US Military Service Drill and Ceremonies Manuals These are the manuals you need to know front-to-back, back-to-front, inside and out. While some may think this information boring, as someone affiliated with a marching program (cadet, military member, first responder, etc.), these manuals are the foundation of what you do and it is a MUST that you read your service’s …
Honoring the POW/MIA Flag When Posting the Colors
How do you honor the POW/MIA flag when posting the colors? Great question! Here is the answer: The POW/MIA color is not specifically honored when the colors are posted/presented. For a ceremony, after the colors are presented or posted, that is when the POW/MIA color can be brought in and posted. How the flag is brought in is up to …
Practicing Wheels for Colors
Wheel movements can be one of the most difficult techniques to master when you are just starting out. Unfortunately (in my opinion), JROTC cadet color teams are relegated to their service drill and ceremonies manual and cannot compete using the ceremonial standard. I’ll give you two examples of why I use the word, “unfortunately:” Cadets on a color team are …
Cadet Honor Guard Academy Training
In the second week of training after hours of standing manual, the manual of arms for colors and firing party, and the manual of the flagstaff and with just a couple of hours work, the cadets in the first-ever Joint Service Cadet Honor Guard Academy, have learned: Firing Party Posting the Colors Pallbearers We did so much during the two …
Honor Guard Competitions
What is the reason for competing? In the military drill world, a competition has been a means of showing other teams how much hard work has been put into the routine, and I’m not just talking about exhibition drill. Honor guard units compete against each other in funeral ceremonies and the tasks associated with them. Color teams post the colors …
How not to Stand Around while on a Color Team
This is a Base Honor Guard ready to present the colors at a game. They are standing and waiting for their time to line up and get ready to go. Nothing wrong with that, except that the colors are out of order which is completely unacceptable. When the colors are uncased, they need to be in the proper order- always. …
Nothing Beats the Feeling of a Job Well Done
Nothing Beats the Feeling of a Job Well Done
What do judges look for in a military drill team performance?
What do judges look for in a military drill team performance? I get this question quite often. Here is the answer: it doesn’t matter “what the judge is looking for,” it matters what the standard is. I put that in quotes, because obviously, a judge is going to be looking for something, but what that something is has nothing to …
Why Color Teams Should March Shoulder-to-Shoulder and Tuck their Colors
Why Color Teams Should March Shoulder-to-Shoulder and Tuck their Colors
First All-Native Female Color Team for 2013 Innaugural Parade
First All-Native Female Color Team for 2013 Innaugural Parade Watch carefully during President Obama’s second inaugural parade this month, and you will see among the marching bands and the civic organizations a small group of women wearing bright blue dresses embroidered with the beading of their tribes and the insignia of their service. They are the Native American Women Warriors …