After watching the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at nine years-old, John Marshall, The DrillMaster, knew he wanted to wear a uniform for the rest of his life. In high school, he spent four years in AFJROTC on the state-champion drill team; after attending Basic Camp at Ft. Knox, he spent two years in Army ROTC at New Mexico Military Institute and he then entered the Air Force in 1985. During his 20-year career, he devoted 15 years to part- and full-time duties with Base Honor Guard units around the world, three of those after retiring as the only Authorized Provider Partnership Program member while overseas (and possibly AF-wide).

He has been marching since 1979, judging, writing, and teaching marching bands, drum corps, and military units since 1986, and performing with, educating, and training ceremonial teams since 1990. He has worked extensively with law enforcement, fire departments, and EMS ceremonial units, Sea Cadets, Civil Air Patrol, and JROTC cadet programs in the US and internationally. He is a ten-time published author of books on ceremonial, regulation, and exhibition drill and military drill adjudication. He writes a weekly educational column at his website, www.thedrillmaster.org and publishes what he calls micro-training moments on the Instagram account DrillMasterTraining.

“Education is key!” is the phrase used most often on DrillMaster social media accounts and continuing education is The DrillMaster goal.