Personnel Inspection

Part 1: Preparing for Inspection

In NJROTC, if there is an equivalent to a weekly quiz, personnel inspection is it. Every Thursday each platoon in the unit conducts a Personnel Inspection. The uniform and how it is presented is one of the biggest fundamentals of the program. Attention to detail. It takes great patience, time, and dedication to have a great looking uniform. Here is a brief overview of the inspection process and how to prepare for it.


First thing you need to do, even if the uniform is dirty, inspect it for IPs (Irish Pendants). These are little pieces of string or cloth that stick out of the uniform. This is the easiest way to booste your score during the Friday inspection. It is essential that you do this BEFORE you iron it or take it to the dry cleaners, as it could cause wrinkles. .

Military Creases

Second, you want to put in all the necessary and proper creases, and remove ones that shouldn't be there. Probably one out of two cadets have improper creases, or none at all. This is a very bad situation to be in because usually the IO will have a tendancy to look closer at other parts of your uniform. You can go and have a dry-cleaning service press the military creases, but you want to make sure they do it correctly. You can find these in your field manual, but to make things easier I'll just state them here.

Summer Blue
--Male: There are a total of 7 creases you need to worry about. Two straight creases on the front of the uniform, from the top seam near your neck down to the end of your shirt, going right through where the button should be and passing through the very center of the chest pockets, both of them. This line should be used to center your ribbons and nametag, and I want to emphensize the straight part as I see many zig zaggy creases. You need three more on the very back of the uniform, equally distanced and straight. On your shoulders you need one for each as well. Be sure not to iron the crease through your NJROTC patch. That is a no-no. Be careful not to make more than one crease in a certain spot. When the IO can see two creases where one should be, these are called railroad tracks and this is a early sign to IOs that you havent really prepared. To remove them is simple, take an iron and iron it till it disapears, but be careful not to weaken the 'real' crease.
--Female: The same rules apply, except that you do not have to worry about putting creases on the front of your uniform. A permanant seam is already there than is not meant to be ironed.

Winter Blue:
--Males and Females: Same as the Summer, but you need to extend the creases from your shoulders to your arms.


Part 2: The Inspection

You will be graded on three things: The overall look of your uniform, your position of attention, and your bearing.
How to report in properly for personnel inspection: When the IO is in front of you and you hear the click of the his/her heels, confidently say, "Good morning(or afternoon) Sir/Ma'am Cadet (your rank/Last Name) formed for personnel inspection, Sir/Ma'am.

If your inspecting officer then asks you how you are doing or feeling, you will respond, "Outstanding, sir!"

The IO will then examine every part of your uniform, while asking you knowledge questions, which come from the orders to the sentry, the phonetic alphabet, the national and unit chain of command, and the field manual. Even if you do not know the answer, do your best to sound unshaken and confident.
Then your IO will do a right face, take one pace foward and inspect the next person.