Preparing for an AFJROTC drill meet

There are many things you must do to prepare for a drill meet. These also differ depending on what team you’re on. This will be a quick guide on the various tasks that need to be done in preparation for your next drill meet.

Teams

There are the armed teams and unarmed teams, of which both are divided into four more teams. They are divided into regulation, exhibition, inspection, and color guard. The armed team is comprised of the teams focused utilizing the rifles in their routines. I feel I must stress for those interested in joining drill team that the rifles are not real; they are incapable of shooting and calling them “guns” is frowned upon. Meanwhile, the unarmed team is comprised of the teams who simply do not utilize rifles in their routines, focusing more on their ability to follow commands and execute movements precisely and in sync with everyone else.

Regulation

These teams are each then broken into four more teams. The regulation teams are given the same routine as every other schools’, long before the drill meet. They must practice this routine and be able to perform it without stepping bounds and going past the time limit. This event focuses on your ability to perform the fundamentals of drill.

Exhibition

The next team is the exhibition team. These teams are to come up with their own routines, with unique commands and maneuvers permitted. The unarmed team is most often utilizing their hands and heels to put emphasis on certain movements through sound. The armed team uses their rifles to show off their abilities. This event focuses on your creativity and teamwork.

Inspection

Now we have the inspection teams. These teams most endure a barrage of questions from the judges. They will ask a large variety of questions that you are expected to know, as well as go over your uniform (as well as rifle for armed) with a fine brush. This event focuses on your general knowledge and ability to maintain your uniform.

Color guard

Finally, we have the color guard team. The color guard consists of four cadets. They are given the same routine as the other schools. The color guard teams have the same equipment, two flags and two rifles. It doesn’t matter if they are armed or unarmed. The focus of this event is to show your ability to follow commands and perform movements in a tight space, while also giving respect to our nation’s, and state’s, flags.

Gear 

The drill team has a wide array of gear to prepare for their competitions. Some teams will have you maintain all your own gear, while others will have a support team maintain some of your gear. The gear you have will be dependent on which team you join. Armed team will have their rifles. Color guard teams will have their rifles, flags, and harnesses for the flags. The unarmed team lacks these distinct items, but they often have higher standards for their uniforms.

Uniform

The main thing, which all teams must have prepared, is the uniform. You can’t exactly march half naked after all. There are several aspects of the uniform to consider. The shoes must be properly polished. The pants, blue shirt, service coat, flight cap, preferably the lightweight coat, and any additional items your team decides to include (e.g. berets), all of these must be pristine and as wrinkle free as possible. The ribbons, ranks, and any badges should be properly aligned and shown.

Shoes should be properly brushed and shined. This is especially true for the inspection team. For shining, you will need some cotton balls, some black wax, a brush, and some water. You can find bags with all of these items for sale in different stores, I’ve personally had the best luck at Walmart. The first step is to take your brush and brush down your shoes. Your goal is to get all the dirt and sand off of your shoes and make it as clean as possible before you start the actual shining part of this process. Once this is done, you should put some wax on one of your cotton balls. I cannot stress this enough, do not go up and down, or side to side with the wax on your shoes. You should apply the wax using spiral movements. Remember what Kesuke Miyagi said, wax on, wax off. It’s the same idea as the movie. You can find an endless array of videos on YouTube if you don’t understand the motion. Then take your brush and go over the shoe again. Now take another cotton ball and wet it in the water and go over the shoe. Repeat this process till you can see your reflection.

Flags and rifles

As far as everything else, you should seek further research for more involved instructions but the basics is to maintain rifles and flags. Rifles need to be kept free of any rust and need to make sure bolts are properly tightened. If failed to do so they could fall apart and hurt someone.  The flags are a bit easier, they need to be properly ironed before any events to keep them free of all wrinkles.