Flag ceremony question

VaSteve · 05-21-2013, 04:52 AM

The cub scouts follow this flag ceremony script. When they say "two" everyone releases their salute. I never understood what they were saying (it's little kids of course) until I got a look at the script.

Why "two"? What does it mean? Is that from the military?

matt711 · matt711's Garage

Never heard of anything like that in the Army. Maybe an Airmen, Sailor or Marine can chime in.

Hard-Deck · 05-21-2013, 05:29 AM

This is old drill and ceremony stuff. I used to teach drill and ceremony as part of my duties when I was a Captain. In a hand salute there are two gestures one to bring the salute up and two to drop the salute. Similar in nature that in marching we say 1, 2, 3, 4
I don't see the command "2" used in the military very often anymore. But it is old drill and ceremony and that is probably why the Cub Scouts know it; they adopted it years ago I'm sure.

Aggie93 · Aggie93's Garage

A salute is a two step process. Part one is to bring your hand up, Part TWO is to return to normal position.

kimlangley7 · 05-21-2013, 05:54 AM

I believe that the command to drop the salute is "order arms" - be it under arms or just hand salutes.. "present arms" is given to commence the salute... good question though -

Hard-Deck · 05-21-2013, 06:05 AM

What Kimlangley said is current D&C.

gacook · gacook's Garage

Was in the Honor Guard for a long time (Army). Never heard of "Two" as any form of command. The Army adopted its drill and ceremonies from Baron Somethingorother Von Steuben. His "Blue Book" was the basis of our D&C in the military. Having studied that history...I still don't remember anything about a "Two." Having said that, Snapper's take makes sense.

crustychief · crustychief's Garage

Navy still uses it. Mostly heard at personnel inspections when removing and replacing covers ( hats / sombreros).

VaSteve · 05-21-2013, 11:20 AM

Cool, thanks guys.

desertt5 · 05-21-2013, 11:33 AM

Marines have used "ready , two" during formations. Order arms was more commonly used when they are actually armed.

wrpeterson · 05-22-2013, 05:04 PM

The command is actually "Ready, to!"

Used to order a group to drop their salutes in unison. Used all the time in ceremonies to get the official party (all the guys on the stage) to drop salutes after the anthem (similar to what the OP posted).

Also used to indicate when to actually remove the cover when ordered to "uncover" - the 'to' command gets everybody's hat off at the same time. Reverse is true when ordering "Cover" - everybody stands there with a hand on the cover until ordered 'to!', then they drop their hand back to attention position.

Retired Navy Command Master Chief here...

Hard-Deck · 05-22-2013, 10:32 PM

I'm picking nits a little but the command is, "two". The prepatory command is, "ready". I should have elaborated on that in my earlier post.

rcecale · rcecale's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snapper33

I'm picking nits a little but the command is, "two". The prepatory command is, "ready". I should have elaborated on that in my earlier post.

This!

Randy

wrpeterson · 05-23-2013, 12:53 PM

Quite right, preparatory command, then execute command.

daepp · 05-23-2013, 11:57 PM

BSA is "Salute on the numbers.". ONE, and everyone in uniform salutes. TWO, and everyone releases their salute. I think it was all learned pre WWII.

krystar · 05-24-2013, 06:27 AM

i've always had this minor gripe about the pledge. i'm an naturalized immigrant and i totally get the pledge now. but when i was in the third grade and still a chinese citizen, i was pledging allegiance to the united states of america every day and not even understanding what i was saying much unless understanding the meaning of what i was doing.

cub scouts...pledging allegiance to the union? it sounds like so repeated rote behavior and half of them not understanding what it really means.

maybe a bit parfy

VaSteve · 08-17-2013, 04:44 PM

I was watching the Nationwide race at Mid Ohio and when the were doing the flags before the race, I saw that they used the "two" command.

id10t · 08-17-2013, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by krystar

i've always had this minor gripe about the pledge. i'm an naturalized immigrant and i totally get the pledge now. but when i was in the third grade and still a chinese citizen, i was pledging allegiance to the united states of america every day and not even understanding what i was saying much unless understanding the meaning of what i was doing.

cub scouts...pledging allegiance to the union? it sounds like so repeated rote behavior and half of them not understanding what it really means.

maybe a bit parfy

Thats OK - I get weird looks here on the edge of teh bible belt when I don't use the "Under god" part... which was added in the 50s when we were fighting those godless commies