John, Would that be the course that the author WEB Griffin describes as learning not to piss in the potted palms? Ooohrah!!!
Walt Lewis Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry -----Original Message----- From: John Dutton <dutto...@gmail.com> Date: Fri, 6 Feb 2009 17:30:32 To: <horn@music.memphis.edu> Subject: RE: [hornlist] Inauguration picture [quote] True, they don't go through the training, but an article in the Washington Post a few years ago pointed out that many take leave and go through training, thereby earning their rifles honestly. At the time of the article, the NCO bandmaster was preparing for his second tour of Iraq. They are Marines. They just take a slightly different path than most. [/quote] ----------------------------- The Washington Post was wrong. The President's Own and all assigned to it are non deployable. End of story. The only Fleet Marines that are there are some few that have duties such as loading crew and public affairs and a couple of other things. These Marines rotate in and out of that duty station like all Marines but are not musicians. There would be a senior NCO of that group but he would not be a Bandmaster. The senior NCO of the President's Own would be the Drum Major who is non-deployable. Any normal Marine that wins a playing position with the PO then becomes non-deployable as well. The term Bandmaster refers to the Fleet Marine Forces 12 field bands and by definition is the NCOIC and senior enlisted member of a given band. These Bandmasters would indeed deploy if their band deployed. A Bandmaster might or might not also have been a Drum Major. Perhaps the news article was confusing the PO with a Field Band or the School of Music there at Little Creek. The musicians of the President's Own do not go to Recruit Training and cannot detach to go do so. They do go through an orientation/crash course in Marine Corps protocol etc. I would wager that most of them won't in their career learn enough to "speak Marine." You former Jarheads out there will know what I mean! It is the Drum Major's job to teach them how to march and carry their instruments and push the paperwork and.... Traditionally the head Drum Major has been a Fleet Marine and that person might very well have deployed in the past prior to accepting a posting to the President's Own. Col. Foley succeeded in setting a precedent for promoting a non-fleet Marine as DM but that didn't last long and the normal tradition resumed with Thomas Kohl. Ironically, the current assistant DM was one of my Marines from San Diego. He deployed overseas to Iraq (several times possibly) prior to his winning a posting to 8th & I. Browne, the senior DM, was also a Fleet Marine prior to joining the PO. I have no idea whether he served in a combat area or not but he did get posted with the very excellent NATO band in Europe. The Jack Attack! _______________________________________________ post: horn@music.memphis.edu unsubscribe or set options at http://music2.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/lewhorn9%40yahoo.com
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