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

I'm hoping you can answer a question I have regarding flag etiquette. Specifically, when a ceremony is conducting in which military personnel salute during our National Anthem, what would the rules be when a territorial hymn follows... say the Guam Hymn for example? Would the U.S. military personnel be correct in holding their salute... or would they drop their salute upon the completion of the Star Spangled Banner? I'd really appreciate your advice on this matter... and any reference material you could refer me to so I could show my boss in writing. Thanks in advance for your help.

Russ Bennett

Dr Drill responds

Good question. The Doctor had a notion about this, but had to check to be sure.

You see, once upon a time Dr. Drill was a young serviceman stationed overseas. Every Monday morning they'd troop us out to base headquarters for morning colors. First 'Attention' would sound five minutes and then immediately before colors. Then 'To The Colors' would sound and we'd be given 'Present Arms'. After 'To The Colors' was done, the 'Star Spangled Banner' would play, followed by the anthem of the host country and finally after all that, 'Carry on'.

Whew! Your fingers are probably tired just from clicking the mouse; try holding a salute or - heaven forbid - a weapon at 'Present' for all that time.

Plus, we were all quite confused about the host country's anthem. If you clicked on it, you found that it doesn't end on Middle C, as most Western music does. It just... ends. Sort of like they got tired of playing it. The first few times you hear it, you're not sure that it's over.

But I digress.

So, here's Dr. Drill going, "I know we used to hold our salutes until our arms were about to fall off, but what was the governing authority for it?"

Well, some diligent searching turned up the following:

AR600-25 1–10. Foreign national anthems. During the conduct of a ceremony, the performance of the national anthem of any foreign country will be followed without pause by playing the National Anthem of the United States. (An exception may be made only when two or more foreign national anthems are played in succession. The United States National Anthem will be played following the sequence.) The same honors rendered to the United States National Anthem will be rendered during the playing of the foreign national anthems. The United States and foreign national anthems will not be incorporated into any musical arrangement, composition, or medley and will be played through without repetition of any part except as required to make both words and music complete.

OPNAVINST 1710.7a
1204. Manner of playing National Anthems.

1. The National Anthem of the United States, "The Star Spangled Banner," when played by a naval band, shall be played in its entirety as written and as prescribed in the official U.S. Navy Band arrangement, which is designated the official Department of Defense arrangement.


2. The playing of the National Anthem of the United States, or of any other country, as part of a medley is prohibited.


3. When a foreign national anthem is prescribed in connection with honors, and it is considered appropriate to perform the National Anthem of the United States therewith, the National Anthem of the United States will be performed last.


4. On other occasions when a foreign national anthem (or anthems) is performed, the National Anthem of the United States will be performed last, except when performed in conjunction with morning colors described in Article 1206.

1205. Procedure during playing of National Anthem.

1. Whenever the National Anthem is played, all naval service personnel not in formation shall stand at attention and face the national ensign. In the event that the national ensign is not displayed, they shall face the source of the music. When covered, they shall come to the salute at the first note of the anthem, and shall remain at the salute until the last note of the anthem. Persons in formation are brought to order arms or called to attention as appropriate. The formation commander shall face in the direction of the ensign or, in the absence of the ensign, shall face in the direction of the music and shall render the appropriate salute for the unit. Persons in formation participating in a ceremony shall, on command, follow the procedure prescribed for the ceremony. Persons in vehicles or in boats shall follow the procedure prescribed in the following article for such persons during colors. Persons in civilian clothes shall comply with the rules and customs established for civilians.


2. The same marks of respect prescribed during the playing of the National Anthem shall be shown during the playing of a foreign national anthem.

1206. Morning and evening colors.

1. The ceremonial hoisting and lowering of the national ensign at 0800 and sunset at a naval command ashore or aboard a ship of the Navy not under way shall be known as morning and evening colors, respectively, and shall be carried out as prescribed in this article.


2. The guard of the day and the band shall be paraded in the vicinity of the point of hoist of the ensign.


3. "Attention" shall be sounded, followed by the playing of the National Anthem by the band.


4. At morning colors, the ensign shall be started up at the lbeginning of the music and hoisted smartly to the peak or truck. At evening colors, the ensign shall be started from the peak or truck at the beginning of the music and the lowering so regulateci as to be completed at the last note.


5. At the completion of the music, "Carry On" shall be sounded.


6. In the absence of a band, or an appropriate recording to be played over a public address system, "To the Colors" shall be played by the bugle at morning colors, and "Retreat" at evening colors. The salute shall be rendered as prescribed for the National Anthem.


7. In the absence of music, "Attention" and "Carry On" shall be the si~als for rendering and terminating the salute. "Carry On" shall be sounded as socm as the ensign is completely lowered.


8. During colors, a boat under way within sight or hearing of the ceremony shall lie to, or shall proceed at the slowest safe speed. The boat officer, or the coxswain in the absence of the boat officer, shall stand and salute except when dangerous to dcl so. Other persons in the boat shall remain seated or standing and shall not salute.


9. During colors, vehicles within sight or hearing of the ceremony shall be stopped. Persons riding in such vehicles shall remain seated at attention.


10. After morning colors, if foreign warships are present, the national anthem of each nation so represented shall be played in the order in which a gun salute would be fired to, or exchanged with, the senior official or officer present of each such nation; provided that, when in a foreign port, the national anthem of the port shall be played immediately after morning colors, followed by the national anthems of other foreign nations represented.

Emphasis courtesy of Dr. Drill!

You didn't mention what branch you were with, but I think it's safe to say that one of those covers you or can point you toward one that does.

But, that doesn't really answer your question, does it? Or does it?

The question is do service members remain saluting during territorial anthems. Searching for hints on the normally reliable Google didn't turn up anything useful; so the good doctor went to what seemed like a reliable source: the Honorable Madeleine Z. Bordallo, Congressional Delegate from Guam.

Unfortunalely, Ms. Bordallo never got back to me, so we'll have to do a little deductive reasoning.

Throughout the documents I quoted above, the term 'foreign nation' is used again and again. This leads Dr. Drill to believe that one would not salute during the playing of a territorial anthem because they are not sovereign nations. Politically, they have more in common with the several states of our union than, say, the several members of NATO.

However, that being said, it is also true that one holds one's salute from the playing of 'Attention' through the playing of 'Carry On'. So, if the territorial anthem was scheduled to play immediately following the 'Star Spangled Banner' and before 'Carry On' was sounded, servicemembers should properly hold their salutes.

That's the best Dr. Drill can do for you Russ. I hope it helps.

Regards,

Dr. Drill