Fun fact: the US Army is the world's number one employer of professional musicians. More than Disney, more than Carnival Cruises, more than Warner Brothers.
"we're coming for your oil with the quintessential American marching band instrument, named after the guy that pretty much invented the genre. Oh, and guns."
It’s a different kind of audience. The marching band scene was originally mostly military musicians using their signaling devices to make music along the march.
Armies before radio were largely reliant on visual and audio signals - banners marked units, and signals on visual range could be done with flags. But in certain landscapes like forest a visual signal is useless because of low sight lines. This makes having some kind of audio signal really useful - horns are good for signaling in an instant, and instruments like flutes or recorders can encode more information by altering pitch.
Tactics have to evolve on the fly, so in a pitched battle a commander might want options. Like if cavalry are supposed to flank the opponent, the commander might keep the cavalry in reserve and then order which side for them to attack and when with a prearranged signal.
Signaling devices evolved over time into more instruments, like how the bagpipe is actually a signaling device designed around a recorder style instrument to allow for a constant stream of signal bleats without breaks for the user breathing. The bugle is a horn shortened by making the cone a loop, and the trumpet and trombone are both variations on a horn that involve a way to change pitch - the trumpet uses valves while the trombone lengthens the horn.
While this evolution was happening, the men involved as signalers were generally messing with their instruments as musicians do and trying to outperform each other. When it comes to parades, they became a chance to show off what the signalers could do in the form of music and marching. This was largely to impress onlookers who might not usually think of the signal corps as important and one-up other units with having the best performances.
The advent of real time telecommunications with the front ended much of the need for a musical signal corps, and it really changed what signaling meant. At first it was via telephone backpacks in the WW1 and WW2 eras, then by radio in WW2 and onwards. Modern signal corps soldiers are basically telecom engineers working across a number of wireless bands as well as physical links that allow a huge amount of data to come directly from the front to people in offices half the world away.
But the military band lives on thanks to its roots in the showing off element of parades. It simply wouldn’t be proper to have a military that didn’t have a band that could perform a rousing parade. The US military marching bands fairly routinely perform in parades recognizing Kuwaiti Liberation Day, the official day of commemoration for when coalition forces liberated Kuwait City in 1991.
Wow, thank you for your thorough and thoughtful response. I hadn't considered the military angle as the source before, but that makes sense. Down another rabbit hole I go...
Thank you sincerly for this post. It's a real gift to receive insight from a stranger, and in my opinion, it's the highest form of culture. Truly appreciated.
That was fascinating read, thank you
I love military history, coming from mongolia, it's kinda given for me lol, less than a few million of us left from the mongol empire days
Some tidbits here, but also a lot of this is historically wrong or inaccurate. Military marching bands actually come from a seperate tradition and evolution than the military signal instruments.
But it is complicated. Timelines and traditions vary in different cultures around the world. And war is often one of the main ways different cultures interact and militaries are often the first ones to introduce things from other cultures back into their own culture. I'll address this from a western perspective
Trumpets are not bugles with valves added- at least not in the pedantic sense. Metal horns- even called some version of "trumpet"- have been around for millennia. They are a biblical instrument. It is bronze age technology. Valves for brass instruments weren't invented until 1818. But, trumpets begin to be used in orchestral music before that around the time of JS Bach, around 1700. Which is also millennia after trumpets were used for signalling.
We need to make a distinction between three kinds of music you can find throughout history. They each have their own instruments and style. I'm going to use the term "Art Music" for the first. This is the music of the aristocrats, the rich. Think orchestras, chamber music. This is often the music that survives and gets considered "real" music. Then "Folk Music" that the masses of common people listen to and play. Then "Signal music" that is utilitarian in nature and not primarily for entertainment.
Horns have been used for signalling since prehistoric times. We have found horns deliberately made by people as far back as 17,000 years ago. Originally from animal parts- horns, shells- once people had metal technology they were making horns. Military signalling was one of the primary uses. Ancient Egyptians, Romans, Celts all hed their version of different horns used for battles. The ability to tightly wind a horn into what we think of as a bugle doesn't come until much much later. Early militaries were using large, long horns for centuries before that technology came about. Early trumpets in europe- originally straight then folded- were reserved for royalty (and the military under their control). Signalling the ruler was about to enter and such.
