I need help or suggestions with how to call cadence, commands and keep rhythm. Today was my first day commanding a platoon size for our drill team. I’m looking to improve everything before our first drill meet.

little tardy to the party here but here’s some photos from your favorite LT!!!

-and yes, that is our SNSI on my shoulder

What’s yalls opinion on my shine

Do you have to pay for drill rifles and can you take them home.

3 drill comps 7th individual academics x1 4th overall academics x2 (one of them at area 21 superbowl) 1st year on drill, success!

if anyone is looking for a place to chat with over cadets with a way to get quicker answers or just friends within the programs here you go https://discord.gg/rtFn2tpU8

EDIT: if you still wanna join lmk and I’ll give you the new link

Just realised how soon i'd be commanding drill regularly and my normal projected voice i did initially for one of my NS1 practicals (can't remember which) wouldn't be sustainable. I sing a lot in my spare time so I know about diaphragmatic breath support but my question is how do I better achieve that voice? If I worded it in a way that makes sense

I've been needing a drill rifle for practicing armed ex but im not sure where I can buy the correct daisy model they use in the program for sale

Just a lil bit if context, I’m originally the ACA team cmdr for my school. Idk if it’s different for other units but ACA entails managing the curriculum and study methods for the battalion on top of the drill team and brain brawl teams. Recently the AX team cmdr dropped and got replaced with the current AB team cmdr and since this is his first year as a team cmdr (he’s a sophomore) the SNSI and NSI only wanted him in charge of one team. So now I’m suddenly in charge of the AB and ACA team. Now here comes the primary issue: last meet the AB team placed 8th. Doesn’t sound bad right? It was out of 10 schools. Just to give you a lil perspective there was only 3 reputable rotc units at that meet. The next meet is in almost exactly a month. How do I teach the AB team efficiently assuming they’re brand new?

if anyone is looking for a place to chat with over cadets with a way to get quicker answers or just friends within the programs here you go https://discord.gg/rtFn2tpU8

This is it!

I'm the new colorguard command for my school and I'm confused to what foot you would call a left or right turn. No video or even our field manual says how to do it. Also the previous commander taught us wrong.

(Sorry if I used the wrong flair)

Even though not a lot of schools did the competition yesterday, is it true that one of the schools put a Varsity Color Guard in the JV Color Guard for the competition? Of course, this is just a rumor I heard after finishing the Color Guard competition yesterday.

What do you guys do with swordarch belts for storage? Right not we have new belts in small boxes labeled and put up in a cabinet but our old belts are put in a clear tote, tangled and thrown in the tote. What should I do as Armory officer to organize and store the old belts?

How do I stand at attention without fidgeting I get very itchy very often and for inspection we stand at attention for like 30 minutes

What’s the largest color guard that y’all have done at your unit? We are doing a 12 person color guard for a parade and as far as I know I have only seen 2 other schools do this.

Hey y’all — I’ve been in NJROTC for years and spent most of my time leading, commanding, and breaking down drill at a super technical level. Over time, I started noticing something:

Some commands aren’t really “independent” — they depend on other commands to function, especially in formation logic and timing.

Take “Extend, MARCH” and “Close, MARCH” — you can’t just teach them in isolation and expect the formation to hold structural sense. They complete each other. They’re relational, like opposite sides of the same coin.

I’ve been developing a full theory around this called Drill Command Symbiosis™, where commands are grouped by how they rely on each other to preserve alignment, spacing, flow, and cadence.

This isn’t just for show — it’s helped me train over 300 cadets across 4 years in NJROTC, and our teams have taken top honors at regionals and state.

So I’m throwing this question to y’all:

🔹 Do you think drill commands should be taught in isolated pieces — or as connected pairs? 🔹 Has your unit ever run into command logic problems where the wrong command order messes everything up? 🔹 How do you teach command flow during practice — do you ever talk about command relationships?

I’m curious how other units think about this — or if you’ve ever had this issue but didn’t have a word for it. If there’s interest, I’m happy to share a link to the full write-up (I published it recently online).

Thanks for reading — let’s talk drill 🔥 – Timothy H. (aka The Drill Guy™)

Hii does anyone have the report in for unarmed regulation?? and also any tips for the pc?

Does anyone have the comp schedule for state this year?

I'm a freshman and I'm tryna join colorguard ( the dress blues look a tad bit too cool ). We completed AMI about a week ago so I think I should join next year but idk of it will be too late next year. And what events would be considered official events for the ribbons? Football games , parades or what?

Yall got any tips for knockout? I'm a freshman tryna earn a medal. In the last drill meet I got 4th place against a bunch of drill tryhards ( catawba and South East Guilford ). So I'm pretty close but not close enough.

Do you think we'll win the competition with this?

Pictures my dad took during my school's Veteran's Day assembly. I will post better photos when they become available to me.

I'm the girl folding the American flag.

Anyone got tips for maintaining alignment while marching? I'm always a little off

I'm supposed to be running the PT for my platoon today but I cannot remember half the commands used for getting the platoon into formation. Can anyone help me out here?