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Cruel and Unusual Punishment?


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By todays standards, some of my former instructors could be put in jail! But I learned respect and discipline from their methods of discipline and humiliation, and all in a good way.

Examples:

Mine was when I was 14 years old and a tenor drummer in small corps. We were learning our drill, and many of you may recall how s l o w l y time passed while you waited for your direction. I couldn't stop tapping my mallets, so the drill instructor came over and grabbed them from me, heaved them into the end zone, shouted in my face like two inches from it and made me stand at attention for what seemed like an hour. Needless to say, I learned very quickly to shut up when told to.

Another was a drum instructor who duct taped a chronic "ticker" to a pole at the field and made him watch the line rehearse. He left him taped to that pole for the whole two hour segment of practice.

Another was a rifle who was made to stand at attention while the corps director gave announcements. I don't know what she did, but she had to hold her rifle out in front of her for like 15 minutes without letting it fall. Even MY arms hurt...

Do YOU recall any such events from YOUR days??

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Never needed that kind of stuff in BD when I marched...all Wayne had to do was talk to us calmy in a voice that told us we'd let him down...without actually saying that. VERY effective on us.

We were never told to do pushups by the staff, either...we screwed up, we dropped and did them on our own (when it was appropriate).

Self-discipline's the best...

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Do YOU recall any such events from YOUR days??

We were forever standing outside at attention in our underwear at our first weekend camp in the spring because some idiot rookies wouldn't shut up. Once the staff had had enough (usually around 1 AM), we would all be told to get outside exactly as we were and stand at attention. With the mosquitos, ants, etc., it was usually enough to make the idiots shut up and sleep the rest of the summer.

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Never needed that kind of stuff in BD when I marched...all Wayne had to do was talk to us calmy in a voice that told us we'd let him down...without actually saying that.  VERY effective on us.

We were never told to do pushups by the staff, either...we screwed up, we dropped and did them on our own (when it was appropriate).

Self-discipline's the best...

Yeah, by the time I got to Madison, that was whole different ball game there. Guys just didn't screw around, or goof off. It was just the way it was, and if Stewart was talking, you weren't.

Our mallet players in '82 did the self-discipline deal, when appropriate, as did the cymbal line. Every once in a while you would just see one of them drop and do twenty quick ones, and you knew he did something that ticked himself off, so he punished himself. By the end of the season, those guys were buffed out!

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Yeah, by the time I got to Madison, that was whole different ball game there. Guys just didn't screw around, or goof off. It was just the way it was, and if Stewart was talking, you weren't.

Our mallet players in '82 did the self-discipline deal, when appropriate, as did the cymbal line. Every once in a while you would just see one of them drop and do twenty quick ones, and you knew he did something that ticked himself off, so he punished himself. By the end of the season, those guys were buffed out!

Would have been funny if EVERYONE answered something like....

"Gee, we never experienced ANYTHING remotely like that."

:P

Come to think of it, in Garfield 70-72 we never DID experience anything remotely like that, from my memory.

:)

Mike

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Would have been funny if EVERYONE answered something like....

"Gee, we never experienced ANYTHING remotely like that."

:P

Come to think of it, in Garfield 70-72 we never DID experience anything remotely like that, from my memory.

:)

Mike

Ha! Well, I'm sure that in corps like Garfield and BD and Madison, etc. there wasn't a lot of goof off's and screw ups like there were in smaller corps. By the time your in a corps like that, it's pretty all about business and there are vets there that keep you in line as well. In smaller corps, however, you had the kids that were just hacks and were there pretty much for the social event as opposed to the hard work.

It's hard for me to believe that there weren't ANY uncomfortable disciplinary actions witnessed back in the old days that don't stand out in some peoples memories.

I mean, heck, not EVERYONE was lucky enough to start out as a Blue Devil or a Garfield Cadet... :P

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Ha!  Well, I'm sure that in corps like Garfield and BD and Madison, etc. there wasn't a lot of goof off's and screw ups like there were in smaller corps. By the time your in a corps like that, it's pretty all about business and there are vets there that keep you in line as well. In smaller corps, however, you had the kids that were just hacks and were there pretty much for the social event as opposed to the hard work. 

It's hard for me to believe that there weren't ANY uncomfortable disciplinary actions witnessed back in the old days that don't stand out in some peoples memories.

I mean, heck, not EVERYONE was lucky enough to start out as a Blue Devil or a Garfield Cadet... :P

Actually, I spent 4 years in a feeder/parade corps (64-67) and then 2 in a Garden State Circuit class 'B' corps (68-69) prior to Garfield. Never experienced anything like that in them either.

Mike

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well Mike, I guess I was just in bad corps with bad kids compared to your experience... BUT ANYWAY...... :whistle:

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well Mike, I guess I was just in bad corps with bad kids compared to your experience... BUT ANYWAY...... :whistle:

No...just my own experience...I know LOTS of others operated differently.

Starting in 64 when I was only 10..can't imagine the type of stuff that went on in other corps happening to 10 year-olds!

I know of other 'big corps' that operated much as you describe, actually, or even worse.

Mike

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