What argument would this be? It’s about using the other two service manuals. It gets a bit complicated, but bear with me as we go through why the AFPAM has so little information and what to do about it. We need to understand that all three drill and ceremonies manuals are lacking in certain aspects and using ones best judgment …
The Why of the Color Guard: Military Joint Service Order
Here we have an explanation of joint service order for military and cadets. There are some differences that need to be understood. For US first responders, see the article, American First Responder Joint Service Order. See also this article, Joint Service Order of the Colors.
Displaying vs. Carrying Flags
There is a difference between carrying and displaying flags. A display of flags is already in a set of stands either for daily display or for an event/ceremony and not carried by a color guard.
The Personal Color
A Note To Those Who Mount Personal/Positional Colors The stars point up. The stars point UP. Definition -Personal Color For the US government and military, a personal color is a flag that represents an individual’s rank and/or office. This is where the term Flag Officer comes from. General Officers (GOs), Generals and Admirals, are Flag Officers because they have a …
The DrillMaster Response
While a massive majority of readers understand exactly what I do, there a tiny few who feel that I need to be told how to do what I do. However, those few are very few and are disrespectful, arrogant, selfish, prideful, vulgar, and many times childish.
The Color Guard is Not First
Wait a minute, the colors are always first in everything, everywhere, and every time! I know that because I heard it somewhere at some time in the past and it must be true. I just know it. So, as you encounter some cognitive dissonance while reading that the color guard is not always first in line, rest assured you are …
The Why of the Military Color Guard – JROTC and State Colors
For a JROTC color guard in competition the idea behind carrying the state flag in place of the departmental or even the JROTC organizational is to not break military flag protocol and that’s understandable. However, this idea has backfired so that just about every JROTC color guard believes that carrying the state flag as a substitute for the military flag is perfectly acceptable for every colors presentation.
The Why of the Military Color Guard – Precedence and Command
I know the precedence of the military, I know who is supposed to command in multi- or joint-service situations, and I understand what technique takes precedence in those situations, but how can I explain this and point to where it’s written?
Presenting the Colors at a Sporting Event
In 2017 I was talking with one of the JROTC instructors at one of the local high schools where I have taught in the afternoons and he was relaying the story of their color guard presenting the colors for a professional ball club and how the training I gave the team really helped since it provided the cadets and the …
Posting the Colors Outside
Let’s get this out of the way, when asked to formally post the colors in stands outside, don’t. Just don’t do it. Let’s look closely.