touch,” when in reality every color carried in formation is a public statement of authority and representation.