Reverse arms and the related rest on arms reversed are military drill commands used as a mark of respect at funerals and on occasions of mourning, especially in the armed forces of Commonwealth nations. When marching in reverse arms the soldier's weapon is held pointing behind them and grasped behind their back. When resting on reversed arms the weapon points towards the ground and the eyes are lowered.
Reverse arms is a marching movement in which the weapon is held reversed (pointing backwards) as a mark of respect or mourning. [1] Rest on arms is a similar position for use when halted in which the weapon is rested pointed to the ground (as opposed to upwards as when stood at attention for example). The practice is said to have originated in Ancient Greece, though the earliest documented cases are from descriptions of 16th-century military funerals. [1] It is known that a New Model Army soldier carried out the movement at the execution of Charles I and was later punished for rendering such an honour to the king. A unique reverse arms drill was devised as a special sign of respect for the 1722 funeral of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough at Westminster Abbey. [2] This drill became the basis for the modern-day movements. [3] The drill was known in former times as "club arms" (for reverse arms) and "mourn arms" (for rest on arms reversed). [4]
The movement was used in the US Army by the time of the American Civil War and one veteran of the time noted that the movement was tiring to perform. [5] An 1889 article in the Journal of the United States Cavalry Association opined that "reverse arms and rest on arms are bits of fancy drill that never were of any use, and should have been eliminated from the tactics long ago". The article also stated that the movement was not used in the German military, which marched in the conventional manner at the funeral of Emperor Frederick III. [6] The movement was dropped from US Army practice some time before the First World War. [7] A 1886 article in the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution suggested that the movements could be dropped from British practice without affecting the solemnity of funerals. [8] The movements do not seem to have been commonly practiced and there was some confusion at the 1901 funeral of Queen Victoria among soldiers who had not been taught the drill. [9] [10]
In the Canadian Armed Forces drill manual the movement for reverse arms is carried out before stepping off. The same movement is used for rifles, carbines and swords. The soldier is ordered to shoulder arms, the butt of the rifle is brought upwards, the muzzle is turned underneath the right arm and grasped with the left hand from behind the back. [11] There is also a movement prescribed to switch the rifle from the right arm to the left. [12] If parades are halted for a long period the drill manual specifies that soldiers should be ordered to return to the shoulder arms position. Arms are then to be reversed again before stepping off once more. [11]
The movement to rest on arms is carried out from the present arms position. The rifle is swung downwards so that the muzzle rests on the soldier's left foot, the right hand is placed flat on the butt of the rifle and the left hand on top of this. The soldier's head is then lowered to rest on the chin. The whole movement should take ten seconds. [13]
In the British Army drill manual reverse arms is ordered from the shoulder arms position and is carried out before stepping off. [14] [15] The soldier's right hand reaches across to take hold of the butt of the rifle. The rifle is switched to the right side and the left hand grabs the rifle stock. [16] The rifle is then swung downwards and turned under the right armpit to a 45 degree angle to the ground whilst the left arm reaches behind the back to grasp the barrel. [17]
Reversed arms is always carried out at slow march initially but may transition into quick march if there is a significant distance to be covered. [14] In quick march the left hand releases the rifle which is gripped solely by the right hand, forearm and elbow. The left arm is held as far to the rear as possible. [15] Arms can also be changed in the reverse arms position, to provide rest to the soldier or as a spectacle for onlookers. [18]
With swords the transition to reverse arms is made from the carry position. [19] The sword is placed under the right armpit, with hilt and blade uppermost, and the left hand passes behind the back to grasp the blade. With swords the order is only two movements long (when compared with four movements for the rifleman) so is carried out simultaneously only with the last two movements of the rifleman's command. [20] The sword is switched to the opposite side if change arms is ordered. [21]
In the British Army drill manual rest on arms reversed is known as "lower on your arms reversed". [22] The rifle is brought upwards, with the left hand on the stock and the right hand taking hold of the pistol grip. The rifle is then rotated downwards to point down the right side of the body while the left hand moves from the stock to the butt. [23] The head is then lowered to look at the ground in a movement lasting four seconds; the entire command takes ten seconds. In this position the rifle, being shorter than that used historically and being held by the pistol grip and not the butt, does not touch the ground. [24]
The order for swords is carried out from the present arm position. [25] The sword is brought to the recover position from which the point is swung downwards, with the edge pointing to the soldier's right. The tip is placed on the ground between the soldier's feet while the right hand rests on top of the sword pommel with the left placed over it. This takes six seconds. As with the rifle command the final four seconds are for the soldier to lower his eyes. [26]
The command is also used in the Irish Defence Forces, Indian Army and Nigeria Police Force. [27] [28] In the Australian Army, the rest on arms order reversed is still used, but the short Steyr rifle makes the reverse arms at march difficult. [1]
The Army of the Czech Republic, also known as the Czech Army, is the military service responsible for the defence of the Czech Republic as part of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic alongside the Military Office of the President of the Republic and the Castle Guard. The Army consists of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Air Force and support units.
