Drill Team:: Royal Knights

Jordan HS Royal Knights
A Military Drill Team is a marching unit that performs routinesl. These teams often perfect their proficiency and then choose to compete against other programs. These competitions are generally called "Drill Meets", and are held all across the world. For high school Drillers, the ultimate competition is the National High School Drill Team Championships. This meet is hosted by event manager Sports Network International of Daytona Beach, Florida. Military drill teams may perform either armed or unarmed.

Every Drill Meet is different regarding what events are offered and what division(s) of competition are presented. Drill meets generally include both an Armed competition division along with an Unarmed competition Division. Events offered generally include several different phases: In section, Regulation Drill, Exhibition Drill, Color Guard Regulation Drill.

  • The Inspection phase: Each team goes through a standard military inspection for an up-close critique of their bearing, knowledge and overall appearance.
  • The Regulation Drill phase: A fixed list of verbal commands, armed or unarmed, given by a single cadet commander. This cadet commander must memorize these commands and the team must perform these movements as per regulations.
  • The Exhibition Drill phase: Different categories are included in this phase; not only the standard armed and unarmed for a team, but also Solo, Tandem (two Drillers), Tetrad (four Drillers) and Squad (element in Air Force vernacular) which varies greatly according to drill meet but generally a team formation with less than 12 total cadets) and/or Platoon (Flight in Air Force vernacular) which is generally 12 cadets plus a commander minimum (or three or more squads (elements) of any number of cadets.
  • The Color Guard (Color guard) phase: (The military color guard is not to be mixed up with a marching band’s color guard (see Color guard (flag spinning) for more information), although music-related color guards have their roots in the military version.) This is similar to the drill team Regulation phase in that there is a fixed list of commands that the cadet commander must memorize and execute with his/her color guard unit. Units are often asked to "case" (commands required to cover the colors for transport/storage), and/or "uncase" (commands required to uncover the colors for competition/display) as a part of color guard competition.

Each of the above phases can be marched by an armed (with a military sword, saber, or rifle) or unarmed team. NOTE: Many drill meets allow the use of a sword in the unarmed division, but never a rifle of any kind.

  • Standard drill team rifles are the M-1 Garand, M-14 or the M1903 Springfield rifle. Armed teams usually use a demilitarized version of the rifle or a facsimile.
  • Unarmed teams concentrate on varied body and arm movements with intricate steps. Armed teams then add manipulation of the equipment.