Composition
The posting strength of "the Guard" varies; although a Royal Guard consists of 32 members from each service, one left marker, one right marker, two flag bearers and one parade officer. The Navy contingent of the Guard always appears on the left hand side of a parade, with Army in the centre and RAAF on the right. This is a tribute to the seniority of the services.
Every member enlists into a specific trade in either the navy, army or air force, but puts those trades on hold for the duration of their service in the Guard. Although formed initially for the celebrations of the centenary, the standard of the Guard was such that it was kept on as a showcase for the ceremonial capabilities of the Australian Defence Force, serving in various public duties capacities.
For administrative purposes the unit is divided into four sub-units, a Head-Quarter element and three single service "Divisions". Each Division is commanded by an Officer from that service.
Read more about this topic: Australia's Federation Guard
Famous quotes containing the word composition:
“Modern Western thought will pass into history and be incorporated in it, will have its influence and its place, just as our body will pass into the composition of grass, of sheep, of cutlets, and of men. We do not like that kind of immortality, but what is to be done about it?”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)
“The naive notion that a mother naturally acquires the complex skills of childrearing simply because she has given birth now seems as absurd to me as enrolling in a nine-month class in composition and imagining that at the end of the course you are now prepared to begin writing War and Peace.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“Every thing in his composition was little; and he had all the weaknesses of a little mind, without any of the virtues, or even the vices, of a great one.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)