Capital Regiment Website

[DCMom/Fan]

Hi - This is Becky Palmer - I'm BATimpanists mom - just wanted to say that yes of course we knew what was going on during the tour. Of course we contacted the corps, DCI, emailed Dan A., and anyone else we could think of. Trey is in his third year with Capital, he certainly has no grand ideas about corps food, something is always better than nothing. This was clearly a huge problem this year. The really really hard thing is that when we tried to point this out over the summer, almost every single person would say, you aren't here, you don't know. I think Trey, (even with all his sarcasm) is just trying to finally say, I WAS there, this happened to ME. So everyone had lots of different experiences over the summer, I would like to say that I personally contributed over $700 of my own money for food for this corps this summer. So see, obviously there was a need and some of us were trying to help. I am not trying to brag, I'm trying to let you know what I personally know about. Do you think anyone from the Capital Regiment Center, or board of directors can say thanks? Nope. Not yet. We also have contributed greatly the previous two years, this year we also donated items that were equal to $800 for the pit (gong stands, our metal shop made them at the request of Capital Regiment). I have been asking for an acknowlegment of these donations since late May, and have been promised to get one, but I haven't yet. These are the things I know about on a first hand basis. So it seems like lots of people did not or would not do their jobs over this past summer. It's sad really, as I know that our son has made a great many friends in corps. I genuinely hope that DCI will respond to the numerous emails and letters I have sent them over the summer, but so far......they haven't. I think we should all just agree that what we know about from being there and on a first hand basis should not be questioned or doubted by others. Like when there was food, good, when there was not enough to go around, ok, we now believe that as well.

Please email me if you have any other questions about what we did or did not try to do as parents over the summer. I would be happy to discuss it with you.

Becky Palmer

[BASTimpanist]

Your sarcasm destroys your credibility. As a member of Capital Regiment, you do not speak for me.

And to bariparents, THANK YOU for all you have done to help the corps. You are not a fool.

CLEARLY, i was kidding by saying that. OMG. Who in the #### would take a statement like, "the whole world believes what i believe" seriously?

And telling me what happened to me, is foolish as all ####. Like I don't know what happened to me.

[drewbugler]

I thought these days were over...many stories here sound very, very, very familiar.

Best of luck to the members and staff of Capital Regiment.

[keepinitreal]

b**bs As a member of CR you DO NOT speak for me. As for calling a volunteer who helped and gave their time for you and the corp a fool speaks volumes for itself. Isnt that your mom also on this forum posting? Please speak for yourself, you dont have the credibility of speaking for me. Wasnt that you that cussed out a lady at a show site because you about ran over her on the four wheeler? credibility going down.... Wasnt that you and David who is also posting here that at the Capital Regiment Banquet for all members when rick was outside started chanting Rick sucks..... That was the members banquet,,,, it was for us not for your usual antics which you did all year. If we want to get it all out lets get it out..

The thing that bothers me the most out of everything and it hasnt been commented on yet....... The person, Matt. who started all this is the one who admitted that he personally knew that the two drivers where under the influence and DID NOTHING ABOUT IT. If as he says he had the members in his best interest at all times, why in the world would you knowingly let drivers drive under the influence....... Thanks Matt for watching our back and taking care of this. I mean this sarcastic.

I am glad you got your money and thanks for the pictures you have been promising from the first of the year. I know my parents appreciate it. I hope this forum topic is kept up a little longer so people can actually see what the purpose of all this was. I just wished you would have not tried to spread your junk during the season to the members. I know I got tired of hearing you moan each day as you came outside afternoons a lot of times. Well I better stop, there is always two sides to every story and it looks like the ones that know the real story and have no agenda to all this have shown a lot of class by not posting. Things went wrong, a lot of things went wrong, things will have to be answered for it, but not to you.

[Galen]

CLEARLY, i was kidding by saying that. OMG. Who in the #### would take a statement like, "the whole world believes what i believe" seriously?

