Cerimonial Units

Standing crisply at Port Arms in immaculate Dress Blues, members of the Silent Drill Platoon twirl their rifles in one direction, then the other. They break away from each other, twirling and marching in carefully choreographed directions. Every step is executed in perfect unison, with extreme precision. Each subtle little movement is produced exactly by every man in the platoon.

Public relations are a strong point for the Corps. Take the hit movie Independance Day, of which the lead character was Marine aviator simply because the Corps was the only branch of the military to give the film its full support. Where was the air force? The navy? Marines are always happy to talk to the public and provide pictures, special tours, interviews and uniforms for books and films.

A key element of the good public image Marines have been able to build is the cerimonial units at Marine Barracks, in Washington, D.C. These units include the Marine Band, Drum and Bugle Corps, Silent Drill Platoon, Color Guard and two cerimonial marching companies.

Every season, thousands of visitors and Washington locals pour into the stands at Marine Barracks for evening parades, which have been going on since 1957. The Silent Drill Platoon alone makes over 400 performances and travels thousands of miles around North America in a season.

The work that the members of these units put into preparing for these performances is tremendous. When the Silent Drill Platoon isn't performing, they're either drilling or readying their uniforms for the next parade. Every detail of every routine performed by the platoon is mapped out on graph paper and every evolution is practiced over and over again until perfection is attained.

In the rare occasion that a mistake occurs, the platoon is remarkably adept at covering it up for fixing the problem. The only mistake I've witnessed them make occurred when one Marine's hat fell off. The sergeant quietly marched over to the fallen hat, twirled it very professionally between his index fingers and gracefully placed it on the Marine's head. The crowd that day was no-doubt impressed. For the members of the U.S. Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon, it's all in a day's work.

Photo on the right is by Master Gunnery Sgt. Andrew Linden