What is Parade Rest?

What is Parade Rest?

• A. Move your left foot 12 inches from your right, locking your hands with your left palm over your right with hands resting just beneath the tailbone.
• B. Hands on hips
• C. Stand at attention
• D. Hands clasped behind back

Answer: (A)

Parade Rest is the relaxed, controlled stance used between commands in drill. It places you with a stable, comfortable base and hands secured neatly behind the back, ready but not tense. In this position you move your left foot out about a foot from the right, forming a balanced stance, and you lock your hands behind you with the left palm over the right, letting the hands rest just below the tailbone. This arrangement keeps the silhouette neat, prevents fidgeting, and allows normal breathing while maintaining military bearing. The other postures described don’t fit parade rest: hands on hips are informal, standing at attention is too rigid, and simply clasping behind the back without the defined left-over-right grip isn’t the standardized form used in this drill.

Parade Rest is the relaxed, controlled stance used between commands in drill. It places you with a stable, comfortable base and hands secured neatly behind the back, ready but not tense. In this position you move your left foot out about a foot from the right, forming a balanced stance, and you lock your hands behind you with the left palm over the right, letting the hands rest just below the tailbone. This arrangement keeps the silhouette neat, prevents fidgeting, and allows normal breathing while maintaining military bearing. The other postures described don’t fit parade rest: hands on hips are informal, standing at attention is too rigid, and simply clasping behind the back without the defined left-over-right grip isn’t the standardized form used in this drill.