One for both MikeWint and Adler (just to settle the argu...er...discussion).
Every year the RAF celebrates Battle of Britain Day (15 Sep) by holding a reception in the Officers' Mess where local dignitaries are wined and dined as a "thank you" for putting up with a couple of thousand airmen on their doorstep. One particular year, it was arranged that the RAF Regiment display squadron, the Queen's Colour Squadron (QCS - which undertakes ceremonial and guard duties for the RAF, including Buck House) would participate as the drill squad for our twilight ceremony. The plan was to have 2 squads of the QCS march from either wing to the front of the Mess, turn to face the audience, there'd be a couple of brief words about the BoB, a sunset flag ceremony with "The Last Post" played by a solitary bugler, and then a Tornado would come in at very low level from behind the crowd and climb vertically with the 'burners plugged in, after which the Regiment would march off all without a single word of command being spoken.
Come the morning of the final practice, only 50% of the QCS turned up for duty. The Station Warrant Officer (aka "God") first went ballistic then went round the station gathering up enough suppliers, cooks, maintenance guys etc to make up the numbers. They practiced all day, with the remnant of the RAF Regiment dispersed through both the squads. That evening, the scratch team of airmen did us proud. Without a word of command, they marched onto the parade, halted and turned, the only sound being the steel toe and heel tips in their boots. The Tonka came it at less than 100 feet, fast and low (and to the huge surprise of the guests) and then climbed away, the glow of the afterburners disappearing into the clouds as the bugler finished the final, haunting note of "The Last Post" - it was spine-tingling. At the end of the parade, again without a word of command, the airmen marched off the parade and did so with sufficient precision that nobody noticed they weren't the real McCoy. The event was a huge success!
So why were only 50% of the RAF Regiment on parade that morning? The absentees were in police custody or locked up in the Station guardhouse. The entire Squadron had been out on the town the night before and got into a fight...amongst themselves! The military's the military, no matter where you put them nor how you dress them!
Cheers,
B-N