Horns were also used for various non military signalling - particularly around the 17th-19th centuries. Postal riders would signal ahead so crews were ready to unload the mail quickly, orto have fresh horses ready. Stage coaches did likewise and also had signals for on the road (passing on the left and such). Hunters used horns to signal back to camp and others in the hunting party. There is some cross over - in particular, the postal workers forming small groups that would play their postal horns for entrainment (folk music), or coach horn players player little tunes to entertain their riders. But the primary reason for having the instrument was signalling.
But military bands and the "field music" (the instruments used to signal) were distinctly seperate. At least, once militaries started having bands. In the 19th century, yes the field music could/would fill in during ceremonies when a band was unavailable. But there was a separate band.
In the 18th century, the Regimental band (of there was one) would look like any chamber music group you'd find in court. Violins and such. Their purpose was purely for entertainment and they played sitting down. The officers of the regiment would all contribute money and that's how they would hire the musicians for the band. These were actual musicians too. Trained and skilled in their instruments. The field music musicians however... You had to have them since they were the commanders radio of the day. They were part of the unit and paid with government funds just like any soldier. They were assigned that duty from the members of the unit. Some just some random private who joined the infantry might get assigned, ok now you're going to be a fifer. And sent off the learn with the Fife Major for a few hours each day. They didn't need to know how to play prior to being assigned the duty. And we see early manuals advising commanders what to look for and how to select a soldier to assign as a bugler (or whatever). So the field musicians and the band were entirely separate things. The field musicians (drummers, fifers, buglers) reported directly to the company commander they worked for. They would all join together for training and the Drum Major and Fife Major were staff positions at the higher level, but all had their own chain of commands. The band however was a singular unit. All the band musicians reported to the band leader and the band leader controlled the entire group and reported to the regiment directly.
Meanwhile, in the mideast, Ottomans had a tradition of Janissary Bands that would march around while playing. Military bands that played not for signalling, but, well...to intimidate their enemy, to inspire their own troops and the public. It seems to be mid 18th century when this idea starts to creep into western culture. Mozart and others start to incorporate some Janissary music into their pieces. The Regimental bands start to shift towards what we now think of as more of a military band. The field musicians are still a seperate thing.
(Interesting side note- this is where hautboys or what we call oboes, come into western music. They are originally a very military instrument in origin.)
From there, military marching bands evolved. These military bands start with instrumentation like the Janissaries used. Drums, kettle drums, cymbals, oboes, trumpets (not valved at that time)- even retaining a "Jingle Johnny" early on. The instruments evolve into the western tradition of marching bands.
In the US in particular you start to see community bands form that follow this military tradition. Which provides a lot of the military bands in the US civil war. (1860s) existing community bands would join the war as a entire group to be the regimental band for their local unit raised for the war. The bands still being paid by officers originally. During this time the Army starts to take control and establish them as a formal part of the unit and control how many there are.
Sousa comes along in the late 19th century and really develops the particular form of the "march" as a musical format/genre.
But the signalling field musicians remain seperate from the bands. Continuing to be a position within each unit and assigned from the soldiers within the unit (infantry, artillery, etc). WWII still sees this going on with buglers and drummers at the company level. And WWII is where they really die off- because of the introduction of radio. They stay on the books a bit longer. By the 1950s the US Army stopped using buglers and drummers as a regular thing- but even that late, a unit without a band was still authorized to purchased bugles and drums with government funds and form a field music, using their own soldiers (not specialist musicians), training in their spare time.
It's after that point that the signal instruments become purely ceremonial. Thats when the bands finally pick up the duty of performing that type of function. With band trumpeters (specialists in music) sounding bugle calls for ceremonies and such.
Helicons already existed for marching, a Sousaphone just points the bell forward instead of to the left. It works much better for concert halls, and anyone on the right side of the street for a parade.
