There seems to be confusion on the announcements or commands to present and post the colors. Let’s iron that out.
The Wear of Hats
The issue is that the service drill and ceremonies manuals do not specifically state that a color guard must be covered (wear their headgear: hats, helmets, or berets) all the time when presenting the colors. In this article, I go over the standards of being covered and when we can remove the cover.
Color Guards Overseas and the Foreign National Color
This information affects all bases overseas for all services. The photo at the top of the page is from 2025 of the Spangdahlem Air Base Honor Guard color guard in Luxembourg for the celebration of the liberation of Vianden with the wrong colors in the wrong positions. When my wife and I were stationed at Spang, I did this very …
Countermarch For a Five-Man Color Guard?
Let’s talk about Countermarch and the Wheel for a 5-man color guard for the Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard. The Photo at the top of the page shows a color guard with Marine Forces, Europe and Africa, retire the colors during an Assumption of Command Ceremony MarForEURAF at Panzer Kaserne, Stuttgart, Germany. There are big problems in the photo. …
Cadets, Why Not Carry The Departmental Color?
Cadets should not carry the departmental color, what the Army calls the Ceremonial Color, the 4’4”x5’6” or organizational 3’x4’ color with the official (copyrighted) symbol of the military service. Let’s get into why this is a standard that is little known.
The Colors Diamond Formation
The diamond formation is an alternative for traveling that is quite unique. When properly done, it looks good. It is used for traveling only, as it is not an appropriate static formation. Static formations are fully explained in service drill and ceremonies manuals. Is it authorized?
AFJROTC and CAP Color Guard Equipment
I was asked for direction for outfitting a CAP color guard with the proper equipment. Below is the full explanation with links.
Changing Color Guard Members For Long Parades
There is nothing official because this is not usual. However, those who do not march for a living and are not conditioned to do so, may want to station a second team half-way along the parade route to change out teams. There are a couple different ways to accomplish this. Let’s review.
Splitting a Color Guard Formation?
I was recently asked about splitting a color guard formation and this is such a good question, that I decided it needs to be an article to help inform others.
Protocol Manual Update, AFI 90-1201 Replaces AFI 34-1201
In October of 2024, the Air Force furthered the coverage of instructions and other regulations to include AFI 34-1201. It is now DAFI, Department of the Air Force Instruction, 90-1201 aligning it under the AF Policy Directive 90 series. Did artificial “intelligence” write this? Because this is really bad.