Close-Order Drill

Also see Cadences or the main NROTC page

What is Close-Order Drill?

Why Drill?

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 jibes exactly 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 right 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° angle), on the command HALT one has to stop facing straight (that is, at 0°, not plus or minus 45°), 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° (likewise, MARK TIME continues at 45°). If one has been halted with IN PLACE HALT, FORWARD MARCH means go back to 0° 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 (à la Parris Island) one starts on the left, and if one does a one-count PLATOON (como San Diego) one starts on the right. Since GYSGT Kline is from San Diego, the second 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

• Marine Corps Drill and Ceremonies Manual (MCO P5060.20, formerly NAVMC 2691/SECNAVINST 5060.22) - the granddaddy of all drill manuals; it includes great pictures of all the basic movements, along with clear descriptions. Above is a link to the new drill manual, released 5 May 2003, but you can still find the old manual on the MO website. (As far as I know, it's roughly the same information, but the new manual has clear color photos instead of the xerox-of-a-xerox-of-a-xerox look of the old version.) You can check out a hard copy from the Wardroom or GYSGT.
• MCRD Parris Island Drill Manual - the bible for USMC drill instructors, this 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). [Note: this link hasn't worked for a while...I'll try bugging the Silent Drill Team about what happened to it, but if anyone finds another copy online somewhere, let me know.]
• 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. Finally, there's a great site called CadetStuff.org which has some humorous articles by "Dr. Drill," among other things.
• 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 as opposed to the one-count "platoon" preferred by our AMOI)

NROTC UC Berkeley Platoon Commanders should check out the drill cards.