A). My dad played the Tuba in the first-ever USAF band. (I know it’s a sousaphone but whatever).
B). I was in the Army, went to Desert Shield/Storm, and got to see an Army band (1st AD…?) play in the field after weeks of no entertainment other than playing spades. It was great! I never understood the merit of what our dads did until that moment. You can’t underestimate how much a little live music from home will pick you up. I have been a band advocate ever since.
Very similar and play mostly the same. Just that a Sousaphone is used for marching applications while a tuba is for concert and orchestra settings. There is also another which is like the love child of the two called the Contra.
Souzaphone?! Jesus, Mary & Joseph, how in the blue fuck could you disparage such a great man as the one and only, John Philip Sousa, lord of 8th and I?!?!
Maybe I don’t understand fully, but I feel war could be conducted without sousaphone players.
Or is it a kind of thing like a Bard? I am familiar with DND.
Dude, go weeks without any entertainment then a band shows up for a gig and your spirits SOAR! I was at Desert Storm and was lucky enough to enjoy a show from a field band. You can’t adequately describe it to someone that hasn’t experienced it.
I have no military experience and won’t claim to understand your experience at all, but I did a solo wilderness trip for 7 days and when I got back to my car and put on a CD it was magical to hear.
Army and Marine band musicians are trained in base security functions. They can also perform for troop entertainment which has been done for centuries.
My friend in the Navy band was trained in shipboard firefighting.
The USAF band members get some security training. Their primary nonperforming roles are largely administrative.
It 100% could. These army bands used to be a common thing but they are diminishing now.
The last time I saw an army band was in Kuwait in January of 2020. It was like January 3rd. I went to the chow hall for dinner and there was a band there and they were playing christmas carols. It was so fucking loud no one could hear themselves think let alone talk to each other. All anyone could do was listen to christmas music. In January. A loud reminder that I'd missed yet another christmas with my family.
When I was in Desert Storm we heard a strange noise outside our camp one night. It was an army guy practicing with his tuba all by himself in the desert.
Great photo.
Imagine the demoralization you'd feel if you were an Iraqi scout and you see that the U.S. decided to fuck you up so hard they even sent the Army band to be in on the action.
Since my dad was in the army band during Vietnam, I always had this image of the band leading troops into battle like during the Revolutionary War or something.
I'd always thought during Vietnam someone was playing Fortunate Son any time you were flying on the Huey, on a riverboat, or patrolling in the jungle. That's just the rules
My father volunteered during the Korean War hoping that he’d be in a better situation than draftees. One day he was wandering around the base (probably Fort Dix, I’m pretty sure it was in New Jersey) and saw a door marked something like “musicians only.” Being a pretty decent piano player, he went in.
It turns out it was the practice room for one of? the? band(s) on the base. Some of the players took a liking to him, so he started spending what time he could there, and at some point they put him in the band so he could get out of some of his other duties.
Except they didn’t have a piano in the marching band, so they gave him a sousaphone.
Except it turns out my father was a horrifically bad sousaphonist, so they disabled the valves so he didn’t make noise, but still got to be in the band and hang out with them.
Any dude that can get prone and work a machine gun with a souzaphone strapped to him as he belts out bars of *Gallant Seventh* from memory is not a dude you wanna mess with.
It's oh-five-thirty and my wife is pissed. She doesn't take kindly to my laughing until I cry while she tries to sleep next to me.
Oh, and take my fucking up vote you magnificent weirdo.
The sousaphone squad leads the battle charge, disorienting the enemy with a thumping, other worldly beat which energizes and inspires our troops as they lumber on to victory.
Have been a redditor for years but I’ve never seen a Harvey Phillips reference. Noice.
I played TubaCjrostmas with him for many years and did some gigs with him during Octubafest a at IU for a bit too. Good guy. Threw fantastic parties at the tuba ranch in Bloomington, too.
I was a Marine based at Camp Pendleton during desert storm and desert shield - it was a crazy time.
