Colour guard


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, 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.

History

As long as armies existed there was a need for soldiers to know where their comrades were. A solution to this problem was the carrying of colourful banners or other insignia. Such flags or banners either showed a personal symbol of the leader of said units or a symbol for the "state" they represented.
Such banners or flags also came to represent a units identity and history. They were therefore treated with reverence as they represented the honour and traditions of the regiment. The loss of a unit's flag was shameful, and losing that central point of reference could also make the unit break up. Therefore, regiments tended to adopt colour guards, a detachment of experienced or élite soldiers, to protect their colours. As a result, the capture of an enemy's standard was considered as a great feat of arms.
Regimental flags were sometimes awarded to a regiment by a head of state during a ceremony, which was considered a high honour usually reserved for elite units, and colours may be inscribed with battle honours or other symbols representing former achievements.
Due to the advent of modern weapons, and subsequent changes in tactics, colours are no longer used in battle but continue to be carried by colour guards at events of formal character.

By country

Argentina

In the Argentinean Armed Forces, the Colour Guard is composed by a junior officer carrying the colours, accompanied by two senior NCOs with rifles or sabres, who provide the escort. The group is followed by a senior NCO carrying the regimental standard, with two junior NCOs as escorts. In academies and schools, the colours are carried by the student of the senior class with the highest marks, escorted by the two who follow him.
In cavalry formations the escort NCOs and the ensign are all mounted on horseback, and the escorts carry sabres.

People's Republic of China

In the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the colour guards include one ensign holding the flag of the People's Liberation Army as the national colour domestically or the flag of China when abroad, and two officers or senior NCOs assisting the ensign holding rifles.
In the parades of the 1950s, this configuration was present in every unit of the PLA up to the parade of 1959, but with the ensign and escorts drawn from individual formations. Today, only honour guards are granted colour guard duty to represent the whole of the PLA. Being the senior-most branch of the PLA, the Ground Forces representative serves as the ensign in the service colour guard, with the officer to his/her right being from the Navy and the officer to their left being from the Air Force. Since 1981, the PLA has continued a tradition of the colour guard detail with the PLA flag leading the Beijing Garrison Honor Guard Battalion in military parades. In December 2017, the Beijing Garrison Colour Guard Company of the People's Armed Police, which is present during flag ceremonies in Tiananmen Square in Beijing carrying the national flag, was officially replaced by a new unit that is a part of the honour guard battalion and wears the general PLA full dress. Its colour guard squad follows the same format as the guard of honor colour guard squad.

Taiwan (Republic of China)

In Taiwan, the colour guard tradition of the Republic of China Armed Forces is modeled on the German, Russian and US practice. Until 1976, each military unit sported a singular stand of colours on parade, as opposed to the honour guard of the ROCAF, which is more aligned with the traditions of the US Joint Service Honour Guard of the Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region. All colour bearers of formations above company level must be, following US tradition, holding the rank of sergeant or above as a non-commissioned officer, while the colour escorts are lower ranking enlisted personnel. All wear full dress, service dress or battle dress uniforms. Since the National Day parade of 1978, the format of unit colour guards in ROCAF formations of battalion size is:
  • Left escort
  • 1st 2 company guidon bearers
  • Unit colour
  • 2nd 2 company guidon bearers
  • Right escort
Brigade-level colours are guided by the left and right escorts only.
The joint service colour guard of the ROCAF General Headquarters, today as in the past, is similarly composed but is more larger, with its composition being
Colour guards are used in the military throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, including Australia, Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. A colour guard unit typically consists of the standard-bearer, who is of the rank of second lieutenant or equivalent, positioned in the centre of the colour guard, flanked by two or more individuals, typically armed with rifles or sabres. A colour sergeant major typically stands behind the colours carrying a pace stick. So, the formation is as follows:
  • Colour Sergeants carrying rifles
  • Ensigns
  • Sergeant of the Guard
  • Colour Sergeant Major behind the colour
Aside from presenting arms and sabres, colour guards of the Commonwealth of Nations are expected to lower their flags to the ground in full and regular salutes in ceremonies and parades. Civilians should stand during such times and soldiers are expected to salute them when not in formation.

