The DrillMaster Reading List

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Over time, I will update this list as needed. For now, educate yourself. Many of the following manuals are the Resources page. Service Drill and Ceremonies Training Circular 3-21.5, Drill and Ceremonies Marine Corps Order 5060.2, Drill and Ceremonies Air Force Manual 36-2203, Drill and Ceremonies Regulation Drill Training (portable lesson plans) DrillMaster’s Color Guard Coach’s Field Manual DrillMaster’s Platoon, …

Exhibition Color Guard? Consensus Says it’s OK!

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I cannot even bring myself to insert a picture of a color guard performing exhibition moves. Instead, here is an awesome firefighter color guard, the members of which were trained by yours truly. Reference: Training Circular 3-21.5; Marine Corps Order P5060.20; AF Manual 36-2203; The Honor Guard Manual I have heard from several cadets that their color guard has performed …

Drill Team Organizational Guidance Examples

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Standards. The military is about setting and maintaining standards- even exceeding them. A cadet organization is not different. An extra-curricular activity of that program also needs to set and maintain standards. Those standards are of what is expected from each team member and what each team member can expect. Here are some examples. I encourage you to look them over, …

JROTC Drill Team Issues

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DrillMaster, My name is John and I was selected to be the drill commander for this year. It’s only been a few days and we are already having problems, especially between my selected leaders. The whole atmosphere changed the next day when my AI handed me the drill cord, it was like my leaders didn’t want to socialize with me …

Is it Time for a Break?

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I constantly receive questions about all kinds of issues that relate to the military drill world and one that crops up about once a year is regarding what some call a “drought”. No, this will not be a history lesson of the American Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1920s. This is about hitting the performance wall. Runners …

Excellence is More Than “Clean”

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“Clean” has many different definitions. In visual terms, however, we use it to mean, “having no needed corrections; easily readable”. WHOA! what is this “easily readable” stuff, are we are talking about drill teams? Yes, drill teams are a part of the visual performance family. This family includes, dance, marching band, step, etc. Click here for my article explaining Readability. See …

Exhibition Drill Injuries

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Before we begin: I am not a medical doctor, nor do I play one in this book (or TV or anywhere else). This article is not a substitute for obtaining professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Now, on to the article. Many exhibition Drillers (you are not an “exhibitionist” unless you remove your clothing while spinning the rifle) have spent some time dealing …

The Terror of the Dropped Rifle

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See these related articles: How Drops Affect Scoring & Learning to Drop. Salute! Imagine this: you are a judge at a JROTC competition assigned to judge one of the exhibition drill categories. During a performance, a cadet drops his rifle, comes to attention, salutes the rifle, picks it up and continues on with the performance. The “Face-Palm” action would be inappropriate in …