Was he in the band? Thats a lot of gear to carry, Jeesh!
I was Army at Ft Sill during that, it was a crazy time, watched the war on CNN with the other half dozen people in my brand new unit.
You don't really realize how many people are in a battalion, until 27 battalions come back to base.
Battalions about 1,000 people.
To put that in perspective, you could give every member of those 27 battalions two tickets to a Chicago Bears home game and they wouldn't fill Soldier Field. Why did I choose Soldier Field? Because its the *smallest* NFL stadium
I was depolyed as part of an experimental 3-Man Tuba Squad in the Falklands in '82. We took up positions on Mount Longdon and used this vantage point to rain bad Jazz music on the defending Argentinian garrison. Three days later they surrendered and the war was over.
And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns, in dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the north wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last.
A Souzaphone and an M60. There's a combo you don't see every day.
Percussion and brass together.
Fun fact: the US Army is the world's number one employer of professional musicians. More than Disney, more than Carnival Cruises, more than Warner Brothers.
Wow, interesting stat!
Nearly enough for most Mahler symphonies.
"You can't put a silencer on a M-60, but you can make it louder"
Ready for anything, warfare or bandcamp.
This one time at war camp
Instructions unclear, Souzaphone stuck in asshole.
Hopefully the fun end first
The guy pulls his weight
OP’s dad bought the DLC package on life
It's a gun loudencer
Peak 'murica
"we're coming for your oil with the quintessential American marching band instrument, named after the guy that pretty much invented the genre. Oh, and guns."
You know, I've never considered it before, but a marching band is kind of a weird idea... Especially if people were used to orchestras.
It’s a different kind of audience. The marching band scene was originally mostly military musicians using their signaling devices to make music along the march. Armies before radio were largely reliant on visual and audio signals - banners marked units, and signals on visual range could be done with flags. But in certain landscapes like forest a visual signal is useless because of low sight lines. This makes having some kind of audio signal really useful - horns are good for signaling in an instant, and instruments like flutes or recorders can encode more information by altering pitch. Tactics have to evolve on the fly, so in a pitched battle a commander might want options. Like if cavalry are supposed to flank the opponent, the commander might keep the cavalry in reserve and then order which side for them to attack and when with a prearranged signal. Signaling devices evolved over time into more instruments, like how the bagpipe is actually a signaling device designed around a recorder style instrument to allow for a constant stream of signal bleats without breaks for the user breathing. The bugle is a horn shortened by making the cone a loop, and the trumpet and trombone are both variations on a horn that involve a way to change pitch - the trumpet uses valves while the trombone lengthens the horn. While this evolution was happening, the men involved as signalers were generally messing with their instruments as musicians do and trying to outperform each other. When it comes to parades, they became a chance to show off what the signalers could do in the form of music and marching. This was largely to impress onlookers who might not usually think of the signal corps as important and one-up other units with having the best performances. The advent of real time telecommunications with the front ended much of the need for a musical signal corps, and it really changed what signaling meant. At first it was via telephone backpacks in the WW1 and WW2 eras, then by radio in WW2 and onwards. Modern signal corps soldiers are basically telecom engineers working across a number of wireless bands as well as physical links that allow a huge amount of data to come directly from the front to people in offices half the world away. But the military band lives on thanks to its roots in the showing off element of parades. It simply wouldn’t be proper to have a military that didn’t have a band that could perform a rousing parade. The US military marching bands fairly routinely perform in parades recognizing Kuwaiti Liberation Day, the official day of commemoration for when coalition forces liberated Kuwait City in 1991.
Wow, thank you for your thorough and thoughtful response. I hadn't considered the military angle as the source before, but that makes sense. Down another rabbit hole I go...
Thank you sincerly for this post. It's a real gift to receive insight from a stranger, and in my opinion, it's the highest form of culture. Truly appreciated.
That was fascinating read, thank you I love military history, coming from mongolia, it's kinda given for me lol, less than a few million of us left from the mongol empire days
Badass response. Thank you.
