What is Close-Order Drill?
The American Heritage Dictionary defines close-order drill as "A military drill in marching, maneuvering, and formal handling of arms in which the participants perform at close intervals." In the early days of musketry, such training and synchronization was essential to formations and tactics in battle. Today, it holds a more ceremonial role, leading one to ask...
Why Drill?
- Bearing and Leadership/Followership - It's very important that, as future
naval or marine officers, we be able to give and receive orders clearly and
professionally (whether as OOD of a ship or commander of a platoon, one's
orders must be given with a good "command voice"); close-order drill is a
great way to practice this.
- Knowledge - Any member of the military is expected to know the basics of
close-order drill; as officers (especially in the Marine Corps) we will be
expected to be able to lead and perform basic drill movements as part of our
profession.
- Fun - Fun drill? Is this an oxymoron? Well, there is a certain je ne sais quoi about drill when you get it just right, a really cool feeling, when the musical rhythm and timing works exactly right with you and your shipmates' precision movements. It's even more fun when you call cadences.
Tips, Tricks, and Techniques
 | All the commands of execution (usually MARCH!) occur on the foot
that you're turning towards. For example, when you do COLUMN LEFT, MARCH!
the MARCH occurs on the left foot. Because one pauses a beat before the
command of execution, this means that columns and obliques start on the
opposite foot that you want to turn (e.g. the COLUMN for column left is
said on the left foot), while flanks and half-columns start on the same
foot for turning.
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| When do you put your arm down for dress right dress? There are lots of
times (like the first squad on FALL IN, after EXTEND MARCH, etc.) when you put
up your arm to ensure good spacing, but only on OPEN RANKS and DRESS RIGHT
DRESS do you need to be explicitly told READY, FRONT. In all other cases,
the rightmost person drops his/her arm when the person to his/her left has
stopped moving, and so on down the line.
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| When marching in a oblique (at a 45 degree angle), on the command HALT one has
to stop facing straight (that is, at 0 degrees, not plus or minus 45 degrees), which
means that your last foot has to plant itself at a quarter turn so that when
you bring your feet together, they are both facing forward. On the command
IN PLACE HALT, you stop at 45 degrees (likewise, MARK TIME continues at 45 degrees). If
one has been halted with IN PLACE HALT, FORWARD MARCH means go back to 0 degrees
while RESUME MARCH means continue in the direction of the oblique. Yes, it's
all a bit confusing, but it makes sense if you think about it a bit.
|
| Which foot does PLATOON HALT come on? It depends. Technically, you can do
either foot, although it feels better when the command of execution
(HALT) is on the right foot...which means that if one elongates PLAH-TOON (a
la Parris Island) one starts on the left, and if one does a one-count PLATOON
(como San Diego) one starts on the right. The Parris Island
method, where most "HARD" Marines come from, is preferred.
So, short answer: start on the right foot,
but in a pinch you can do either.
|
| Keep it slow: Stay at about 112 beats per minute...in the real
thing, everyone's adrenaline will automatically speed it up a bit so it's
closer to the 120 bpm as specified by the regs
|
| Platoon commanders do not stay in the front with the guidons as specified in the NAVMC; this is more for parades. Rather, they should be on the left side of the platoon, somewhere between the middle and back. (When facing the platoon, one generally stays six paces out and centered.) |
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Useful Resources
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Marine Corps Drill and Ceremonies Manual (NAVMC 2691/SECNAVINST 5060.22) -
the granddaddy of all drill manuals; it includes great pictures of all the
basic movements, along with clear descriptions. Note that there are
changes in the works. You can check out a hard copy from
GYSGT White.
|
| MCRD Parris Island
Drill Manual - the bible for USMC drill instructors, describes each
movement in exact detail; chapters 1, 3, and 6 are perhaps the most useful
|
| USNA Drill Manual - a
"best hits" of the MCRD Drill Manual with elements of the NAVMC 2691, extracts
the relevant portions for midshipmen (chapters 4 and 7 largely don't apply to
us in NROTC, however).
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| Sea Scout Drill Manual - a
bit simple, but it describes the basic movements in simple language
|
|
Air Force Drill and Ceremonies Manual (AFMAN 36-2203) - Although it has
funny terms like "flight" and "squadron" (the equivalent of "platoon" and
"company" in the real military), much of it is stolen wholesale from
the NAVMC 2691 and thus it is a good reference; also check out a
reference from an Air Force ROTC unit. Finally, there's a great site
called CadetStuff.org which has
some humorous articles by "Dr. Drill," among other things.
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| A Movement Cheat Sheet - from another NROTC unit, this summarizes which foot each movement begin on (note that it follows the Parris Island "plah-toon" method. |
NROTC Va Tech Platoon Commanders should check out the drill cards.