Chandigarh: Britain’s four military chiefs, including its Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), returned to the parade ground last week, to perfect their marching skills ahead of participating in Queen Elizabeth’s funeral procession later today.The UK’s CDS Admiral Sir Tony Radakin told the Daily Telegraph in London on Sunday that a garrison segreant from the Coldstream Guards had, in no uncertain terms told all the four chiefs to ‘up their (marching) game’ for the grand ceremony, as he diligently put them through their paces.Alongside, the heads of the Royal Air Force (RAF), the British Army and the Royal Navy (RN) too told the Telegraph’s defence editor Danielle Sheridan that’ despite their seniority within the military, they all understood the importance of getting the ceremonial drill to a ‘state of perfection’.Hence, Garrison Sergeant Major (SM) Andrew ‘Vern’ Stokes had been deputed to instruct the country’s four military chiefs to move at 75 steps a minute in sync with the parade’s overriding drum beat. As part of the drill, SM Stokes had instructed the chiefs to download a ‘metronome app’ that played sounds at 75 beats per minute, in order to achieve the correct rhythm for the funeral march procession, the newspaper reported.In classic British understatement, Admiral Sir Ben Key, the First Sea Lord told the Telegraph that all four chiefs were impressed with the ‘imaginative ways’ Stokes and his colleagues ‘diplomatically’ evaluated their marching prowess.“They’d say that wasn’t bad sirs, but should we do it again to be absolutely right,” Sir Ben drolly stated, adding that they all wanted to perfect their marching so as ‘not to let the side down’.However, he admitted that by virtue of being the service chiefs, they were talked to ‘slightly differently’ by SM Stokes, than if they had been juniors in basic training’. But collectively the chiefs and the other ranks all understood the importance of eventually ensuring that overall ‘(marching) standards were up to the mark’.“There is no reason why a senior officer should be exempt (from being disciplined),” the RN chief stated.SM Stokes, for his part, told the Telegraph that he treated everyone ‘equally’, whether it be the CDS or a junior officer, or any member of the royal household. “We want it (the funeral march) to be brilliant. We want to do the absolute best for Her Majesty and members of the Royal family” he said.“We haven’t seen the death of a monarch for years,” the SM was quoted as saying by the paper. There is a lot to remember, and we have to get back to basics, he said. SM Stokes was the Queen’s Sergeant Major during her lifetime and hence central to several such solemn processions, including Prince Philip’s funeral in April 2021 and most recently the departed monarch’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, earlier this year in February.The Imperial State Crown lays atop the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it Lies in State inside Westminster Hall, at the Palace of Westminster in London, Britain September 15, 2022. Photo: Odd Andersen/Pool via ReutersMeanwhile, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston told the Telegraph that the chiefs were having to ‘relearn old skills’, as there had not been any occasion to sustain their marching abilities. Hence, a bit of marching practice was definitely in order, he matter-of-factly said.But, in all likelihood, the chiefs’ drill practice, Sir Mike stated would have been a ‘surprise’ for anyone passing through the Hyde Park barracks last Friday night. He complimented the ‘superb’ drill sergeants for their instruction, and added that like everyone else preparing for this momentous occasion, they all wanted the march to be an ‘immaculate last parade’ for Her Majesty.But there were subtle inherent complications in marching practices between the three British services, that needed ironing out. In the RN, for instance, the drill orders, according to Sir Ben were given on the right foot, whereas in the other two services they were given on the left foot. He also pointed out to the Telegraph that the marching pace in a funeral procession like that of the Queen, was different to any other that the military ordinarily followed, describing it quixotically as ‘not a quick march, nor as slow, as a slow march.It involved moving at 75 steps a minute and the accompanying drum was correspondingly played to this pace. But this was not something the services were adept at, as it was not a natural walking pace, the RN chief stated. Furthermore, the marchers had to move at that designated pace without swinging their arms for a long distance, which was unnatural. Consequently, to perfect and coordinate all these aspects everyone, from juniors to the most senior, had to undergo rigorous practice to perfect these exact manoeuvres, said the RN chief.Additionally, British Army Chief General Sir Patrick Sanders informed the Telegraph that ceremonial drill was hard, requiring the highest standards of collective discipline, precision and bearing. “It takes endless practice; rank and seniority count for nothing,” he said, and that putting in hours to practice alongside thousands of other soldiers was a ‘great leveller’.Is such a situation possible in the Indian military that shares multiple traditions and commonalities with the British armed forces from which it is descended?Possibly not, said senior veterans, considering the high levels of entitlement and hierarchical superiority that prevail in the forces.