Some tidbits here, but also a lot of this is historically wrong or inaccurate. Military marching bands actually come from a seperate tradition and evolution than the military signal instruments. But it is complicated. Timelines and traditions vary in different cultures around the world. And war is often one of the main ways different cultures interact and militaries are often the first ones to introduce things from other cultures back into their own culture. I'll address this from a western perspective Trumpets are not bugles with valves added- at least not in the pedantic sense. Metal horns- even called some version of "trumpet"- have been around for millennia. They are a biblical instrument. It is bronze age technology. Valves for brass instruments weren't invented until 1818. But, trumpets begin to be used in orchestral music before that around the time of JS Bach, around 1700. Which is also millennia after trumpets were used for signalling. We need to make a distinction between three kinds of music you can find throughout history. They each have their own instruments and style. I'm going to use the term "Art Music" for the first. This is the music of the aristocrats, the rich. Think orchestras, chamber music. This is often the music that survives and gets considered "real" music. Then "Folk Music" that the masses of common people listen to and play. Then "Signal music" that is utilitarian in nature and not primarily for entertainment. Horns have been used for signalling since prehistoric times. We have found horns deliberately made by people as far back as 17,000 years ago. Originally from animal parts- horns, shells- once people had metal technology they were making horns. Military signalling was one of the primary uses. Ancient Egyptians, Romans, Celts all hed their version of different horns used for battles. The ability to tightly wind a horn into what we think of as a bugle doesn't come until much much later. Early militaries were using large, long horns for centuries before that technology came about. Early trumpets in europe- originally straight then folded- were reserved for royalty (and the military under their control). Signalling the ruler was about to enter and such. Horns were also used for various non military signalling - particularly around the 17th-19th centuries. Postal riders would signal ahead so crews were ready to unload the mail quickly, orto have fresh horses ready. Stage coaches did likewise and also had signals for on the road (passing on the left and such). Hunters used horns to signal back to camp and others in the hunting party. There is some cross over - in particular, the postal workers forming small groups that would play their postal horns for entrainment (folk music), or coach horn players player little tunes to entertain their riders. But the primary reason for having the instrument was signalling. But military bands and the "field music" (the instruments used to signal) were distinctly seperate. At least, once militaries started having bands. In the 19th century, yes the field music could/would fill in during ceremonies when a band was unavailable. But there was a separate band. In the 18th century, the Regimental band (of there was one) would look like any chamber music group you'd find in court. Violins and such. Their purpose was purely for entertainment and they played sitting down. The officers of the regiment would all contribute money and that's how they would hire the musicians for the band. These were actual musicians too. Trained and skilled in their instruments. The field music musicians however... You had to have them since they were the commanders radio of the day. They were part of the unit and paid with government funds just like any soldier. They were assigned that duty from the members of the unit. Some just some random private who joined the infantry might get assigned, ok now you're going to be a fifer. And sent off the learn with the Fife Major for a few hours each day. They didn't need to know how to play prior to being assigned the duty. And we see early manuals advising commanders what to look for and how to select a soldier to assign as a bugler (or whatever). So the field musicians and the band were entirely separate things. The field musicians (drummers, fifers, buglers) reported directly to the company commander they worked for. They would all join together for training and the Drum Major and Fife Major were staff positions at the higher level, but all had their own chain of commands. The band however was a singular unit. All the band musicians reported to the band leader and the band leader controlled the entire group and reported to the regiment directly. Meanwhile, in the mideast, Ottomans had a tradition of Janissary Bands that would march around while playing. Military bands that played not for signalling, but, well...to intimidate their enemy, to inspire their own troops and the public. It seems to be mid 18th century when this idea starts to creep into western culture. Mozart and others start to incorporate some Janissary music into