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U.S. Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team visits Keesler

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  • By Airman 1st Class Stephan Coleman
  • 81st Training Wing Public Affairs
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team performances, with their expert choreography and precise movement, elicit both stunned silence and shouts of surprise from every audience.

The drill team upholds a standard of perfection and finds inspiration for new performances annually at Keesler. This year, they visited Feb. 15 to March 18 for a training camp to prepare for the new season.

"We like the partnership with Keesler because of the training environment," said Master Sgt. Whitfield Jack, Air Force Honor Guard Drill Team superintendent. "You have students walking around with black ropes, which signifies that they are really into drill. The students here love and appreciate the drill."

Jack has been in the Honor Guard for about four years and with the Drill Team for about 18 months. He describes the job as unlike any other in the Air Force.

Trainees are selected out of basic training for the Honor Guard, and after a year of performing with an element like the colors team or the firing party, members can audition for the Drill Team, Jack said.

Honor Guardsmen perform in front of hundreds of their peers, one at a time, for the Drill Team evaluation.

"It's stressful, but it's made that way on purpose," said Senior Airman Jimmie Pryor, an Honor Guard Drill Team member. "Our job has high visibility. We can be out in front of thousands of people, so everything is on you. But once you get up there, you stop thinking about the crowd and think only about your personal movements."

Prior has been with the Drill Team for about three years and is credited with the writing and directing of this year's performances. The Drill Team rewrites its main performance each year to keep it fresh.

"We like to keep a shock-and-awe factor within the drill," said Jack. "We are one of the few services that actually writes a new routine every year."

The team begins the performance with normal marching procedures, moving seamlessly. Suddenly, they break apart and wind together like machinery, tossing 11-pound weapons in the air and to each other without speaking or calling a cadence--and sometimes without even looking at each other. The performance is as artistic as it is demonstrative.

To achieve the coordination it takes for every performance, the Drill Team trains extensively together. The goal is perfection.

Pryor describes a typical day of the training camp as starting at 4 a.m. and ending as late as 5 or 6 p.m. Every day starts with physical training. The rest of their training day is dedicated to performing their routine.

"The camp is well needed," said Airman 1st Class Nelson Berrios, an Honor Guard Drill Team member. "It gets us away from our squadron, our girlfriends and our wives. No distractions."

For the last week at Keesler the team was split, with one group travelling west on a recruitment tour. The members that remained continued to practice daily, mentored the Keesler drill teams and performed various shows, including the halftime show for the New Orleans Hornets professional basketball team.

The Drill Team will be on recruitment tours all year in which they will represent the Air Force with the presentation of their new routines over and over for thousands of spectators. Different shows call for different routines.

Berrios described performances ranging from 4-man to 16-man, from six minutes long to 30, sometimes with rifles and sometimes without.

Recruiting can take the team to a variety of venues, as well. From arenas to high schools, with civilian and military audiences.

"High school performances are the best," said Senior Airman Aleso Garcia, Honor Guard Drill Team member. "Those kids have so much energy!"

The team is close, as they rely on each other for each and every drill. Not every member performs in every drill, but everyone is involved and every drill counts. The interior of team member rifles are marked with tallies for each performance.

Before a show the team collects themselves, shares a prayer and gets inspiration from their leadership.

"Just like professional athletes, you are all paid to perform," said Jack. "Focus on the task. You represent the Air Force."
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