Heard this recently, is this correct? Cannot find anything about it in AP818 so I am assuming no.
Itâs âMove aboutâ isnât it?
I have never heard about turn with an introductory until recently. Usually Iâve only heard it as âAbout TURNâ, sometimes âFlight/Squad/etc., About TURNâ.
Proper introductories are, IMO, crucial to the good execution of drill.
âMoving aboutâ, rather than move?
Yes, however is there a correct introductory? Corps training WO once said there is no need for one on the about turn as only one command can follow the word âaboutâ, whereas it makes sense for left/right turn to have an introductory as left/right dress are a possibility.
I prefer move, the tense is better.
This stems from a typical undervaluing of the introductory.
In my view, the introductory is the most important part of the order, because itâs the part which clearly states what you want them to do in one piece of information. This means that your squad is primed properly. They know what will follow, and can have loaded into their minds what they will need to do when the executive is given.
The cautionary is purely for priming the squad as to the imminence of the executive, telling them the executive is imminent and they are then ready to deploy the move they have been thinking about since the introductory.
The executive doesnât even need to be a word in my experience, itâs just a timing mechanism. Which is why itâs so often âunintelligibleâ because it doesnât need to be, it could be a beep, because all its doing is indicating WHEN the order must be done.
The problem with ditching introductories is that the cautionary is then doing too much heavy lifting, and particularly with cadets doesnât give them the necessary processing time to line up the movements in their head. Especially if the gap between cautionary and executive is too short.
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Anywho having checked the AP. There isnât officially one for the about turn.
BUT, particularly for cadets, I would heartily recommend using one, because you will get better results.
On unit, I can command the same squad my cadet NCOs do, and get immediately better results purely from giving clearer and better words of commandâŚ
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My sqn (wrongly or rightly) have not been using an introductory for the about turn for pretty much ever as far as I know. I agree with introductories being important, otherwise if somebody taking drill were to just say ârightâ as a cautionary, nobody would know whether they should be turning or dressing until the executive. Hence why you can use âmove to the left/rightâ as an introductory on turns, and âdressingsâ as an introductory for dresses.
However the about turn is the only command with âaboutâ as itâs cautionary and so our sqn has never used âmove aboutâ as an introductory. Itâs never been an issue as (if youâre calling correctly) you should drag the cautionary for 4 paces time, plenty enough time to prime yourself for the movement.
Yeah, thatâs correct, but try it. And youâll get better results.
The drill manual was written for adults whoâve been through basic training, under the tutelage of qualified Drill Instructors with decades of experience not 12 year olds with a few hours drill
often under the tutelage of teenagers.
In many respects, adopting AP818 was a good idea, but I think largely a mistake. We should have kept control of our own drill manual, but aligned the way movements are done with 818.
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Maybe for drill instruction it may be useful, but as cadets get more and more used to doing drill it seems to be pointless. When the command was given with an introductory on camp, for whatever reason everyone was thrown off by it.
I disagree with us having liberty over how commands are called, there should be no reason we should have different drill commands than in the RAF in my opinion.
Even in the days of ACP 19 it was âturnings at the haltâ or "turning on the march, but there was a âcadetismâ that cropped up somewhere along the way of âturning aboutâ akin to âmove to theâŚâ.
I donât whether it emerged upon the change to 818 or previous, but has never been correct.
The AP is garbage, and is incapable of being corrected. There are sections of the book where directly contradictory statements are printed on the same page, but the RAF wonât amend it, because they donât care about is as much as we do.
If we had our own manual we would be able to correct things like that
Because there isnât one. It really is the case that nothing else uses âaboutâ so why prime it?
Add in that at the halt there should be a two pace silence between cautionary and executive, and four paces on the march, that should be plenty of time for the complex computational analysis inside of someoneâs grey matter.
If youâre dealing with cadets THAT inexperienced, you prime them in advance of issuing the order: âwe are going to be practicing the about turnâ, or for marching, âyouâre going to march in a straight line and Iâm going to issue the command for the about turn, the command will be: âflight, aboooooutâŚturnâ with a four pace gap between the about and the turn, and the command turn will be given when your left heel strikes the groundâŚblah blahâ.
For other commands, itâs also customary to drop the introductory after the first move of a certain type - if youâre ONLY practicing turns, then every time you say âleftâ or ârightâ the cadets should realise that the next word will be turn UNLESS you give a new introductory. Works for salutes, wheels, and eyes too.
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I agree with pretty much all of this.
Only gripe is that our squadron, at least most people that take drill, always use the introductory on left/right turns/inclines/salutes.
I have also not heard an introductory for wheels, but havenât checked the AP for it.
I remember having that command used on me as a cadet in the mid 80âs!
Itâs not actually in 818. In ACP19 it was âchange direct left/rightâ.
Version 8 is being written at the moment and from scratch
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I canât even find the wheel in quick time in AP818 apart from in part 2.