Fire Department Honor Guard Page

12/23/2025

Team,

I am so sorry that you have to go through this, but I wrote this guidance years ago and updated it today to ensure you have the guidance you need at a very difficult time.

Read here
https://thedrillmaster.org/2017/02/14/the-honor-guard-and-the-suicide/

❤️

DrillMaster

10/18/2023

Alexander

Did you know the Joliet Fire Department is currently accepting applications for the position of Firefighter?!

Follow the link below for more information

https://www.applytoserve.com/Application.aspx?ID=578

03/19/2023

Some fire department color guards use rifles for their guards. This might be helpful.

03/03/2023

A few years ago I brought home my church's flags (spread eagle finials, I had nothing to do with their purchase but I'll probably get conical spears for them). Mrs. DrillMaster washed the flags while I worked on the staffs. Both flags were mounted too low but the Christian flag was sliding down the staff. The original hook fastener (generic for Velcro) piece that is supposed to stick to the staff isn't going to remain in place forever. I bought Velcro (brand) tape that is extremely strong and adheres really well for an extended period.

I cut two pieces and placed them just below the upper ferrules at the rear of the eagles so that the where the fringe comes together on the staff sleeve, the seam of the sleeve, is centered at the front of the eagles and facing the audience. This then make dressing the flag (fringe to the right) easy. I then drilled a small hole and inserted a small screw. The pile piece that is sewn into the staff sleeve of the silk fits right onto the hook piece and has a slight separation to fit over the screw head as well. These will not easily slide down again.

🔆Education is 🔑!
🔹Read your manuals! Download them free at the Resources page here: www.thedrillmaster.org
Prov 1:7b, Fools despise wisdom and instruction
🔹https://youtube.com/
🔹I educate & train cadets, military, & judges & certify 1st responders as Certified US Ceremonial Guardsmen
🔹Ask about a professional critique of your performance
🔹If you choose to, you can learn more about D&C with my books on Ceremonial, Regulation, & Exhibition Drill: www.lulu.com/spotlight/drillmaster
Use this link to order: https://glendale.com/?ref=NinqEO3mFYiuV

02/07/2023

A great color guard training technique!

Have each team member wear a colors harness and use a 9'6" staff fed through the backs of the harnesses. You can control turn speed, step length, and more.ww...

02/06/2023

Three-man Flag Fold? Yes, you may need this in your toolbox of techniques.

with two is enough. More are not necessary unless the flag is too large to be handled safely and appropriately. Here are two techniques you can use...

11/14/2022

Time to update your Utah flag. Again.

After a months-long search that included over 5,700 designs, a new flag has moved a step closer to flying over Utah.

11/13/2022

Bringing a casket up or down an incline or steps/stairs requires the trail end (usually the head*) to be lifted enough to keep the casket level. When the body shifts inside the casket it can be disastrous. The body can slide to one end or the other leaving two to deal with a majority of the weight (250lbs body and 300lbs casket, for instance) or can slide or roll to one side. It's not like you can just stop and fix things and begin again.

*Caskets travel feet-first unless a chaplain (in and out of the chapel, only), an extremely short distance to the grave from the coach, or there is an impediment in the way.

🔆Education is 🔑!
🔹Read your manuals! Download them free at the Resources page here: www.thedrillmaster.org
Prov 1:7b, Fools despise wisdom and instruction
🔹http://www.youtube.com/user/drillmastertraining
🔹I educate & train cadets, military, & judges & certify 1st responders as Certified US Ceremonial Guardsmen
🔹Ask about a professional critique of your performance
🔹If you choose to, you can learn more about D&C with my books on Ceremonial, Regulation, & Exhibition Drill: www.lulu.com/spotlight/drillmaster
Use this link to order: https://glendale.com/?ref=NinqEO3mFYiuV

11/10/2022

Which way does a casket travel? Feet-first based on tradition (from everything I've read). A chaplain is carried head-first into and out of a chapel as if he is leading his flock one last time. That brings up the question of why my team here is carrying head-first into the grave? Here's the explanation. Besides the chaplain, there is another time to carry head-first. You can "Up and Face" at the rear of the coach and head right to the gravesite if there is a very short distance and turning twice would be awkward, you can "6 & 4" from the coach and carry feet-first up to an impediment and finish head-first, or you can march slightly past the grave, turn around, and finish head-first (like parking a car).

Here, I set up the family and coach direction specifically to give my graduating class a challenge for them to figure out. The reasoned through their choices and decided parking was best. The was next to explain where they would be and the and bugler. It worked out perfectly.

