Military Parade - Four-part Commands

Four-part Commands

The typical parade commands are spoken extremely clearly and emphatically, and consist of four major parts.

  1. Identifier, or who is to follow the command. This is typically (number) Section, (number) Platoon, (letter) Company, or (name) Regiment, although the prefixes are often dropped when there is no ambiguity (Section, Platoon, Company (Coy,) or Regiment). Parade can be given only by the parade commander and always refers to the entire parade, regardless of size.
  2. Precautionary, or what is to be done in an abstract sense: Move to the Advance, Move to the Retire, etc. (This is not always used in American usage)
  3. Cautionary, or the first part of what is to be done. In American usage, this is called the "preparatory command". Usually drawn out to two syllables if one, e.g. for a right wheel: "ri-ight turn", "right" being the Cautionary.
  4. Executive, or execution, a single syllable on which the soldiers actually move. This is as true in the United States armed forces as in other services; however, the accent of the commander often leads this to be heard as simply huh on commands such as "Present Arms" and "Order Arms." There is always a significant pause between the Cautionary and the Executive. The executive command should always be given a greater emphasis and be as loud if not louder than the Preparatory.

e.g.

  • 4 Platoon (Identifier,) Moving to the Right in File (Precautionary,) Right (Cautionary,) Turn (Executive.)
  • B Coy (Identifier,) Advance (Precautionary,) Left (Cautionary,) Turn (Executive.)
  • (U.S. usage) Battalion (Identifier), Right (Cautionary), FACE.
  • Brigade (Identifier).

Often there is no chance of ambiguity, and much of the command can be unspoken. In such cases there must always be the Cautionary and the Executive.

  • Present Arms
  • Atten -Tion

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