AJROTC Armed Platoon Nixa School District

When Does the Commander Move to Port From Sling and Back?

DrillMasterAsk DrillMaster, Instructional, Regulation Drill Leave a Comment

Recently, I received a question that deserves to be an article. This happens constantly and is part of what I have called Filling in the Gaps. While I have been made fun of for using that term, there will always be someone with a question. They have a gap in their knowledge and are seeking to fill it.

“Cherry Picking”

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I’ve been told twice in two days that I “cherry pick” information. In one instance it was purely an insult, but it came from an adult who doesn’t like accuracy or the truth. The second time came from a college level cadet who thought the two USAF D&C standards and who is authorized to follow them, doesn’t make sense.

Proper Technique For the Platoon Commander

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Here is the situation: The regulation drill sequence for a platoon. The commander, three steps away from and centered on the platoon in Line Formation, gives the following commands: Command The Commander Left Step Right Step Left Face Stands Fast Right Step Marches Backward at Half Step About Face Stands Fast Forward March Steps off with a Face-In-March to the …

A DrillMaster Study on Present Arms with a Rifle

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You really need to read this to better understand the techniques required for Present. The service rifle changes over time to whatever the Army and Marine Corps decide to use as the primary weapon for the majority of Soldiers and Marines. For many years that has been the M16 and now the M4 is making its way into each service. For this study we will look at each current platform to include the M1 Garand, M14, and M1903 tracking the history of each, if necessary.

A Study on the Center of a Formation

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Each service recognizes that the center of a color guard with two guards and an even number of color bearers is the space between the two bearers. If the team has an odd number of color bearers, the center is the center color bearer. Simple. For a platoon/flight, there is a little more too it but…

The Argument From AFPAM 34-1203

DrillMasterColor Guard/Color Team, Commentary, Instructional, Judge Training, Regulation Drill 2 Comments

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 Military Color Guard – JROTC and State Colors

DrillMasterColor Guard, Color Guard/Color Team 2 Comments

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.