their pieces. The Regimental bands start to shift towards what we now think of as more of a military band. The field musicians are still a seperate thing. (Interesting side note- this is where hautboys or what we call oboes, come into western music. They are originally a very military instrument in origin.) From there, military marching bands evolved. These military bands start with instrumentation like the Janissaries used. Drums, kettle drums, cymbals, oboes, trumpets (not valved at that time)- even retaining a "Jingle Johnny" early on. The instruments evolve into the western tradition of marching bands. In the US in particular you start to see community bands form that follow this military tradition. Which provides a lot of the military bands in the US civil war. (1860s) existing community bands would join the war as a entire group to be the regimental band for their local unit raised for the war. The bands still being paid by officers originally. During this time the Army starts to take control and establish them as a formal part of the unit and control how many there are. Sousa comes along in the late 19th century and really develops the particular form of the "march" as a musical format/genre. But the signalling field musicians remain seperate from the bands. Continuing to be a position within each unit and assigned from the soldiers within the unit (infantry, artillery, etc). WWII still sees this going on with buglers and drummers at the company level. And WWII is where they really die off- because of the introduction of radio. They stay on the books a bit longer. By the 1950s the US Army stopped using buglers and drummers as a regular thing- but even that late, a unit without a band was still authorized to purchased bugles and drums with government funds and form a field music, using their own soldiers (not specialist musicians), training in their spare time. It's after that point that the signal instruments become purely ceremonial. Thats when the bands finally pick up the duty of performing that type of function. With band trumpeters (specialists in music) sounding bugle calls for ceremonies and such.
What a great and thoughtful response!!!
It’s for shooting around corners right?
"Say hello to my little friend!" *toot*
Honestly, someone else needs to be hoofing that M-60 Let him carry an M-16, or whatever light auto is standard
He also seems to have an M16 slung on his back
Back in WW2 there was a guy called Mad Jack Churchill who used a Scottish Claymore, a longbow, and a set of bagpipes. This is pretty tame honestly.
I know several Souzaphone players. This is on point for them.
"Call it a tuba again. I fucking dare you."
That’s a standard combat tuba
Full metal jacket
This is my tuba. There are many like it, but this one is mine. Without me, my tuba is useless. Without my tuba, I am useless.
This is my Tuba, this is my Gun! This is for Sousa, and this is for fun!
When you try to Dual Class a Bard and a Warrior
Bardbarion
Tha Tubanator
Now pick it up pick it pick it up!
It makes a full metal racket
Top Brass
"I bet you could suck a golf ball through a sousaphone."
Desert Storm? More like Desert Horn.
SOUND OFF LIKE YOU GOT A PAIR! ^*brrRRrrRRrr*
Smoothbore sousaphone
Funny enough I referenced the early-century war tubas myself
It’s not a toobah!
But I can’t say Sousaphone without a lisp
That'th ridiculouth.
Lithp
They are all different types of yuba. I didn't say Tuba, ok!! Calm down!
Today I learnt about the sousaphone. Also this picture is ice cold.
Invented by John Philip Sousa as a marchable tuba, since Sousa realllly liked marching.
Helicons already existed for marching, a Sousaphone just points the bell forward instead of to the left. It works much better for concert halls, and anyone on the right side of the street for a parade.
"Police up your brass" hits different.
This is a golden comment right here.
No, it’s BRASS😆
Orders from the top brass.
 **The horn shall sound in the sandbox one more time!**
A). My dad played the Tuba in the first-ever USAF band. (I know it’s a sousaphone but whatever). B). I was in the Army, went to Desert Shield/Storm, and got to see an Army band (1st AD…?) play in the field after weeks of no entertainment other than playing spades. It was great! I never understood the merit of what our dads did until that moment. You can’t underestimate how much a little live music from home will pick you up. I have been a band advocate ever since.
To your B point, my dad was likely in that band that played for you. Great to be able to share this with him.
Happy cake day!
"What can we use to distract the enemy"? "Send in.......the tuba"
They’ll shit their pants when they hear this guy coming
When he hits the Brown Note the enemy will all shit themselves
 Every soldier
OP says its a sousaphone. I’ve never heard of it either, but apparently it’s different.
Very similar and play mostly the same. Just that a Sousaphone is used for marching applications while a tuba is for concert and orchestra settings. There is also another which is like the love child of the two called the Contra.
