Cadet drill

[ElectricPenguin]

When the FS says "open ranks harch", and theres only one element, does that element take a step forward anyways and put their left arm up and head turned 45 degrees right?

[BillB]

Why would a FS even give such a command. The correct command would be Dress Right Dress.

[Al Sayre]

Why would you have one element do open ranks?

[ElectricPenguin]

For a drill test

[Al Sayre]

Then you shoud split the element into at least 2 ranks of 2 members  in order to demonstrate it properly.

[ElectricPenguin]

What if there is only two people??? Or even just one?

[Al Sayre]

Then who ever is calling the commands should do it from inside the flight in order to have at least two ranks.  Perhaps you could get the SM's to augment the flight to help get the testing done. (Stop laughing - some SM's can actually perform drill correctly).

[HGjunkie]

(Stop laughing - some SM's can actually perform drill correctly).

This is true. My SQ/CC is probably better than I am at drill, and i've been a FLT/SGT for 9 months now.

[coudano]

I would place all cadets in the first element and have them follow the 36-2203 precisely,
That first element would take three steps forward and execute an automatic dress right dress
Yes, even if nobody was behind them.

An element should have a minimum of three people init anyway, not 2
And if you are that short on people i would try to find othwrs to stand in as filler, including higher ranking cadets, including cadet staff and possibly even senior members.

If you only have one or two cadets you might have to ask them to imagine a situation (do this move as if you were the third cadet of five in the second element...   Not ideal, but it would work...

And right after completing that drill test i would immediately go out and try to recruit about a dozen new cadets and at least one more senior member who will work with cadet programs

[HGjunkie]

If you are truly short on manpower and can't scrape enough people up to accomplish proper drill, do what we do: Use imaginary people with imaginary spacing. It'll look odd, but it'll work.

[manfredvonrichthofen]

When I test a cadet on drill, even if I am only testing one, I get all of the cadets into the formation. Depending on the cadet, I may not even tell him or her that they are being tested, it helps keep them loose, and not over think it. I use all cadets because it is both easier to test that cadet because there is a whole flight and they don't have to use imagination to make up for what doesn't exist, and it is good to have everyone practice anyways.

When testing a cadet on drill and all you have is three or four cadets, I use them as imaginary three man elements, I put them in  one column and make them act as if they are the second man in a three man squad, so they have to put their left arm out, and turn their head and eyes to the 45% right. This is NOT THE BEST way to do it. The BEST way is to use everyone, it makes it easier on the tested cadets to have more people so that they don't have to fake it.

[Tim Medeiros]

Why would a FS even give such a command. The correct command would be Dress Right Dress.

Those are two very different commands that have very different purposes.  Dress Right Dress is primarily used to gain proper alignment within the element/flight.  Open Ranks March is (within my experience) used for inspection purposes, to give the inspectors room to move properly between the elements.

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread.....

[J.American]

I would place all cadets in the first element and have them follow the 36-2203 precisely,
That first element would take three steps forward and execute an automatic dress right dress
Yes, even if nobody was behind them.

This is correct.  The key to remember is that the standard AF Flight has 4 elements.  Therefore you must take the number of steps for whatever element you are in, regardless of how many other people are in the flight.  However, I would recommend using an entire flight, rather than a couple people, to issue a drill test.