Sarcasm or not, it was better off left unsaid.

And as an alum of Cap Reg, you don't speak for me either.

[CT-Horn]

So I guess the question is this.

Why was this allowed to happen? DCI got involved by sending out the Troopers Director does that mean everything was ok after that point?

If parents and board memebers and staff and others new about all of the issues, why was the corps allowed to continue?

What's more important, Honor and Glory to your corps and finishing the season or Making sure that 45 kids don't get killed in a tragic bus accident?

What was the real driving force behind all of this???

[kusankusho]

As an outsider I have no meaningful contirbution to make to this discussion - I just wanted to wish the members of CR good luck. I hope this crisis is over for you soon.

Cheers.

[SCVsopAaron]

I just think this is all very sad... As bad as folding a corps is, or taking a hiatus, I think they are the only options at this point... There is definitley a split within the corps ranks, huge organizational issues from all levels... things were obviously pretty bad... I think we should hear an official statment from DCI or CR soon, or at least I hope so...

Edited August 23, 2006 by SCVsopAaron

[Scerpella]

I can't imagine this ever working! For one thing, it would be more expensive. I marched in a corps that fed us extremely well. There was always food left over. Even with all this food, buying in bulk, and making it themselves, the actual cost of the meal ended up being around $1.25 per member. Secondly, although I missed fast food, I can't imagine eating it every night. At least with my corps (and I know of others) there was a nutritionist that designed the meals. I sometimes didn't like some of the meals, but they were all, for the most part, balanced. This is extremely important for the type of activity that these kids do. You can't just give everybody money and expect them to eat smart every night. Div 1 - 60 minutes? right.

Eating at the show site...Hot dogs and pizza every night?

I can't see how this would work at all.

It may cost the members $1.25 but the corps has to spend quite a bit more than that to own a cook truck, maintain it and transport it. Not to mention the human resource cost.

I would also take issue with the previous poster who said drum crops today are so much more physically demanding. Certainly the movement from a drill standpoint is quite a bit more but consider the fact that prior to 1980, most corps marched all tempos, from 90 bpm to 180 bpm at a high mark time.

There is a favorite picture of mine of a Madison drill rehearsal in 1976 taken on tour somewhere where the entire corps has their shirts off. You see 120 guys all lean and cut, hardly an ounce of body fat anywhere. The same thing happened my two years (77-78) by mid summer guys were in the best shape of their lives. I look now at junior corps members and its not uncommon to see some pudgy ones, even with the higher drill demands they have now. So without getting too scientific about the respective physical demands of then vs. now, there is at least an argument to be made that physical demand is not necessarily higher now than before.m Its counterintuitive I understand to hold this view but my own anecdotal experience says otherwise. There just want some college biophysics guy around back then to measure cardiovascular load on 1971 Troopers or 76 Phantom Regiment, so we'll never really know.

And todays kids are not stupid they can be encouraged to eat right. All restaurants are not fast food in fact Id wager a fair amount of them provide a more nutritious meal than any cook wagon with a drum corps.

My point is that its not really self evident that corps are worse off without cook trucks, and in the context of this discussion, a cash strapped Cap Reg might have been able to attend to other details better if the kids were responsible for their own meals. (This of course does not include providing the necessary hydration at rehearsal sites.) Will you give me that at least?

[hughesmr]

There is a favorite picture of mine of a Madison drill rehearsal in 1976 taken on tour somewhere where the entire corps has their shirts off. You see 120 guys all lean and cut, hardly an ounce of body fat anywhere. The same thing happened my two years (77-78) by mid summer guys were in the best shape of their lives. I look now at junior corps members and its not uncommon to see some pudgy ones, even with the higher drill demands they have now.

I think you can safely attribute that to that fact that we are a fatter nation than we were in the 1970s.

And todays kids are not stupid they can be encouraged to eat right.

But left to their own choices by and large, would they?

True, not all restaurants are fast food, but how many of those types of restaurants can feed ~150 in an hour?