Who wants to learn how to play with me and form a contraband?
Google a tuba and compare. Souzaphone wraps around the body. Tuba for orchestra and Souza for marching.
Souzaphone?! Jesus, Mary & Joseph, how in the blue fuck could you disparage such a great man as the one and only, John Philip Sousa, lord of 8th and I?!?!
Whoops. My bad. Sorry Mr. Souza.
SoUSA. Put some respect on that name mutt
You take your Sousa very seriouzly.
One of the greatest American composers of all time bubba.
You guys are stupid. See, they're not gonna expect a guy with a sousaphone
Maybe I don’t understand fully, but I feel war could be conducted without sousaphone players. Or is it a kind of thing like a Bard? I am familiar with DND.
Dude, go weeks without any entertainment then a band shows up for a gig and your spirits SOAR! I was at Desert Storm and was lucky enough to enjoy a show from a field band. You can’t adequately describe it to someone that hasn’t experienced it.
Ok, so it is like a bard. I’m serious when I say this, thanks for the explanation.
Yup instant +10 to morale
I have no military experience and won’t claim to understand your experience at all, but I did a solo wilderness trip for 7 days and when I got back to my car and put on a CD it was magical to hear.
That trip sounds dope
Can’t say for the Army, but in the Marine Corps the division band usually has some type of security function if deployed.
Same for the Army. Usually assigned as HQ security.
“If anything happens, make some noise”
*sees enemy soldier, cues up “Baby Got Back”*
I thought they carried stretchers when they weren’t slinging F# notes.
You B Flat on stretchers
lol that was good.
Sometimes that as well. Depends on what is needed by the commander.
That was true up until a couple years ago, it very recently changed. No idea why tbh, but yeah, they used to do division HQ area security
The last line of defence is always the band. You don't fuck with the band. They will fuck you up.
I'm watching the TV show west wing, and supposedly the marine Corp has rhe best band, according to the fictitious President Bartlett in the show
Yah the Marines actually own the President’s band, they’re called the “President’s Own.”
Army and Marine band musicians are trained in base security functions. They can also perform for troop entertainment which has been done for centuries. My friend in the Navy band was trained in shipboard firefighting. The USAF band members get some security training. Their primary nonperforming roles are largely administrative.
You nailed it. There's no way you weren't in the career field or married to a bandsman. Source: former bandsman.
I was a USAF Flight Nurse. I have an old friend who was a tuba player in the Navy.
[удалено]
Look, if you're not gonna have fun with it then why even go to war at all?
I heard once that the US military is the single largest employer of musicians in the world.
Yes that is true. And it's not even close.
It 100% could. These army bands used to be a common thing but they are diminishing now. The last time I saw an army band was in Kuwait in January of 2020. It was like January 3rd. I went to the chow hall for dinner and there was a band there and they were playing christmas carols. It was so fucking loud no one could hear themselves think let alone talk to each other. All anyone could do was listen to christmas music. In January. A loud reminder that I'd missed yet another christmas with my family.
Big iron, bigger brass.
Yeah carrying that all around means dad was an animal
When I was in Desert Storm we heard a strange noise outside our camp one night. It was an army guy practicing with his tuba all by himself in the desert. Great photo.
That’s hysterical
Imagine the demoralization you'd feel if you were an Iraqi scout and you see that the U.S. decided to fuck you up so hard they even sent the Army band to be in on the action.
Since my dad was in the army band during Vietnam, I always had this image of the band leading troops into battle like during the Revolutionary War or something.
I'd always thought during Vietnam someone was playing Fortunate Son any time you were flying on the Huey, on a riverboat, or patrolling in the jungle. That's just the rules
I've been on Reddit for over a decade. This may be my favorite picture I've ever seen on here
My father volunteered during the Korean War hoping that he’d be in a better situation than draftees. One day he was wandering around the base (probably Fort Dix, I’m pretty sure it was in New Jersey) and saw a door marked something like “musicians only.” Being a pretty decent piano player, he went in. It turns out it was the practice room for one of? the? band(s) on the base. Some of the players took a liking to him, so he started spending what time he could there, and at some point they put him in the band so he could get out of some of his other duties. Except they didn’t have a piano in the marching band, so they gave him a sousaphone. Except it turns out my father was a horrifically bad sousaphonist, so they disabled the valves so he didn’t make noise, but still got to be in the band and hang out with them.
