this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2025
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Twirling your gun around isn't though
That is done by special drill teams that do that exclusively. The average Marine or soldier just have six or so very basic things they do with their rifle. Those things are almost never done again after boot camp.
Those things are right and left shoulder arms, port arms, trail arms, and present arms. None of these require twirling.
I did a tour in a NATO army, in Europe, conscript. I was in a Scout/Pathfinder unit (volunteer, perks), so we had real "kill fast, silently and with prejudice" among other training. However, in peace time we had some ceremonial/escort duties. We did some "essential" drill team duties. I liked to say we were armed majorettes. The kill-gunnery-explosives-orienteering-etc. stuff I could consider useful knowledge/training for extreme situations, but the drill stuff is about the useless-est skills ever acquired.