Drill commands are generally used with a group that is marching, most often in military foot drills or in a marching band. Drill commands are usually heard in major events involving service personnel, reservists and veterans of a country's armed forces, and by extension, public security services and youth uniformed organizations.

Common drill commands

Without weapons

Rest positions

Dressing

With weapons

Rifles

Sabres

Forming the parade for the march past/pass in review

Saluting on the march

In the Commonwealth countries, the following saluting on the march commands are ordered with a preparatory command of Saluting on the march.... For example, Saluting on the march, to the front salute and always called on the left foot. In British corps, the drill movement for saluting to the front is the following. Two, three, up. Two, three, down. In the United States, the command for saluting on the march is "Eyes, right/eyes left". The parade formation commander and other officers execute the hand salute or execute sabre salute if available (especially if full dress uniform is worn) (and if present on parade the company guidon bearers dip them in salute about 90 degrees above the ground), while everyone but the right file or left file in either case turns their heads to the right. The command for recovery is "Ready, front." If the command does not have rifles, they will salute if given the command Present arms. The arms will be lowered back to their normal position on the commands Order arms. They can also salute if given the command Hand salute. The salute is raised when the parade leader finishes saying "salute", and is lowered in after being held for the same amount of time elapsed between the words "hand" and "salute."

Compliments on the march

Saluting at the halt (static)

In the United States, salutes at a halt are given on the command "hand salute". They are lowered in the same amount of time elapsed between the two words. The command "present arms" will cause the command to salute if the command is not given rifles for the ceremony, but the salute will be held until they are ordered to lower it with the command "order arms".

Colour commands

Marching with colours

Colour commands at the halt (static)

Turning motions

Turning motions at the march

Turning motions at the halt (static)

United States Armed Forces: Commonwealth of Nations

Marching motions

Historical drill commands for parade

Musket drill

The 18th-century musket, as typified by the brown Bess, was loaded and fired in the following way:

Cavalry drill

Cavalry drill had the purpose of training cavalrymen and their horses to work together during a battle. It survives, albeit in a much-diminished form, in the modern sporting discipline of dressage. The movements sideways or at angles, the pirouettes, etc., were the movements needed for massed cavalrymen to form and reform and deploy. Of the proponents of classical dressage from which modern dressage evolved, probably the best known are the Lipizzaner Stallions of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police's Musical Ride gives an inkling of what massed cavalry drill at speed would have looked like.

Other drills

Other tasks may be broken down into drills; for example, weapons maintenance in the British army used the rhythmic "naming of parts" as a memory aid in the teaching and learning of how to strip, clean, and reassemble the service rifle.