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DRILL AND POP REHEARSALS
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FOURTEEN
Commander interacted with his command as a whole. Through the parade, he could check
on his men, including his subordinate commanders, make his presence felt, display his ability
to control them by words of command, allow him to present his company to best advantage
to his superiors and provide a venue for praise, admonishment or punishment, all within
a choreographed framework of orchestrated movement or frozen immobility. In a regular
unit, where spare time was not usually at a premium, drill could be a focal point of formal
interpersonal relationship and the military being the military, it naturally got compulsive
about perfecting the format.
The ceremonial aspect of drill however was—and remains—pure showmanship, a kind of
martial line dancing. At its best, it stirs spectators and participants alike and is invariably
evocative. Trooping of Colours, the Beating of the Retreat, a Sovereign’s Review, or a passing
out parade in full ceremonials is a memorable experience. In bygone days, a parade was a call
to arms and a way to seduce youth to sign up to fight for a cause. It is the essence of pomp
and circumstance, as the evergreen marches of Elgar or Sousa attest.
Drill is tough training. It demands undivided attention by the marchers for the duration.
It represents the inculcation of discipline as, for example, maintaining total stillness
(including of the eyeballs) while at attention. Except for specialised performances for public
entertainment, the physical skills are not particularly demanding. But, the troops must be
able to manipulate their weapons and accoutrements, including rifle, bayonet, sword and
Regimental Colours according to the prescribed drill movements, while stationary or on the
march and in slow or standard time without breaking formation. Everything comes together
only when, under the persistent supervision of the Parade Sergeant Major over countless
iterations, those on parade develop a neural network which makes them function as one.
Good drill is immediately recognisable: five to six hundred steel-studded heels crashing
as one to attention, the single flash of hands cutting away from rifles flipped up to the
‘rusok’ (shoulder), the smooth pivot into review order of platoon after platoon at the point
of wheeling, the instantaneous, rock-solid stop of the whole parade on the order to halt,
the electric crack of every palm on the handguard for the rifle salute and the unconscious
swagger of the troops as they groove to the beat of the band.
That is the vision of a good Sergeant Major when he takes drill lessons. For many in the
first intake and perhaps, for even more after them, the sonorous Malay words of command
were not recognised for their literal meanings but as cues for specific actions, which, with
repetition, began to produce Pavlovian responses. Inattention brought eyeball-to-eyeball
contact with the presiding instructor or his assistant and the prospect of a ‘burnt’ weekend.
If the instructor felt that inattention was more widespread, he would resort to an instant
attention-grabber: 10, maybe 20 minutes of ‘short-and-sharp’ immediately or, worse, after
duty. Drill never qualified as a favourite lesson. But, it was to turn out that some would find
their
métier
in drill.