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I "less than three" you, Regiment...


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Great letter. If it possible to have the same feeling about Phantom Regiment without being an alumnus then I have them too. Every year they continue to impress me and my devotion grows stronger. They make me proud to call the Rockford area my hometown.

BTW Would you be looking at teaching jobs in AZ? We would love to have a passionate person like you helping us at The Academy. We even shared a staff member with RP this year.

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BTW Would you be looking at teaching jobs in AZ? We would love to have a passionate person like you helping us at The Academy. We even shared a staff member with RP this year.

Well....I'll go where the best job is, of course, but...I would not mind working in the following areas:

The Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington, I hear, are beautiful)

Northern California

Northern Arizona

Those would be my dream locations, if I had a choice. In the end, I will go wherever there is a good, solid program that I could try to help become better and build up if I can.

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You're never going to be everybody's cup of tea. There will always be those who dislike something about you, be it your personna, your choice of literature, your staff, your alumni, your current members, your uniform, your visual program, or even the colour of the seats inside the staff bus. Human beings are good at finding things to hate. And because classical music has always had the connotation of being snobby and uppity, I think sometimes that perception gets passed on -unfairly- to you.

But I don't care...I love you, Phantom Regiment. I genuinely do. I try to kid myself over the years that drum corps is out of my system, and that I can watch passively and unemotionally...but every summer proves me wrong. I still get excited by the shows. I still get excited by the prospect of a Finals surge. I still get excited at the literature. And my heart still races whenever I smell diesel fumes. It's NOT out of my system. I don't think it will EVER be out of my system. And that's fine with me. Oh, I know that the love I have is not for an actual thing...it's for the concept of Phantom Regiment.

For four years I marched with you: some good times, and some bad times as well. I marched alongside people whom I cared deeply for, and also alongside people I disliked...but no matter what, they were still my brothers and sisters, and in a fight I would have had their back and they would have had mine. I marched in the cold, in the heat, in the rain, and even in the snow. I marched on high school football fields, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, and gravel parking lots; on artificial turf and real grass, on asphalt and concrete. I slept in cold gyms, and in hot gyms, and on two ocassions on no gym floor at all. I took cold showers and hot showers, and once showered with a sprinkler. I traveled the miles with you around me, through the metal canyons of big cities and the prairies of middle America. I even went to the mountains and the ocean with you.

I learned some of the greatest lessons of my life with you: Hard work, determination, perseverence, patience, and above all, love for something greater than yourself. I learned about compassion, and about dignity and class above all else. I learned to sacrifice, and I learned how to do laundry. I learned to compromise, and I learned how to use a phone card (remember those?). I learned to comfort others, and I learned how to dye white skivvies with tea bags, so they wouldn't look goofy under the white unis and the bright lights. I learned to be a man, but I also learned how to wonderlike a child.

The years I spent with you were some of the best years of my life, and not a day goes by where I don't put to use something that I learned from those four summers. Although I live far away from all my old friends, I still keep in touch with them now and again, and still miss them and wake up sometimes from dreams in which I am young once again, and my friends are with me. You could come in second place for the next 10 years, and I would still owe you a debt of gratitude that I can't ever repay, except maybe by helping steer youngsters like I myself was toward you, in the hopes of continuing the tradition.

This year, you truly made me appreciate what it is to be an alumnus of the Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps. 12 years removed from my last show, I still get excited watching you do what you do, Regiment. Oh, I've been a critic. There were years where the direction of the corps left me scratching my head, and nursing my heart. There were years when many of us old alumni felt hopeless and helpless as we saw our brothers- and sisters-in-arms sweat and toil and fail to achieve the goals you set for us all. I've never been shy when the shows have been uninspiring to me, and to others...a good family keeps itself in check, does it not?

But this year! What can I say that hasn't already been said? How can I put into words what I felt when I saw you marching onto the field in Atlanta? How do I speak of the lump you put in my throat at the end of "Ave Maria?" How can I tell you about the way that the aggressiveness of the Corigliano made me feel 20 years old again? How do I sum up the intense pride I feel for the corps, and those who now tend it, some of whom I shared a football field with all those years ago? As good as I have always been with words, they simply fail me in this moment, for they fall short of explaining my pride, my love, my loyalty to you, always and forever.

Congratulations seems like such a trite and cliched thing to say to you for this season, but I say it nonetheless. You gave me, and many others, a show we could be proud of, a show that moved us, a show that your members will never forget marching in. You gave me moments I will relive forever.

I am a Regiment Borg. Resistance is futile. And I'm ###### proud of it. My life would simply not have been the same had I not taken the chance 15 years ago. Fifteen? Has it really been that long? It seems like just yesterday sometimes, especially in the summer time, when it is easy to think of such things. I heart thee, Phantom Regiment, just as I would love any member of my family...because you defined me, and helped me grow. Thank you a thousand times over.

SUTA!

What he said. (Would've posted sooner, but I had to work late!)

SUTA!

:)

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Wow. You're definitely a very talented writer. What many of us feel in our hearts, you're able to put into words that describe exactly how we're feeling.

I am so proud of both the members and the staff and administration that put this show together for us. This was a very special year and it's obvious that they won the heart of many, many fans this year. I feel very honored to have been able to wear that uniform for a summer and to have that bond to all of the great Phantom Regment corps both before and after I marched.

I can't wait to get my DVD's and watch this show over and over again. Congratulations to all of the age-outs and to those that will be back next year, I can't wait to see what you have waiting for us.

SUTA!!!

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Well said, Nikk.

Every day I know that I would not be the person I am today had it not been for 8 years in the Regiment organization a long time ago. I will forever know that I'm part of the phamily. And this year, once again, the younger members of the phamily made us very, very proud. Thank you for that!

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Saturday's show was one of the best drum corps shows I have ever seen. Ave Maria left tears in my eyes. I think Nikk spoke for many alumni, including myself, in his letter. Well, said. No matter how "grown up" I become, I will always love the Phantom Regiment. No one does it like they do...

SUTA,

Melissa Ritzman

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Nikk, forget the teaching gigs, I hear the CEO of Youth Education in the Arts is looking for an assistant. This could be your big chance to get back into the activity. It sounds like they could use a good "Loud" passionate person to keep Hop on track.

HAH HAH HAH HAH b**bs

Yeah...that would work out. Heh heh.

Besides...I would miss teaching. I love doing it, and I love conducting.

Heh heh....still chuckling over the idea of working as Hoppy's "gopher."

Heh.

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Saturday's show was one of the best drum corps shows I have ever seen. Ave Maria left tears in my eyes. I think Nikk spoke for many alumni, including myself, in his letter. Well, said. No matter how "grown up" I become, I will always love the Phantom Regiment. No one does it like they do...

SUTA,

Melissa Ritzman

You know Mel, I'd forgotten that you'd marched prior to 1993, and that it was 1989 of all years. You marched two pretty darn terrific years at PR. Why didn't you march 1990-1992? If I knew the story at one point, I've forgotten, alas...

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