Cruel and Unusual Punishment?

[ffernbus3]

Anaheim Kingsmen....need I say more?

Kidding, actually, it was never cruel nor unusual, but it was physically hard and demanding. Marking time for 45 minutes straight, called to halt because somebody's eyes drifted or a knee-raise was not where it should be......start again with clock at zero!

Actually, there was little BS going on in the ranks of the Kingsmen. Worse thing I can remember in the 67 rehearsals was the following:

Kmen playing pre-State Ellington medley.....playing Caravan or A-Train and just as the cut sign came from the podium, I just happened to lean over to my fellow lead bari player and whisper "This is COOL!" Except there was dead silence and my voice boomed out.....it got a chuckle....and 45 minutes of marking time.

Didn't need underwear practices or other silly stuff....we went in and went to work.

Sounds so simple now....but I now reflect on how naive we were in those days about pervs, drunks, hard druggies and other unsavory types teaching under age kids. (Guilty on count 3 only, except for hard-drug part....it was the late 60s/early 70s, as if that were an excuse).

Oh, there was that one aforementioned time when the male Kingsmen had to ride to a gig on one bus while the girls in the guard rode another....don't know the infraction that caused this, but I can assure that the boyz thought it cruel and unusual punishment......as witnessed by the guyz coming off the bus whistling "Col. Bogey."

RON HOUSLEY

Edited December 10, 2004 by ffernbus3

[Malibu]

The only thing that was enforced was absolutely no talking during rehearsal.....if you did, you had to do push ups. I made the mistake of saying "yeah" to another guard member.....needless to say I had to do push ups which I didn't mind.......helped make my biceps buffed!

Also if you were late for block (basic block marching technique) you had to do a lap around the field.

The staff never had to tell us to take a lap.

Now for my own guard, once the season has started, they have to do push ups for dropped equipment.....at rehearsal or for a show. I never have to tell them to do it.......they do it all on their own.

I tell them, think of it as buiding up the upper body so they can have the strengh to maneuver their equipment better.

[uncle z]

Muahaha!!! My Cavie brothers and I could tell some stories about this!!!!!!!

Let's just say discretion is the better part of valor!!!!!

You most definately wanted to avoid a "meeting of the board"!!!!!!

[Ryan H. Turner]

Well, my famous Bountiful, Utah VK DM in the graveyard story has made its rounds around DCP before. Needless to say, the immortal Greg Clarke let me and a few other late-night trespassers find out what an early morning 2 mile run was all about.

The only other thing was in 1985, while learning drill during the spring, I just couldn't shut my mouth for the life of me, and they had me next to Ron Zeilinger, the section leader (now Program Coordinator for Impulse) would couldn't either. So then drill designer Dean Elder or Staff Coordinator Mike McCool (or whoever else had the Long Ranger) would inevitably have to say sometime during the rehearsal, "Ron....Ryan...please be quiet"... It was sort of hilarious...

I guess you had to be there...

[Tansea]

I saw some pretty horrendous stuff, back in the day, and experienced some of it first hand - stuff people would do time for now. While I don't contradict any of you, it cracks me up to hear all of these, "We had self disipline" comments by some - good for you. Suffice to say many of the instructors I dealt with had "anger issues." I spoke to one of them in Pasadena prior to the TOR parade and commented on his now "calm" demenor, and he said with the litigous society we live in these days, it just isn't worth it to slip and yell at some kid who will run home and tell mommy the lawyer her precious was treated badly. I laughed uncontrollably at this.

I remember "percussion techs" (when was this term coined?) throwing sticks at evil doers with deadly accuracy, I remember seeing a now passed corps director smack a kid on the calf with a 3S for being out of step in a runthrough, I also remember the blanket parties at the end of the season for particularly nasty violators. I'm not sure the statute of limitations has run out on some of this stuff, thus no names. Endless marking time in the middle of the night....oh yea, nearly forgot.

Mike Braga

SCV 1973 - 1975

SCV TOR 2004

[GGarrett]

I saw some pretty horrendous stuff, back in the day, and experienced some of it first hand - stuff people would do time for now. While I don't contradict any of you, it cracks me up to hear all of these, "We had self disipline" comments by some - good for you. Suffice to say many of the instructors I dealt with had "anger issues." I spoke to one of them in Pasadena prior to the TOR parade and commented on his now "calm" demenor, and he said with the litigous society we live in these days, it just isn't worth it to slip and yell at some kid who will run home and tell mommy the lawyer her precious was treated badly. I laughed uncontrollably at this.

