the only part I really regret missing was your attempt at flying off the apartment balcony.

Ankle still hurts when it rains.

Saved the FTAB performance in Austin in 2000, I believe it was. I was going to the game with my wife and parents and a few others, and my brother who was the drum corporal in charge of the drummer fish calls in a panic. The fish had failed to load EVERY drum strap for the entire band for the trip to Austin. It's like 1.5 hours from gametime. Drum straps of the type the FTAB uses aren't exactly something you can find anywhere in Austin on a whim.

I suggest we hit Walmart on a hunch I can piece something together with stuff we find there. We headed to the hardware section and bought pretty much all the snap links they had, then over to the sporting goods for a bunch of athletic tape. Then I found a bunch of white 1" cotton belt material much like is used for a cadet's belt. It wasn't perfect, but it could be molded into something functional to strap on a drum and carry it around on the field, and we delivered it in time for them to manufacture a set for the whole drum section right before the game.

Halftime saved.

The corps was doing a charity drive to see which outfit could raise the most money. Whichever outfit won got 2 bag-ins. The amount of money was calculated by weight, not by cash value. One of my buddies stole a buckets worth of pennies from sully and turned it in. We won.

[This message has been edited by Anaggie (edited 5/21/2014 2:51p).]

2000 t.u. game drum straps? I am thinking if that had happened in my era there would be about a 1000 pairs of shoes to be shined on Sunday night back in Dorm 11. To start with. Great story. Scary stuff because drummers were the beyond crazy guys of the Aggie Band.

quote:

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BQs had much lower PT standards, and different rules. Fish had it much easier, they could walk on the quad, and were generally less intense and less focused on Corps stuff.
At the same time they wore the same uniform (some different brass ensignia, but hard to spot if you didn't know any different)

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We had very different experiences... Just about every CT I knew didn't give two ****s about polishing anything, shoes or brass, and they always looked like crap. We had the same height weight standards, even if we didn't PT as often because of morning rehearsals. We also got aired out every day until mid April. When I was there, CT's were more like frat boys than cadets.

yeah, much different experiences. My low quarters and brass were mirrors and I expected the same not just of my fish, but the entire outfit. I also guess we would have to define what an Air-out is because I never saw anyone from the band do much PT ever. If the band PTed so much you would think they would have won Bloody Cross or at least finished in the top 5 on a regular basis. I will say this, I never had to look very hard to see a BQ that looked like he shined his shoes with a chocolate bar and his brass with a brick when I was there.

CLASS of '96
P-2 C.O.
Jarhead
President of the Malaysia Aggie Club

Because I'm on Battalion Staff Duty (and having trouble staying awake) I will bite into this one:
@ Helms96 The Band must have done a complete 180 degree turn around since you left in '96 and I came in in 2000. My fish year, The Commandants Cord, GM Cord, and Hochmuth Cord were all worn by Band Outfits. Sadly not my outfit, but we made up for it by winning the JJ Sanchez Cord at Fall Review '01 and Hochmuth Cord at Parents Weekend '02. Pretty good results in my opinion. I do believe BQs placed top 5 in bloody cross several times in my time there. As far as shoes and brass, the "two bulb" shine was the standard every day, plus our combat boots as fish had to meet that standard as well.

As far as BQs doing PT, you obviously have never been to drill (especially as a fish). And running at the end of the Corps slinky during Corps runs you see exactly the amount of fallouts from the rest of the outfits too.

Now as far as this thread was intended, my fish year we played OSU at Stillwater. During the week we went through the normal Corps/Academic activities, plus constantly being reminded to not forget anything and double check your bags etc... Well we fall out to load the bus, I have my uniform in my hanging bag and rocking the Aggie Band travel gear we head to OK. Much to my dismay, upon arrival I had forgotten my low quarters back in Dormitory 11 Hole 110. In a panic I start to search for an extra pair from a buddy, and all I can get is my buddy's pair of civilian shoes whose only resemblance to low quarters are they are both black. Luckily it was raining and I was desperate so I borrow them. The down side is that I wear a 10.5-11 shoe and my buddy wore a 8.5-9. Needless to say my feet were in pain for a good 5 hours. And by keeping my feet under the bleachers in front of me and "accidentally" stepping in a puddle I avoided any real conseqeunces from this. I think this a large part of why I am paranoid everytime I take a trip to this day. I literally dump all my bags several times and triple check my packing list with my wifes help before a field problem or deployment.