Falling out

[stratoflyer]

When the command is given to a flight to fall out, what is the proper procedure?

I was taught to take 1 step backward starting with your left foot, and then about face. Same when being dismissed individually or from a board. I was challenged on this today and couldn't find it in D&C manual.

[IceNine]

3.3.1.4. Fall Out. The command is FALL OUT. On the command FALL OUT, individuals may relax
in a standing position or break ranks. They must remain in the immediate area, and no specific method
of dispersal is required. Moderate speech is permitted.

Basically you just go from being a flight, to not.  There is no step back, turn around go to parade rest, etc.

Only thing is you are to stay right there in the area.

Or you could use this

4.3.5. The flight is usually formed and dismissed by the drill instructor or flight sergeant. On the command DISMISSED, airmen break ranks and leave the area.

[Pumbaa]

NO FALL OUT DANCE!!!!!!

IceNine is correct!!!

[Eclipse]

We can dance if we want to!
We can leave your friends behind!
'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine

[hatentx]

Where did the "fall out dance" come from then.  I recall WIWAC in AFJROTC and also in AD that the "fall out dance"  The proper way of doing it.  I have not researched the drill manuals yet but it had to have come from some where if the cites that were given are correct.

[DNall]

We can dance if we want to!
We can leave your friends behind!
'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine

anybody else just sing that in their head? Dangit!!!

[Pumbaa]

Let's dance put on your red shoes
and dance the blues

Let's dance to the song
they're playin' on the radio

[SarDragon]

118.e. At the command  FALL OUT the men leave ranks, but remain in the immediate area. At the command FALL IN former places are resumed at attention in the formation prescribed.

138.g. The flight is normally formed and dismissed by the drill instructor or by the flight sergeant. At the command DISMISSED , the men leave ranks and the formation disperses. The men leave the area.

That's what I learned as a cadet. However, the "fall out dance" was around even back then. It'd been around a LONG time. I joined in 1964 and we were doing it then.

[lordmonar]

We can dance if we want to!
We can leave your friends behind!
'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine

anybody else just sing that in their head? Dangit!!!

S....s.s.s.s.s.s
A....a.a.a.a.a.a
F....f.f.f.f.f.f.f.f
E...e.e.e.e.e.e
T....t.t.t.t.t.t.t
Y...y.y.y.y.y.y.y

Safety
Dance



Did that help? 

[CadetProgramGuy]

We can dance if we want to!
We can leave your friends behind!
'Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance
Well they're no friends of mine

anybody else just sing that in their head? Dangit!!!

S....s.s.s.s.s.s
A....a.a.a.a.a.a
F....f.f.f.f.f.f.f.f
E...e.e.e.e.e.e
T....t.t.t.t.t.t.t
Y...y.y.y.y.y.y.y

Safety
Dance



Did that help? 

dum de dum dum...

[stratoflyer]

I did what the regs say with some cadets and it looks HORRIBLE!!! I like doing the whole fallout routine as I was taught even at encampments with a bunch of AD folks present.

[CadetProgramGuy]

The fall out dance is what i've been taught and taught to others, including Officers in formation.

[DC]

I was taught the fall out dance, specifically one step back, then about face, but stopped when I discovered what was supposed to be done.

Personally I see it as an unecessary complication to drill, many cadets have a hard enough time getting drill down without little routines that add to it. Then you have the really high speed cadets that go perusing through AFMAN 36-2203, then ask their Flight Sgt about why they don't do it like the book says.

Drill is supposed to be done precisely by the set standard, and it is not supposed to 'look good'. It is what it is. Its like deciding that you don't like the way we salute, and start teaching cadets to salute palm out...

[jimmydeanno]

I hate when people do the "fall out dance."  It isn't what is supposed to be done.

The command FALL OUT isn't meant to be done with precision.  If anything it is the antithesis of precision - you are meant to get rid of your formation. 

[ol'fido]

This right here is the reason I started going back to encampments as a senior.  In our squadron we were teaching the cadets "no fall out dance" just break ranks. Then they would go off to encampment and come back telling us they got yelled at for not doing the dance. So me and my Ranger buddy decided to go see what the heck was going on. We found that they were trying to teach the dance but if you asked the flight leader or  squadron commander to show it to you in the regs, you would get a lot of hemming and hawing and then you would see them frantically thumbing through a drill manual trying to find it. I even asked a senior who had been a TI at Lackland what was correct and he thought the dance was right until I showed him the above quoted regs.

[DC]

All Cadet NCOs should be required to read this....

http://wiki.cadetstuff.org/index.php?title=Drill_Myths

[lordmonar]

Just a quick question.....what is so wrong with teaching the fall out dance?

Sure it is not in the regulations....but so what?

Sure we need to be standardised....but if the "proper" way to fall out is to just break ranks.....standardisation is not really an issue is it?

[DC]

Just a quick question.....what is so wrong with teaching the fall out dance?

Sure it is not in the regulations....but so what?

Sure we need to be standardised....but if the "proper" way to fall out is to just break ranks.....standardisation is not really an issue is it?

Exactly, the regulation states the proper way to do it is to just break ranks. It doesn't say do whatever you want, it says just break ranks.

[lordmonar]

Just a quick question.....what is so wrong with teaching the fall out dance?

Sure it is not in the regulations....but so what?

Sure we need to be standardised....but if the "proper" way to fall out is to just break ranks.....standardisation is not really an issue is it?

Exactly, the regulation states the proper way to do it is to just break ranks. It doesn't say do whatever you want, it says just break ranks.

Okay.....and the rule of thumb with regulations is that you can always add to them to make the more stringent.....but can't take away from them.

If the regulation said "don't do the fall out dance" that would be one thing....but it does not......ergo it is NOT against regulations to invent a different procedure.

Again.....standardisation is not an issue....it is not like a column/facing/flanking movemement where if one flight did it differently it would screw up everyone else.   It is "fall out"...and that is all.

[DC]

Just a quick question.....what is so wrong with teaching the fall out dance?

Sure it is not in the regulations....but so what?

Sure we need to be standardised....but if the "proper" way to fall out is to just break ranks.....standardisation is not really an issue is it?

Exactly, the regulation states the proper way to do it is to just break ranks. It doesn't say do whatever you want, it says just break ranks.

Okay.....and the rule of thumb with regulations is that you can always add to them to make the more stringent.....but can't take away from them.

If the regulation said "don't do the fall out dance" that would be one thing....but it does not......ergo it is NOT against regulations to invent a different procedure.

Again.....standardisation is not an issue....it is not like a column/facing/flanking movemement where if one flight did it differently it would screw up everyone else.   It is "fall out"...and that is all.

In that case it would be fine if a cadet was only a member of one flight with one Flight CC and Sgt for their entire career. It would (and does) confuse the heck out of cadets to go to Encampment, or even transfer to another flight, if the staff can do what ever the heck they want.

Plus, for all people harp on uniform standardization here, shouldn't drill standardization also matter? Would it not look wierd for a squadron with, for example, three flights, fell out, and each flight did it in a different way?

What is wrong with just breaking ranks, as specified in 36-2203, why make it more complicated than it needs to be?