The term muster means the process or event of accounting for members in a military unit. This practice of inspections led to the coining of the English idiom , meaning being sufficient. When a unit is created, it is "mustered in" and when it is disbanded, it is "mustered out". If a unit "musters" it is generally to take account of who is present and who is not.
A muster roll is the list of members of a military unit, often including their rank and the dates they joined or left. A
roll call is the reading aloud of the names on the muster roll and the responses, to determine who is present.
United Kingdom
In
Tudor England, musters were periodic assessments of the availability of local
militia to act as a defence force. To some extent, the system was an outdated remnant of the
feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
system where local lords had their own armies, which they provided for the King as required.
The
British Armed Forces
The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...
have a tradition of performing a muster for the reigning
Monarch during a jubilee year. For the first time all three service branches were present at the same time during the 2012
Diamond Jubilee Armed Forces Parade and Muster, held in celebration of the
Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The year 2012 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II being the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. The only diamond jubilee celebration for any of Elizabeth's predecessors was in 1897, for the 60th an ...
.
United States
Within the
United States Army National Guard and the
Army Reserve, muster is an annual event used for screening purposes of soldiers not otherwise required to perform any duties.
[Army Regulation 135–200, Active Duty for Missions, Projects, and Training for Reserve Component Soldiers, para. 3–6, Muster Drill, 13 June 1999]
References
Military terminology
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