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Army Drill v. Marine Drill

michaels601

Simba Barracuda.
Wondering about the difference in drill between the services, specifically Army and Marine Corps. I would ask "how different," but I know I'll get a lot of "different enough."

Did juniors this past summer and discovered a dyslexic chimp could probably lead drill better than i could, so my logic is to get a little practice and hopefully suck substantially less this summer at Seniors.

We don't have enough reliable candidates at my school to put together a fireteam, much less attempt anything approximating drill. There's an Army ROTC unit at my school, and I've brought up talk of drill with a few of them and got a pretty good response. Waste of time?

And they have rubberducks that we'd be able to use.
 

bigfish

I can always fall back on my SAW skills
pilot
As much as I hate to say it, that probably wouldn't do any harm. A lot of drill is building your sense of rhythm and confidence. Practicing any drill will help. Commands and timing will be a little bit different so you'll have to adjust a little once you get back to senoirs. You may want to see if there is a MECP guy at your school with a strong drill background. It helps to have some people to march around, but you can practice by yourself once you know the right cadence and ditties.
 

jamnww

Hangar Four
pilot
I had the opportunity to judge a drill competition with both Army and Navy/Marine JROTC students and while I do agree that practice will help my only concern is learning bad habits and having to break them while at seniors. Best advice I could offer would be to practice on your own, we were all horrible at drill in the beginning, you will get practice at OCS but it you are that concerned about it then do some on your own, calling cadence and doing the moves yourself. In the end it isn't a huge deal, you will catch on sooner or later.

Hate to be another "different enogh" guy but after seeing their drill there are enough differences that I would be concerned about learning the wrong thing and then doing it "muscle memory" down at OCS. Practice is always good but I would say that practicing it RIGHT would be much better.
 

michaels601

Simba Barracuda.
Practice by myself, huh? Maybe I just lack the confidence, but I'm not ready to march myself around in public. But yeah, I figure any practice is better than no practice.

Hell, if i can just get down which foot to make calls on I'll be in a whole different league.
 

jamnww

Hangar Four
pilot
michaels601 said:
Practice by myself, huh? Maybe I just lack the confidence, but I'm not ready to march myself around in public. But yeah, I figure any practice is better than no practice.

Hell, if i can just get down which foot to make calls on I'll be in a whole different league.

Back yards work well...if you are doing them to yourself you don't have to be yelling them. If I recall properly some of the differences between the drills include which foot to call commands on.

Don't worry about looking like an idiot, you will have that happen plenty at TBS and beyond.
 

bigfish

I can always fall back on my SAW skills
pilot
^I agree, and yes I believe the Army does call some commands on the wrong foot. Find a prior enlisted guy around or go to the nearest recruiting station. The enlisted side gets a lot more basic drill (the kind we do at OCS) practice than officers do. I'm sure some duisgrunteled recruiter would be happy to order you around for a while.
 

DocT

Dean of Students
pilot
Seriously, march yourself everywhere you go. Not neccessarily out loud but in your head, just calling commands. You'll get the footwork down. Once you have the confidence you can call commands on the right foot you have the worst part down.

My platoon won drill this past summer at seniors. Our Cand. Plt. Sgt. is a VMI guy and from what I remember he said VMI runs drill the army way. It's all about confidence.
 

JZAB

Livin the MEU life
pilot
Hey guys I am a prior service US Army Old Guard (Army's Ceremonial unit in DC). The difference between the services drill is little to none just in wording and the foot the command is called on. The Army's drill is mostly called on your left foot except when you call right facing movements such as flank right, column rights ect. Basically you need to have tons of confidence and practice. I used to command joint service color guard teams all over DC and the country, and if you do not have confidence you will look stupid. I am attending plc combined this summer and I still practice marching and drill on campus when I am on my way to class (mostly at night ) :) I guess you just have to confidence and know your stuff and you will be fine.
 

Crowbar

New Member
None
JZAB said:
The difference between the services drill is little to none just in wording and the foot the command is called on.

So, the only two things that differ are the way you do it and the way you say it? Can't see that creating any problems. No, sir.
 

bigfish

I can always fall back on my SAW skills
pilot
I think if you have Navy anywhere in your member description you shouldn't be able to post on threads concerning drill.:icon_tong
 

bigfish

I can always fall back on my SAW skills
pilot
Oh ya, that's right, I'll take you to blackwater for a canoe off if you've got a problem with it.:icon_boxi
 
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