I have been teaching honor guards since 1990 (USAF and then first responders) and now travel and teach around the country with my training equipment. I have also even been honored to teach overseas. For first responders, I do not teach Regulation Drill (RD), I teach Ceremonial Drill (CD). Basic military training teaches us RD that anyone can get from any of the three service drill and ceremonies manuals, which is meant to move a formation from point A to B and provide very basic, usable information. You are welcome to download any of the three military drill and ceremonies manuals from the Resources page at my website and use those techniques. However, those techniques are incomplete.

When we look at CD, a whole new world opens up filled with opportunities and challenges. I teach you how to meet both with the knowledge to come across in the most professional manner, no matter the occasion. I create Ceremonial Guardsmen taking a six-week program and condensing it into one week (or variation).

I teach from my book, The Honor Guard Manual. The book is based on the firmly established US Air Force Honor Guard standard, some joint service standards, my military ceremonial experience since 1990, and my experience of working with first responders since 2009. The obvious benefit here is that there is a standardized methodical approach to every facet of rendering honors. Trainees receive a manual; I'm not going to just teach and leave, I provide the information to help you to continue to maintain the highest standards.

My DrillMaster Honor Guard Academy graduates come away from the course as Certified United States Ceremonial Guardsmen and have the option to also become a Ceremonial Guardsman Certified Instructor for their unit.

I find that the best way to host a DrillMaster Academy or Clinic is to invite law enforcement, firefighters, and EMS from other local departments to join in. That way, the cost is spread to more trainees and everyone in your area begins to work from the same standard. There is also an advantage to hosting more than one Academy: not only more trainees become certified, but if you have a relatively large team, you can split up their attendance over two or three sessions thereby reducing the need for coverage for duty.

Separating law enforcement and firefighter/EMS training is fine but it is perfectly acceptable to have both in the same class and I encourage joint work as much as possible.

My costs are inclusive of the instruction fee, travel and lodging as noted in the course syllabus. Please contact me to request a syllabus for training your department/office. drillmaster001@thedrillmaster.org.

I do not wear a mask or take any kind of medical device/injection due to whatever Big Scary Virus might be floating around. Trainees and I work closely together and colds and flu are a part of life. Diet, exercise, and supplements are a good thing.