United Kingdom

As the British Army, the Royal Air Force, the Royal Marines and the Royal Navy have several types of colours, there are also colour guards for these colours and these colours and their colour guards are as follows:
British Army (infantry)
  • King's Colour – Union Flag
  • : Colour Sergeants and Ensign
  • State Colour – Crimson with insignia and the honours and the royal cypher at the corners, used only for the Guards Division in ceremonies in the presence of the monarch
  • :Colour Sergeants and Ensign
  • Regimental colour – Union Flag on the canton with the regimental arms and honours
  • * Foot Guards regiments
  • * Royal regiments
  • * Royal Irish Regiment
  • * other regimental colours
  • : same as in the King's Colour
  • Combined Colour Guards
  • : Colour Sergeants, Ensign, Guard Sergeant of the Colours, Colour Sergeant Major
    Royal Air Force
  • King's Colour – Royal Air Force Ensign with the sovereign's cypher and the RAF roundel
  • : Ensign and armed escorts
  • RAF Ensign
  • : Same as King's Colour
  • Squadron Colour – Air force blue with the unit insignia and honours
  • : same as King's Colour
  • Combined Colour Guards
  • : Colour Sgts., Ensigns, Guard Sergeant of the Colours, CSM
    British Army (cavalry)
In the cavalry, the King's Standard or Guidon and the regimental/squadron standard or guidon are the equivalents to the King's and regimental colours.
  • King's Standard – Crimson with the royal coat of arms, the royal cypher and the regimental honours
  • : Colour Sergeant/Corporal of Horse, Warrant Officers
  • Regimental/squadron standard/guidon – Crimson or scarlet or other colours with the royal cypher, the Union Badge, regimental insignia and honours
  • : same as in the King's Standard/Guidon
  • Combined Colour Guards
  • : Colour Corporals/Sergeants, Warrant Officers, Guard Corporal/Sergeant of the Colours, Colours Corporal Major, Colours Sergeant Major
Colour guards in the artillery units are technically the lead gun's crew and leader and there are no colour guards in the rifle regiments, the Royal Gurkha Rifles and in the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.
Royal Navy
All of the RN's King's Colours are identical. Within the RN a colour guard unit consists of:
  • King's Colour – White Ensign defaced with the sovereign's cypher and inscribed with honours
  • : Ensigns and escorts
  • White Ensign
  • : Same as King's Colour
  • Combined Colour Guards
  • : Escorts, Ensigns, Guard Sergeant of the Colours, CSM
    Royal Marines
  • King's Colour – Union Jack with the sovereign's cypher and the RM emblem and motto with the "Gibraltar" battle honour
  • : Ensigns and escorts
  • Regimental colour – Union Jack on the canton and dark blue with HM King George IV's cypher and the unit name, and the sovereign's cypher on the other corners
  • : Ensigns and escorts
  • Combined Colour Guards for the RM
  • : Escorts, Ensigns, Guard Sergeant of the Colours, CSM

    France

A French colour guards typically includes one ensign holding the flag of France as the national colour, two non-commissioned officers assisting the ensign, and three enlisted personnel behind to guard the colour.
The colour guards of France's military academies tend to wear swords; those of NCO schools, other educational institutions and active units carry rifles instead. This design is used in other countries with Francophone populations.
French colour guards render honours on the command of present arms. On command, the two NCOs and three enlisted will execute present arms, whether it be by presenting their sabre vertically or by putting the right hand over the handle of their weapon while the ensign lowers the national colour/unit colour somewhere close to their legs. On some occasions, the flag is not lowered unless the guard is in the presence of a dignitary or a military leader.