This morning I was reading again the article by David Zucchino, titled “From Boys to Marines.” That article was one in a series of articles that Zucchino wrote for the Los Angeles Times. I was struck by one comment in that article. Here is that comment:
“The recruits were indoctrinated into the very ethos of what it meant to be a Marine. By implication, other military services, and certainly civilians, did not measure up to the Marine mystique.”
That comment took me back to one afternoon when I sat at a table with a former Marine. He was talking with a young man who was a member of the Army band. That youg man was trying to explain to the former Marine the reason why the Army had organized several different bands.
Maybe that former Marine followed the explanation, maybe he did not. No one will ever know for sure. Here is what that former Marine said to that Army and band member.:
“I thought that there was only one band—the Marine Corps Band.”
The conversation ended with that statement.
May 7th, 2008 at 6:46 am
As the wife of an Army Bandmaster, I laughed out loud at this article. Especially with the recent fiasco between the Army Herald Trumpets (of course, part of the Army Band, “Pershing’s Own”) and a Marine Corps Band (I’m not going to assume it was THE MC Band, “The President’s Own”). In case you hadn’t heard it, The MC Band was playing “pre-music” for the Pope’s arrival. The Herald Trumpets ALWAYS play Ruffles and Flourishes and Honors for the President. Apparently, the MC Band conductor did not bother to come to the rehearsal and was not aware that the Herald Trumpets have that honor, and so, when the Herald Trumpets finished their Ruffles and Flourishes, the MC Band conductor proceeded to have his band play “Hail to the Chief” (Honors to the President)…at the SAME FREAKIN’ TIME as the Herald Trumpets were playing it….in a different key, and at a different tempo. And that band conductor did NOT stop, nor does it appear that he even NOTICED he was in the wrong.
The saving grace was that very few people realized things were not going right.
So…there may only be ONE band…but the MC band sure as heck wasn’t it on THAT day!