I remember "percussion techs" (when was this term coined?) throwing sticks at evil doers with deadly accuracy, I remember seeing a now passed corps director smack a kid on the calf with a 3S for being out of step in a runthrough, I also remember the blanket parties at the end of the season for particularly nasty violators. I'm not sure the statute of limitations has run out on some of this stuff, thus no names. Endless marking time in the middle of the night....oh yea, nearly forgot.

Mike Braga

SCV 1973 - 1975

SCV TOR 2004

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well THIS is what I'm talkin about...

I sort of started to get the feeling some were saying "we NEVER had anyone screw up in OUR corps EVER. We were perfect in EVERY way..." So I sort of backed out of what I meant when I started this conversation.

I certainly didn't want to get anyone in trouble or mention names, but I DID want to point out the old school tactics of discipline that do not (could not!) (and probably don't need to) in todays world exist. I'm not saying they were all good, just different tactics in a different day. My "guy taped to the pole for practice" story was extreme by todays standards, but I can sure tell you that no one ever wanted to be that guy from that day forward, and things started to improve from then on.

I can also remember walking by the Cavaliers buses once in like 1975 and seeing four or five guys holding a push up position the entire time I walked by. When I returned the opposite way (10 minutes later) they were still there holding that push up position! I have no clue what they did, but I saw it! I also experienced the 0200 "everyone up and at attention!" drill when I was in a small corps. A few butts just wouldn't shut up after lights out, and after repeated warnings the staff stood everyone up and had us stand at attention for 15 minutes. Then up at 0600 and M&M for two hours before breakfast...uhhh, that sucked! But the next night everyone was sure quiet when the lights went out...

[ptr250]

In my day we members were much nastier than the staff. I remember one instance a third bari kept screwing up. He was taken to the folded bleachers where two other members of the horn line sat on the top of the bleachers and held his hand over his head, stretching him out. He was then given ten swats on the rear with an interval stick by each member of the bari line, (at that time we marched 12 baris so he received 110 smacks). All the time the rest of the horn line cheered and jeered (jeered if you hit him too lightly). Needless to say he was very black and blue by the time his punishment was over. As I look back the whole thing was very barbaric and I am ashamed that I took part of it.

Paul

[mingusmonk]

I will leave the renegade, intra-member justice for conversations with my co-alumn, and not these boards.

But as far as corps-wide punishment, here's one. One night during tour(in Charleston, IL?) the gym sleeping arrangements got a little to "mixed" from a male/female perspective. A certain large and looming former Cavalier (who has since returned to the Cavaliers) that was heading our visual staff saw a little too much.

During the AM M&M, he announced to the corps his displeasure, and his reasoning. Then preceded to have us do a 35 minute session of M&M block on our heels - not touching anything but our heels to the ground - at attention the entire time. He was teaching everyone a lesson (and knowing him, probably hoping to spawn some intra-member justice against the perps).

Turns out that he had no personal qualms with what was going on, but was really concerned what we were potraying to the boosters and support staff.

BTW - this is probably a mild story, but hey, it was the 90's.

[Tansea]

  As I look back the whole thing was very barbaric and I am ashamed that I took part of it.

Paul

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Riiiiiggggghhhhhhhttttttt, barbaric.

Mike Braga

SCV 1973 - 1975

Anaheim Kingsmen 1976 - 1978

SCV TOR 2004

[Eggbert]

Wow... don't get me started on this one... I've seen some things that would... well... you know what I mean. OK, you twisted my arm and here's a short list...

- a bass drummer being literally kicked in the ### and toppling over the hood of a car w/ drum. it's ok, the drum was fine.

- a drum instructor who poured out our precious break water into the dirt for every tick, in dallas in august.

- a drum major who made the weakest link wear a crusty old toilet seat around his neck for the entire rehearsal until someone else screwed up worse and earned the honor.

- a drum line who took the worst leaker tickmeister down for a pink belly on a nearly daily basis

- a drum instructor who made a screw up line stand at silent attention for half an hour with drums on. (oh wait, that was me! sorry guys!! i've learned my lesson.)

- and then there was the kid who had his underwear passed from the back to the front of the bus and back again while he was still wearing them, sort of. his brother is on dcp by the way.

good times... b**bs