It is nothing short of amazing that the band can ride and play with such quality. I never grow tired of watching the pageantry from my front row seat at my computer here in the USA. I hope the Queen outlives me as I am a great admirer of Her Royal Highness.
Yes it is. When the command "slope arms" is called from the position "order arms" the rifle is placed on the left shoulder held by the left hand with the left arm in a 90 degree position. LCpl Benaucht Royal Canadian Regiment.
@jwslider1 alright what happens in commonwealth drill is that when the weapon is at the slope like it is in this video it is laid across the left shoulder whereas if the parade commander gives the command "shoulder arms" then it is placed up against the right forearm and it can also be placed in the left shoulder if the command "change arms" is given - a member of the ADF Cadets with a broad range of knowledge about other countries drill
It is a Pace stick. Used to measurre the exact distance that a small unit (Troop, Platoon etc) should be marching at. It is ONLY used by qualified NCM's who have sucessfully the Drill Instuctors Course. Take me direct word from it, It is not very easy to pass this on the first attempt. But you must eventually pass, if you expect to remain a Drill Instructor for any time. The Brits particularly give the "Colonials" a hard time on this course. Or 26 years ago they did.
@jwslider1 Hello Colonel... The position of he rifle on the left shoulder is called the "Slope Arms". It is the 'Default' for marching but a command "Change Arms" will mean that it is mirrored onto the right shoulder..
Part 2: All Army School NCM's are issued pace sticks....mainly to distinct them from other members of the School staff who are NOT Drill Instructors. But woe be tide the NCM who opens his stick who has not yet attended the DI Course. Don't let the RSM even GUESS that you did that!
the weapon is in the left shoulder because that's the position of the 'slope arms', this is the position the rifle needs to be to march, i could not tell you the technical reason they chose it but due to the compactness of the L85a2 the old style .303, slr style drill doesnt work so all movement are generally done from the 'slope arms'. Leading Cadet White, UK SCC
@jwslider1 Yes, The SA80 Is placed on the left shoulder normally, Im in the Army Cadets and we were taught Rifle Drill by A few scots guards who came to visit my detachment for a few months.
@jwslider1 Yes, in the British Army, the Slope arms default shoulder is the left shoulder, and the shoulder arms, the right, although both can be used of course. I hope that proves useful Sir. - 2Lt Day (Cadet Forces Adult Volunteer)
@jwslider1 what happens is there's a drill command that we in the commonwealth use - im australian but i do have a very wide range of drill movements - and the command is "change arms" where we change our weapon/rifle from our right shoulder to our left and then if change arms is called again it goes back to the right shoulder thats all i can tell you mate
I have placed some questions on parts 2 and 3. I had one more. Most of the time the escorts march with weapons on their left shoulders. Is this the "default" or "nromal" position. In the US military it is the right shoulder. Lt Col Slider, USMC (ret)
@jwslider1 I am not military trained so am unable to answer your question. Perhaps someone else with knowledge of such things will kindly offer advice.
@MyDigitalRealm do they? I'm not a horse expert. It seems to me that they do it more often than other horses. For example the other horses in the parade seem quite calm.
they do it bc of the environment they are in, there are alot of other horses, thousands of people and it is very loud, although they may have done stuff like this may times before it is always distracting and a little overwhelming for them
@AlexLF1998 it is a tool that is used to measure distance. It is exactly 1 "standard step". So the Sergeant uses it to make sure that the soldiers are walking at the right speed and distance. You can search for "Guarding the Queen" for an excellent documentary on the guards and their training.
Well, they aren't "supposed to", like a kid shouldn't squirm in church. But it looks like the horses were reacting to the high pitched yelling around them. They were behaving like horses do, and settld down quickly enough. Those young people shouldn't have yelled like that. It was rude. Remember the old adage, "don't scare the horses." The horses did fine.