I'm very proud of each of my graduates. They come away with not just what to do, but why. No one else I've come across has been able to explain the why. My graduates can.

🔆Education is 🔑!
🔹Read your manuals! Download them free at the Resources page here: www.thedrillmaster.org
Prov 1:7b, Fools despise wisdom and instruction
🔹http://www.youtube.com/user/drillmastertraining
🔹I educate & train cadets, military, & judges & certify 1st responders as Certified US Ceremonial Guardsmen
🔹Ask about a professional critique of your performance
🔹If you choose to, you can learn more about D&C with my books on Ceremonial, Regulation, & Exhibition Drill: www.lulu.com/spotlight/drillmaster
Use this link to order: https://glendale.com/?ref=NinqEO3mFYiuV

11/06/2022

Sent in with a question: Aren't the colors always escorted/guarded?

The answer is yes and there are exceptions. I'll explain. For the military, yes, absolutely all the time the flag(s) will have two guards. First responders are paramilitary and should follow the same principle, but they don't always have the manning in their honor guard team at many departments across the country. So, for representation, some teams march flags-only.

To add to that, scout programs do not carry a weapon, so if the team even has guards, they are unarmed.

Guards are not mandatory for civilian and civil teams because the Flag Code does not make that a requirement. Only the military manuals make it a requirement.

🔆Education is 🔑!
🔹Read your manuals! Download them free at the Resources page here: www.thedrillmaster.org
Prov 1:7b, Fools despise wisdom and instruction
🔹http://www.youtube.com/user/drillmastertraining
🔹I educate & train cadets, military, & judges & certify 1st responders as Certified US Ceremonial Guardsmen
🔹Ask about a professional critique of your performance
🔹If you choose to, you can learn more about D&C with my books on Ceremonial, Regulation, & Exhibition Drill: www.lulu.com/spotlight/drillmaster
Use this link to order: https://glendale.com/?ref=NinqEO3mFYiuV

11/05/2022

Piggybacking on a previous post that had a question about preposted flags when posting others, go read this article that I just updated to have a clearer description. 👉The only colors authorized to be preposted when others will be posted are PCs - personal and positional colors. That's it.

https://thedrillmaster.org/2017/10/03/the-logical-separation-of-colors/



🔆Education is 🔑!
🔹Read your manuals! Download them free at the Resources page here: www.thedrillmaster.org
Prov 1:7b, Fools despise wisdom and instruction
🔹http://www.youtube.com/user/drillmastertraining
🔹I educate & train cadets, military, & judges & certify 1st responders as Certified US Ceremonial Guardsmen
🔹Ask about a professional critique of your performance
🔹If you choose to, you can learn more about D&C with my books on Ceremonial, Regulation, & Exhibition Drill: www.lulu.com/spotlight/drillmaster
Use this link to order: https://glendale.com/?ref=NinqEO3mFYiuV

DrillMaster explains the logical separation of colors when posting colors.

10/31/2022

"Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the entrance of the official party and the presentation of the colors."

The official party is to the left and as soon as they post on stage, the commanding officer announces "Post the Colors!" The color guard either takes its post and formally presents the colors with a second set of colors already on stage - a Show-N-Go - or enters, presents, and posts the colors in stands. The command is used for both with the color guard knowing what the requirements are beforehand.

Here, the color guard chose to fall in at Close Interval - you would see it as they turn left using the - What they are supposed to do is to keep this close distance as they march in. That way they don't have to "scrunch" in from normal interval/distance as they enter Mark Time at a predetermined mark. It saves maybe four steps (the steps used to close the gaps and get to Close Interval), and looks cleaner (visually communicates better). The commander would give MARK TIME! on a left and subsequent right step (no "march"), if there wasn't a mark to hit, and the following left would be the first step to march in place.


🔆Education is 🔑!
🔹Read your manuals! Download them free at the Resources page here: www.thedrillmaster.org
Prov 1:7b, Fools despise wisdom and instruction
🔹http://www.youtube.com/user/drillmastertraining
🔹I educate & train cadets, military, & judges & certify 1st responders as Certified US Ceremonial Guardsmen
🔹Ask about a professional critique of your performance
🔹If you choose to, you can learn more about D&C with my books on Ceremonial, Regulation, & Exhibition Drill: www.lulu.com/spotlight/drillmaster
Use this link to order: https://glendale.com/?ref=NinqEO3mFYiuV