Malibu Posted May 25, 2003 Share Posted May 25, 2003 I remember "back in the day" before the flags were taped on poles, you had a ring with a screw in it. The flag had a leather tag with a hole inside that you would slip over the screws on both ends. When tossing the flag became popular (mid 70s although some groups may have started prior) the ring with the screw became a pain......a real pain in the hand. Thus the black electical tape makes it's debut. Then there was that invention of Velcro.......someone decided it would be cool to put Velcro on the poles and on the inside of the flag sleeve to attach it to the poles.........until they figured out that it could and DID move up and down the pole! It's funny how things evolve only to go back to using tape. You wonder, "what's next?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jojo Posted May 25, 2003 Share Posted May 25, 2003 (edited) I remember the screws ... top and bottom of the silk. Marching in an instructor's winterguard show in 76 I drove the bottom screw INTO the skin between my left index finger and thumb. Had to have 4 stitches ... and now I know what the inside of my hand looks like b**bs Still have a little scar there too. Edited May 25, 2003 by jojo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malibu Posted May 25, 2003 Author Share Posted May 25, 2003 Yes, jojo I can relate to the blasted screw digging into my palm.... b**bs It didn't take too long after that incident to use tape. You probably remember the dreaded "cups" that were used for Right Shoulder Arms. Those things were a bite as well. Not only did you cut yourself, but the crazy things got in the way..........they really had no purpose except to help for holding the flag at Right Shoulder. In high school, we took those cups with the belts and had a bon-fire! :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marianne Posted May 25, 2003 Share Posted May 25, 2003 (edited) I remember the screws too. Never had a problem with Velcro. We used the self-adhesive type. Stuck one side of the velcro to the pole, and the other side to the flag sleeve. I remember the cups too. We thought the ones with metal inserts were cool, so the guard could make a "slaming" sound when they put the flag in the cups. How about the "posting buckets." (dont' know if that's what everyone else called them, but that's what we called them) that were used to post the colors during a winter guard show? One guard in the Midwest had some buckets with spring action in them. When they went to retrieve their flag, they stepped on a lever, and the flag sprung out of the bucket, into the air where the guard member caught it. We thought that was way cool too. :) Edited May 25, 2003 by Marianne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dacolorguard1 Posted May 25, 2003 Share Posted May 25, 2003 I remember the screws, I remember them hurting and my friend getting stiches in her hand and forehead (don't ask...) We still use velcro in the guard group I teach. We have never had a problem with the flags pulling off the velcro. We did use a cheap brand we got at the local hardware store, and the adhesive wouldn't stick to the poles very long, so, we went back to the better brand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
byline Posted May 26, 2003 Share Posted May 26, 2003 You probably remember the dreaded "cups" that were used for Right Shoulder Arms. We had a name for those: Dixie Cups. We had brand names for everything. Like, when the flag gets caught around the top of the pole: It's Q-Tipped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jojo Posted May 26, 2003 Share Posted May 26, 2003 [when the flag gets caught around the top of the pole: It's Q-Tipped. Q-tips and corn dogs and sails ... oh my! We called the cups "holsters". I remember two things about holsters ... 1) the horrific tan lines (nothing like a big X on your back) and 2) when the #### "cup" would accidentally slip inside the tunic (uniform top) and disappear!!!!! Having fun now b**bs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBrancheau Posted May 27, 2003 Share Posted May 27, 2003 Hooray! Finally, something that happened BEFORE my time in guard! b**bs Dang, the screws sound painful! Yikes! What would the world be without 3M Scotch Plastic tape?! That's what we used on our flags...the best part is, no sticky residue and you could re-use the tape a few times. We even taped our poles with gold, white and black Plastic Tape for a visual effect on the poles. Memories, memories! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintage rifle Posted May 29, 2003 Share Posted May 29, 2003 God forbid if your little leather thing ripped in a show, and it did happen quite a bit. We called the cups Buckets, and ours were held in place with a belt around your waist too. Talk about interesting tan lines. In 75 or76 we had metal poles, and the buckets had a steel lining....it sounded really cool in the first few bars of the closer....you can still hear it on the CD. Buckets were also handy because our uniforms had no pockets. A quarter would fit under the liner, so you could get a pop after the show. (a 25 cent pop??? Does that tell you how old I am??) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dacolorguard1 Posted May 29, 2003 Share Posted May 29, 2003 25 cents a can, and it was usually a TAB cola!!!! (diet pop so we could fit better into those oh so flattering wool military uniforms!!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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