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For the Byrds...

Dr. Drill

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

Dear Doctor Drill,

I am Cadet Kinman with the Boise Squadron. I have lots of problems with the facing of drill. I know how to do it, but turning is not my thing. Cadet Cuslidge is helping me, but in order for her to that, I have to be in formation with the new airman basics. I am already in Bravo Flight and I would like to practice formation in Bravo Flight like I should be doing. I guess I have a lot to work on. Will you please help me?

Sincerely,
Cadet Kinman
Boise Squadron

Dr. Drill responds:


Dear Cadet Kinman,

My first inclination, of course, was to toss of some sort of smart-alecky answer. I know that you'd expect no less from Dr. Drill. However, it turns out that fortune has smiled on you: you're not the first Cadet to come to the Doctor with this particular problem.

Without further ado, I refer you to my very first CadetStuff column, where I fixed Cadet Bagadonuts little red non-turning wagon.

But, seriously folks, there's only one answer to your question and you already know it: practice, practice, practice. You said that you're practicing with someone else in their Basic flight instead of in your flight. My question to you is, why are you only practicing on meeting nights? If you're having a little trouble going in the right direction when the time comes, practice as often as you can. Tape Cadet Cuslidge giving a minute's worth of facing movements and practice in your room at home. Be creative! But above all: practice!

I hope this helps. And if it doesn't, well, then you might just as well sing along with Dr. Drill, kids!:

Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) - The Byrds

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to build up,a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late

Yeah, yeah, I know: "The Who?" Not The Who you little weasels! The Byrds. And no remarks from the peanut gallery, because it could have been far worse!

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.