CadetStuff.org:

the independent cadet program resource


Copyright © 2001-2008 CadetStuff.org.
May be copied as-is for Cadet training purposes with specific prior permission and appropriate citation. All other rights reserved.

How do I get to Carnegie Hall?

Dr. Drill

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

Dr. Drill,

I am having trouble learning the color guard steps. When I do attention, carry colors, and present arms my commander says I am moving too much or I am adding extra steps. Wht can I do to stop this?

CONFUSED AND FRUSTRATED

Dr. Drill Responds:

Dear CONFUSED,

Wow, what a name! What baby book did your folks find that one in? Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sure your parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frustrated, thought long and hard on that one. Wait, don't tell me: your sisters are named 'EASILY' and 'TOTALLY', right? Arf arf!

Okay, sorry CONFUSED - can I just call you CONnie? Yeah, great.

Okay, CONnie, on to your question.

Your question reminds me of the old joke: a tourist asks someone in New York, "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" The New Yorker answers, "Practice, practice, practice."

Same answer, CONnie: Practice, practice, practice. Get together with an experienced member of a color guard, and keep practicing. You didn't learn standard drill and ceremonies overnight, and you won't learn the more difficult moves of color guard drill overnight, either! So, devote some time to practice.

Remember, practice doesn't make "perfect," PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT. Only PERFECT practice makes perfect. So, practice the way you will drill in front of others. Keep your self discipline high. You'll do well!

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.

Readers who choose to hardcopy this document are entitled to specific rights, namely: you may print this off and read it repeatedly until you have memorized it and then rattle it off as if you had thought it up yourself; but if anyone asks you - or if you have to actually pull this printed copy out of your pocket to read from - then you are required under Law (Jude Law, that is. Y'know, the English guy in "Gattica"?) to say, "This was on CadetStuff.org and I stole it like it ain't no thang!" and then do the River Dance.