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.
- 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.
- 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.)
Useful Resources
NROTC Va Tech Platoon Commanders should check out the drill cards.
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