Regrets, I Have a Few ...

[ffernbus3]

I wanted to run away and join Troopers as well after seeing them in 71 at DAR I wanted to go to Casper and be a horn tech. I stuck with my hornline, The Diplomats......oh sure, I used to threaten them for a week or so after that about going to Wyoming, but I wouldn't have.

RON HOUSLEY

[Walter]

I think everyone that saw the Troopers in the late sixties and early 70's wanted to run away and join them. I did, unfortunately I was 15 and my parents wouldn't let me. I've always loved their music style of marching etc. My only regret was not talking to Jim Jones in Racine, Wisconsin in 1973 when I had the chance. Just a bit too shy back then I guess.

[ptr250]

After winning DCI in '73 I decided 4 years was enough to give to drum corps. Took a cross country trip with a buddy (also SCV Alum) who was on leave from the Air Force. We stoped in Madison to see some of our friends in the Scouts. They had a Bari spot open and asked if I would like to join them for my age out year. I truly considered it, but decided if I was going to age out with anyone it would be with SCV.

We continued our trip until we ran out of money (had to drive from Florida to San Jose CA non-stop). Got home broke, promptly got arrested for fighting wih a cop over a speeding ticket(hey I was young & stupid). Meanwhile my friends in SCV battled it out with Madison and came home with another championship!

Oh well...

Paul

[Walter]

ptr250

Which do you regret?

Not winning the fight with the cop? or Not marching with SCV?

This is a no brainer, right? The cop was obviously bigger right? LOL

Just Kidding. :P :D

Edited April 20, 2004 by Old Dutch Boy Cadet

[bd5times]

Absolutely no regrets.

[byline]

My regret will probably sound odd. It has nothing to do with not making Top 12, wishing I'd marched with some other corps, or any of those other things. It's a little more personal than that. I had a terrible crush on a fellow who marched in another corps, and unfortunately, that really complicated our friendship. (We also went to school together.) I always wished we could've just sat down and talked things out, cleared the air. We did, sort of, several years later. But I guess I wish I would've had the emotional maturity to work that out while we had the opportunity, so that we could've been the good friends we should've been. Oh, well. :(

[Walter]

Byline:

I think most of us that marched in drum corps have had this happen to us.

It hurts but only until you meet someone else.

We all survived it.

But ya I know, it still hurts...... :(

[byline]

Byline:

I think most of us that marched in drum corps have had this happen to us.

It hurts but only until you meet someone else.

We all survived it.

But ya I know, it still hurts...... :(

Yeah, it does. And the saddest part of it is, I always wanted to have that talk with him . . . but it's never gonna happen. He passed away in 1990. :(

Still, nearly 20 years after the crush and its aftermath, I met a pretty neat fellow, and we've been married almost seven years now. So things have a way of working out.

[ravedodger]

To raveDodger:

Glad you made it back to civilization.......

Welcome home.

Are you still in the army????

What are you doing now??

Nope. I've been out since '97. I'm currently a welfare worker in central Cali and teching brass for Dream.

[ravedodger]

This is not a regret because I loved my 3 years with VK--but having Gordon Henderson personally invite you to come up to SCV in 1983 and then turning him down, is, how should I say, a pivotal point in my corps career.

...same-same for me, Ryan, kinda. The difference is it was my age-out year and VK was still young and barbaric and prone to not score too well outside the west coast. I had the opportunity to check out Troopers at their Easter camp and a guy named Jim Jones asked me to march in his drum corps (after I'd sat in on their horn rehearsals for a few days). I told him, with great respect, "...no, sir, I need to march with *my* corps this year." Well, the years flew by and I remained involved, sometimes by a thread, but Jim Jones always took time to say hi and offer some conversation whenever we met on the road. I'm pretty sure he respected me not so much as a fellow warrior, but because of that day when I turned him down. That man was special...he *knew.*

Oh...for sure I have no regrets!

Great story Charlie and thanks for the Email as well. You have my deepest respect as well as anyone who makes that difficult choice. I do not put down anyone who decides to go with another corps because they want to win,,, I guess thats human nature. I do believe however, that it takes far more talent and character to build a championship corps. rather than just,, join one. My Opinion! I'm not trying to rally against the none loyalist. Its just the way I grew up.Had I started my career with the 27th Lancers, thats where I would have been when it was time to age out. I was with Avant Garde from their first note of their existance and I never felt different about them even when years weren't so good. Thats why I salute those of you who had that difficult decision put to them. Drum corps. can be hard enough without the temptation of being part of somthing bigger and perhaps better. Those who choose to go that way, all the power to them but , when they look back at their placement do they ever say "I can't believe we did that" Is there that wonderful sense of emense accomplisment? Were they really surprised or was it expected ? Thats the greatest thing about building a Great corps. in contrast to just joining one. I salute anyone , ANYONE who has joined a corps. and has put all of their self into it no matter which corps. that may be. I just have a speacil place for those who thought more about what could be,, rather than what should be.

Sometimes people move on for other reasons than the bigger/better philosophy. State of mind was my reason. In my corps (which I continue to love today), people thought we didn't score as well as we should have just because we were the Freelancers. It wasn't because of the judges that we scored so low, of course, but people couldn't understand that we just needed to beat ourselves.

When at "9 to 9's", we finished a run-trough and the staff went crazy and said that we had the potential to make top 6. When we made finals, the members were excited. Maybe making finals is a large feat, but I had always been very competitive, and fully expected, as a rookie, not only to make finals, but also to make top 6. We were actually capable. We just didn't defeat our prior performances, though we worked hard all summer.

I saw that Blue Devils and SCV had a completely different mindset. They had fun and knew how to turn it on when it was time. It wasn't that I was any better than anyone in anyway(I was a pretty good sop but I wasn't too great at marching) or that I wanted a ring or wanted into a better corps , I just wanted to be where the members were not convinced that they were losing because of some great conspiracy.

If you want to get technical, I should have marched VK, since they were only about 150 miles from me, but I knew people in Freelancers, so that is where I ended up--though I did love the Freelancers since I first saw them. Looking back to '92, I wish I could have been with SCV that year. What a great show. Maybe it would have be just as great just to be able to see it--I still haven't seen it.