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Any port in a storm...

Dr. Drill

You can submit your questions to Dr. Drill via e-mail to : DrDrill@CadetStuff.org.

Dr. Drill

I joined a VFW post and was watching their color guard at a football game. As the national anthem was playing I noticed that the color guard went from right shoulder arms to present arms. I believe this is a incorrect movment. Should they have first gone to port arms, then to present arms? Then from present arms back to port arms then to shoulder arms? I used to drill troops in the Corps, but it's been a long time.

Thank you,

Gary Rood
USMC 64-68

Dr. Drill responds:

Dear Gary,

Thanks for writing in. Good question, too! You'd be amazed at how many times I get questions like: "Dear Dr Drill: I can't find the drill command for the flaming death spiral maneuver I saw at the Ice Capades!" and "Dear Dr. Drill: My drill team has their heads up their butts. What drill command do I use to get them out?" or "Dear Dr. Drill: Does this look infected to you?". It's never ending, I tell ya!

But this is a good question. And, unfortunately, I've got a good answer: you're incorrect.

First, my guess is that your VFW post probably uses the Army drill manual (FM 3-21.5). When multiple services drill together, the Army drill manual is used because the Army is the senior service.

Regardless, the answer is the same. Here's the read from FM 3-21.5:

5-5 Present Arms
c. Port Arms is assumed en route to or from Present Arms when going to or from Right Shoulder or Left Shoulder Arms. Present Arms from or to Port Arms is a one-count movement.

And from SECNAVINST 5060.22:

3-16. AUTHORIZED MOVEMENTS IN THE MANUAL OF ARMS WITH THE M16 RIFLE
c. From Right Shoulder Arms to:
  (1) Left Shoulder Arms
  (2) Port Arms
  (3) Order Arms
  (4) Present Arms
  (5) Inspection Arms
d. From Left Shoulder Arms to:
  (1) Right Shoulder Arms
  (2) Port Arms
  (3) Order Arms
  (4) Present Arms
  (5) Inspection Arms

(Emphasis mine.)
So, regardless of whose flavor their using, they're good to go.

I hope this helps.

Dr. Drill

Caution: Dr. Drill isn't always one hundred percent serious. Please activate your Joke Detectors. And don't call us when you find yourself explaining to a membership termination board why you used a staple gun to keep a cadet's hands at his sides during "To The Rear, March". All we're going to say on your behalf is "Duh!"

And if you find yourself on the bad end of a serious counseling because you decided to go toe-to-toe with your squadron commander over the position of the guide during a squadron-in-mass formation or something similarly trivial, well, we're just going to point, laugh and call you names!

Dr. Drill welcomes comments and corrections. Nothing herein is to be construed as official policy unless quoted from an up-to-date regulation or manual and Dr. Drill is not to be used as a blunt instrument to reshape the pointy heads of your superiors. Dr. Drill has made an extensive study of the drill and knows some people who know some things, but he's not the Final Authority on what happens at your unit. That Final Authority is? That's right, kids! Your UNIT COMMANDER.