Who’s in Charge?

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For a joint service color team (guard) who carries the national colors? If it is a properly staffed color team this is the order and the Soldier carrying the US Color is in charge (Army is the oldest service and is in charge in Joint Service situations*): *However, the standard for every color team is the position of the US …

Ask DrillMaster- Colors and Spacing

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Question: Hi, I just found your website. I have an urgent question. How many steps do there need to be from the head judge before and after executing eyes right, regarding colorguard? Now, I have read both  AFMAN-36-2203 and FM-3-21.5, and in the Colorguard section, there is no statement addressing my question. However, in the category regarding the Squadron/Platoon, there …

Honor Guard Epitome of Standard During CSAF Transition

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by Senior Airman Lindsey A. Porter 11th Wing Public Affairs 8/10/2012 – JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md.  — Don’t move. Don’t move a single muscle. Hours of drill and ceremony, dress rehearsal and uniform preparation have all come down to this. Don’t move. All eyes are on you. Standing sharp, crisp and motionless, in full U.S. Air Force Honor Guard service dress, you know …

“Unarmed” Colors

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“Unarmed Color Team” is a term used for competitions and is due to the category: If the drill team is unarmed, then the color team is “unarmed.” If the drill team is armed then the color team is armed. Having said that, there is no such thing as an unarmed color team. Here at Drillmaster, we differentiate terms: Color Team …

The Makeup of a Color Team

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Color Team =  Military Color Guard = Marching Band/Winter Guard How many members are supposed to be on a color team? Four, minimum. Why? Because each color team represents a military service and the service’s flag is always carried with it to the marching left of of the American flag. Below, is the Marine Color Team at 8th and I, …

Color Team Spacing

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Reminder: Military-type = Color Team Marching band/winter guard = Color Guard Spacing There are two different ways a color team can line up when the teams forms: Line formation, abreast Column formation, behind each other When falling-in in line formation, the team should have a distance of four inches between the shoulders. This make room for all static movement. When …

Drill Pad Sizes

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Call it what you want, “drill pad,” “drill area,” “drill floor,” or “drill deck,” we need to get some standardization in the American (and beyond) military drill world. For a drill competition (drill meet) there are different phases to the competition and each phase has a measured off area in which to compete. Exhibition and Regulation These drill phases both …

Why “Equipment”

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Why do I use the term “equipment” and not just say “rifle”? Good question; here’s the answer. When I was writing my second book, The World Drill Association Adjudication Manual and Rule Book, I quickly found that I had a slight dilemma. When I came to write the section for the judge who judges armed routines, I realized that I …

The Drill Meet

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What is a Drill Meet? In America, the drill meet, after putting in hours of hard work designing, choreographing, practicing, rewriting and practicing some more, is a competition for drill teams, Drillers and color teams (NOTE: military-based: “color team;” music-based: “color guard“). The organizations that compete are each services’ Jr., high school, and Sr., college, Reserve Officer Training Corps, Army …