I appear to have been an unreformed traditionalist on this: I was trained many decades ago that individuals constituting a static formed-up squad on parade, in the position of At Ease, bring themselves up to the braced position of Attention in their own timings when-
talking, in response to a direct or collective invitation to speak
raising their hand in response to a collective invitation to so do (or, rarely, as a self-directed action signalling that they wished/needed to speak)
hand-clapping, in recognition of another person/circumstance receiving an award &etc
Apparently none of the above is meant to happen, nowadays, and the individual troops on parade remain at a position of At Ease during all of the above scenarios.
I’d appreciate it if a qualified Drill Instructor would confirm, please, that this latter arrangement is now the correct one, and that I am both wrong & old (school).
(For the avoidance of confusion amongst the small numbers of Canadian and other non-UK ACC members reading this, I do mean as per RAF static foot-drill vide Air Publication 818)
Not a DI and this does not fully answer your question however this may give you a place to start. I believe AP818 makes a reference to responding to a role call with “Sir/Ma’am” (or as appropriate of course) but makes no reference to coming to shun while doing so. I have previously looked and there is no mention of clapping in there as far as I remember. I do seem to recall a topic on here about it though.
Had a quick browse of 818 this morning and xam find no guidance. Maybe its local decision…it might be there but its 6am and no keywords are found in the 977 pages of it.
But what you describe sounds a sensible option and it’s what my cadets do.
If I cant or no one can find the answer I’ll ask at ATF when I’m there in just over a week
I’ve always come to attention when raising my hand, or talking when formed up.
However, many years ago there was a drill instruction video released which specifically stated you should remain at ease for applause. I do prefer that.
I’d say tradition, coming to attention shows respect also when asking a question on a large parade highlights where you are!
I did hear a rumour about not forming a T with your feet anymore after you’ve been granted permission (after coming to the position of attention and raising the right arm in the bent 90 deg upwards position) to adjust dress. May have just been on tall tail…
It’s all cadetisms, and there is no reference to it in the book at all as most have already said.
I really dislike the coming to attention when clapping, I think it looks shoddy and disorganised as everyone moves at different times.
For being spoken to, there could be more than 1 question aimed at you so could be coming to attention and then standing at ease a number of times - seems irrelevant over use of drill IMO.
Persons at Attention or At Ease are basically stuck like that. The DI course teaches to stand the students Easy so that they can move their heads and watch the instructor, so the same principle basically applies to clapping and the like. For this and for welfare reasons, stand your parades Easy for speeches and presentations, people.
The ATC does a whole lot more clapping than the RAF (and a whole lot more drill too - basic training doesn’t count towards the average) and is trying to adopt some sort of standardisation that 818 just doesn’t care about. To that end, we (specifically, a video/DVD that was sent out many years ago) promoted the idea of standing a parade Easy and then they can clap without any further nonsense, such as coming back and forth to attention, or sticking one foot behind the other.
The same video showed how to receive an award (incorrectly, with a caption as I recall), how multiple cadets come out for awards, and to save applause until the recipients were on their way back to the squad.
On that matter, I get annoyed when a bunch of cadets At Ease/Easy are asked something like “any questions” and you get a cascade of people coming to attention (and perhaps breaking step) noisily and shouting “no sir”. I prefer the “dark cockpit” concept of only being informed if there is a problem, so I don’t want to hear from anybody unless there “is” a question (just like the shooting “has anybody not finished?”), in which case a raised hand will typically suffice.
Not current to come to attention to perform actions such as clapping or asking questions, however yes still break ranks (instep of right foot comes no more than 3 inches behind heel of left foot) for adjusting dress
I asked this question at ATF as I’d never stood to attention as a cadet when clapping etc but noticed my cadets were doing so. WO Mannion and FS Moss advised that they should not be coming to attention, for reasons pretty much as others have mentioned above.
drill them up and down the square SWO!