Icer

There is what you get second hand (like from Glass Door), and there is what actually happened. There is obviously overlap - most people don't just make stuff up - but those of us who saw the whole tragedy unfold in front of our own eyes have a unique perspective.

There is a difference between a meglomaniac and a predator. When he ran the Yankees, George Steinbrenner was clearly a meglomaniac, but it would have been a profound surprise if he had been accused of sexual assault. This is what was the case at Yea! That the CEO had control issues was known by everyone (and the organization was hamstrung), but what ultimately happened came out of nowhere.

The professional CEO does not direct the board in any organization that I know. The board exists to support the management and provide oversight. This is a model that exists with both for-profit (non-public) and non-profit. The more dominant the CEO, the less the board does. This is reality. There is another model, which is a board-managed organization, and a lot of small non-profits use this approach. So this idea that the CEO says jump and the board says how high is a misnomer. The CEO says what they want, presents a budget and an operational plan, and the board asks questions. At the end of the day, the board either supports the CEO or replaces them. Because the CEO of Yea! was also the corps director, the fan base, which was exclusively focused on the creative product, looked at him as the coach of a sports team. Team isn’t winning, replace the coach. But the organization was much larger, with 3 operating units, and the situation is not so simple.

My understanding of BAC (and please correct me if this is mistaken) is that the 50 or so board members are donation-based, and there is an executive team that does the work of the board. This is a model that many non-profits use, and it can be very successful. There were two incarnations of the Cadets-related organization. There was the original version, which was completely focused on the corps. Then there was the larger version (YEA!), which included USBands and XCape. XCape was a small operation, but USBands was a huge undertaking. At one time it was the largest marching band circuit in the country (in terms of events - BOA was obviously a higher profile), and also included concert festivals as well. The money generated from US Bands helped fund The Cadets and XCape, lowering the dependency on donations. But it also meant that the board would naturally view each of the three as operating units, with USBands having the most impact financially. This was inconsistent with the fan base, which was pretty much only focused on the corps. As for the management of the Corps itself, like any other organization, it reflects the personality of the director. Some directors are delegators, others are micromanagers, and some are in between.

The board did not get involved in decisions relating to performance, so to that extent there was indeed a rubber stamp. That's what infuriated a segment of the community who wanted the corps leadership replaced (which was, unfortunately, contractually impossible without bankrupting the organization and taking down not only The Cadets, but US Bands and the youth dance studio). But the reason for the conflict was personality and results, not criminality. If you know the people involved, you know that this is an accurate description of the situation. No one rubber-stamped sexual misconduct because it was not known at the time. If the Philadelphia Inquirer had broken the story in January - which is what should have happened - action would have been taken immediately. We still might be in the same position today, because 1982 was still a long time before and obviously still unresolved for the victim, but at least it would have been a clean break. Instead there was a bunch of anonymous communication that paralyzed the organization. The resulting fallout was 10x worse with no benefit to anyone.

Presumably yes. My point is that with all the chatter, no one was talking about criminal misconduct. It was all about personality and results.

This is oversimplification to the point of intellectual dishonesty. From 1982 to 2017, the only thing that mattered to pretty much the entire Cadets community was whether the corps was winning, and to a lesser extent, solvent. If the winning had continued, it's entirely possible that things would have remained hidden for an indefinite period (with ongoing suffering by the victims). Starting in 2015, both of the aforementioned indicators began pointing down. 100% of the negative chatter in this and related venues were focused on personality and results, not criminal misconduct. As we know, in January 2018 the ground shifted, first quietly and then publicly. Any possibility of preventing a meltdown was undermined by a combination of lack of experience, legal/contractual obstacles, and one or more bad actors. In the end, everyone lost, starting with the victims but with a wide circle of collateral damage as well. I haven't decided yet whether to tell what I know - it will depend on whether any good could come of doing so. The reporter who broke the story offered me an outlet at the time, but I decided I wanted to be done with the whole disgusting mess. However, suffice it to say that the sexual misconduct was only part of the scandal.

That was a memorable show as well. The SE Championships had moved into The Benz (from Powder Springs the previous year), and the atmosphere in there was electric. People may also recall that the very next show on the tour at Wake Forest, The Cadets must have marched 30 holes because a virus ripped through the corps. That knocked them back a bit, but when they got to Allentown they pulled out all the stops.

I understand the point being made about the arc of this show, but IMO, The Cadets rose in 2018, not from 2018. The kids that marched that year had everything stacked against them. Not only did they put on a show from the heart, but when they nailed the Z-Pull and revealed the traditional uniform in the final scene, it brought down the house at the DCI Eastern Classic. There were still more obstacles (most notably Covid), and there is a ways to go, but the bounce back started 5 years ago this weekend.

No, it’s not exclusive to the Cadets, but The Cadets we’re at the wrong end of the spectrum. If you don’t know this, you need to talk to more people.

Obviously it didn’t happen to everyone. But talk to some of the others.

There is a second story that runs in parallel to the incidents that ultimately brought down GH. For years The Cadets succeeded by supposedly being the hardest working corps. And maybe they were. But the toll in broken bodies - especially females - was unconscionable. It took a few years for me to figure this out, and by the time I did, the sexual misconduct issue blew up. When the time is right, I will tell the story as I witnessed it. But for now, just know that there are some scars that have not healed, the reasons for which may not have been assault, but were ultimately highly destructive nonetheless.

That’s fine, but slightly less of Kerouac means more Cadets, which on balance would be an improvement.

After watching the show (video, not live) and FWIW: - Good job of arranging. Nice showcase of brass. - Percussion is simply beast. So many great features. - Uniforms - very subjective. Some will like, some not. I don’t see that as being a big deal either way. - Drill seemed a bit frantic at times. Opportunity for this to evolve as the season progresses. Less running, more coordinated movement. - Voiceover - If there is a way they can take out some of the narration that is not central to the story, it will showcase the music and marching more. Overall a good start considering what every corps has been through.

Personality, antics and blind spots, yes. Beyond the victims, the circle of people who knew about the abusive relationships (at least the sexual ones) must have been extremely small. I know quite a few people who marched and had staff positions during the years in question, and to a person they were shocked by the revelations. If you have no life and want to take the time to look back at this forum before 2018, you will not see a single post alleging sexual abuse. If it didn’t even appear in an anonymous forum, that should tell you something - not that the abuse didn’t happen, but that very few people knew, and the ones who did weren’t talking.