The M16 rifle is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-round magazine.
A salute is usually a formal hand gesture or other action used to display respect in military situations. Salutes are primarily associated with the military and law enforcement, but many civilian organizations, such as Girl Guides, Boy Scouts and the Salvation Army use formal salutes. Ordinary civilians also salute informally to greet or acknowledge the presence of another person, such as a tip of the hat or a hand wave to a friend or neighbour.
In military organizations, a colour guard is a detachment of soldiers assigned to the protection of regimental colours and the national flag. This duty is highly prestigious, and the military colour is generally carried by a young officer (ensign), while experienced non-commissioned officers are assigned to the protection of the national flag. These non-commissioned officers, accompanied in several countries by warrant officers, can be ceremonially armed with either sabres or rifles to protect the colour. Colour guards are generally dismounted, but there are also mounted colour guard formations as well.
A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on the end of the muzzle of a rifle, carbine, musket or similar firearm, allowing it to be used as a spear-like weapon. From the early 17th to the early 20th century, it was a melee weapon used by infantry for offensive and/or defensive tactics. Today, it is considered an ancillary weapon or weapon of last resort, although it is still used for ceremonial purposes.
The IMI Galil is a family of Israeli-made automatic rifles chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO and 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges. Originally designed by Yisrael Galili and Yakov Lior in the late 1960s, the Galil was first produced by the state-owned Israel Military Industries and is now exported by the privatized Israel Weapon Industries.
The SA80 is a British family of 5.56×45mm NATO service weapons used by the British Army. The L85 Rifle variant has been the standard issue service rifle of the British Armed Forces since 1987, replacing the L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle. The first prototypes were created in 1976, with production of the A1 variant starting in 1985 and ending in 1994. The A2 variant came to be as the result of a significant upgrade in the early 2000s by Heckler & Koch and remains in service as of 2023. The A3 variant was first issued in 2018 with several new improvements.
The Lee–Enfield or Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the British Army's standard rifle from its official adoption in 1895 until 1957. The WWI versions are often referred to as the SMLE, which is short for the common "Short, Magazine, Lee–Enfield" variant.
The M1 Garand or M1 rifle is a semi-automatic rifle that was the service rifle of the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War.
Sergeant is a rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, serjeant, is used in The Rifles and other units that draw their heritage from the British light infantry. Its origin is the Latin serviens, 'one who serves', through the French term sergeant.
The Steyr AUG is an Austrian bullpup assault rifle chambered for the 5.56×45mm NATO intermediate cartridge, designed in the 1960s by Steyr-Daimler-Puch, and now manufactured by Steyr Arms GmbH & Co KG.
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.
A section is a military sub-subunit. It usually consists of between 6 and 20 personnel. NATO and U.S. doctrine define a section as an organization "larger than a squad, but smaller than a platoon." As such, two or more sections usually make up an army platoon or an air force flight.
The Accuracy International Arctic Warfare rifle is a bolt-action sniper rifle designed and manufactured by the British company Accuracy International. It has proved popular as a civilian, police, and military rifle since its introduction in the 1980s. The rifles have some features that improve performance in very cold conditions without impairing operation in less extreme conditions.
The SAR 21 is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured in Singapore, chambered for the 5.56x45mm cartridge. First revealed and subsequently adopted by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) as its standard service weapon in 1999, it was designed and developed over a four-year period to replace the locally license-built M16S1 by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), Singapore Army and the former Chartered Industries of Singapore (CIS), presently ST Engineering Land Systems.
The INSAS, or Indian small arms system, is a family of infantry arms consisting of an assault rifle and a light machine gun (LMG). These weapons were developed in India by the Armament Research and Development Establishment and manufactured by the Ordnance Factories Board at its various factories. The INSAS assault rifle was the standard infantry weapon of the Indian Armed Forces for almost three decades.
The M1917 Enfield, the "American Enfield", formally named "United States Rifle, cal .30, Model of 1917" is an American modification and production of the .303-inch Pattern 1914 Enfield (P14) rifle, which was developed and manufactured during the period 1917–1918. Numerically, it was the main rifle used by the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War I. The Danish Sirius Dog Sled Patrol on Greenland still use the M1917, which performs reliably in Arctic conditions, as their service weapon.
Present arms is a two-part drill command used by many militaries and public safety professionals in the world as a sign of respect. It comes from the old British command "Arms to the present!"
The L1A1 Self-Loading Rifle (SLR), officially "Rifle, 7.62mm, L1A1", also known by the Canadian designation C1A1 or in the US as the "inch pattern" FAL, is a British version of the FN FAL battle rifle produced by the Belgian armaments manufacturer FN Herstal. The L1A1 was produced under licence and has seen use in the Australian Army, Canadian Army, Indian Army, Jamaica Defence Force, Malaysian Army, New Zealand Army, Rhodesian Army, Singapore Army, and the British Armed Forces.