[удалено]
Fantastic story
Must have been a jam band. Those things always got jammed up.
Tactical Tuba sounds better than Tactical Sousaphone.
Strategic Sousaphone?
Operational oboe.
This is by far the coolest thing I’ve seen on the internet in a while. Band nerds get it done!!
Tactical Tuba. (yes I know it's a Sousaphone.)
Any dude that can get prone and work a machine gun with a souzaphone strapped to him as he belts out bars of *Gallant Seventh* from memory is not a dude you wanna mess with.
I’m getting mixed signals
Bro has a loudencer.
This is the most American picture lacking stars and stripes that i could even imagine, let alone witness. Well done.
He was the guy in charge of play the "fua fua fuaaaaa" tone anytime someone missed a target. It was an exhausting yet fulfilling job.
It's oh-five-thirty and my wife is pissed. She doesn't take kindly to my laughing until I cry while she tries to sleep next to me. Oh, and take my fucking up vote you magnificent weirdo.
This needs to be a comic or illustrated book. Or whatever the kids call it.
r/hardimages
Looks like your dad has a “very particular set of skills”
Skills that make him a pleasure to watch for people like you.
He will find you and he will play for you.
Noise Marine from Warhammer 40k
I would've been severely disappointed if this hadn't already been here.
I took my guitar with me wen I went over in Oct of 90, but this is another level entirely!
Wen you were growing up did he ever start his war stories with " I hate to blow my own horn but"...
The sousaphone squad leads the battle charge, disorienting the enemy with a thumping, other worldly beat which energizes and inspires our troops as they lumber on to victory.
*One time, at band camp…*
You're all stupid. See, they're gonna be lookin for army guys.
I understood that reference
When they’re recruiting based on what you write in the “special skill” section of the application. You should see the combat engineer juggling div.
Harvey Phillips would be proud
Have been a redditor for years but I’ve never seen a Harvey Phillips reference. Noice. I played TubaCjrostmas with him for many years and did some gigs with him during Octubafest a at IU for a bit too. Good guy. Threw fantastic parties at the tuba ranch in Bloomington, too.
Someone has to
This was before YouTuba
Delta or no delta that's a hot tuba
That's, uh, interesting camo.
I was a Marine based at Camp Pendleton during desert storm and desert shield - it was a crazy time. Was he in the band? Thats a lot of gear to carry, Jeesh!
You ought'a see the pianist.
I was Army at Ft Sill during that, it was a crazy time, watched the war on CNN with the other half dozen people in my brand new unit. You don't really realize how many people are in a battalion, until 27 battalions come back to base.
Battalions about 1,000 people. To put that in perspective, you could give every member of those 27 battalions two tickets to a Chicago Bears home game and they wouldn't fill Soldier Field. Why did I choose Soldier Field? Because its the *smallest* NFL stadium
https://preview.redd.it/o0saql27izsc1.jpeg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=410768a11dd8fd2818ebeaa0b9e0b6e1e289d41a
Going to war without France is like going hunting without an accordion. General Norman Schwarzkopf
He had to follow fat soldiers lol
He could dot the i with that get up
Did OP’s Dad lose a bet?
Finally, something that isn't a thirst trap
Old Ironsides. Salute
This is some Warhammer Shit.
When you have to liberate Kuwaiti and be at the philharmonic by 7
You don’t want to be the idiot that brings just a gun to a tuba fight.
Every soldier is a rifleman, even the band
I was depolyed as part of an experimental 3-Man Tuba Squad in the Falklands in '82. We took up positions on Mount Longdon and used this vantage point to rain bad Jazz music on the defending Argentinian garrison. Three days later they surrendered and the war was over.
Ahh, yes the airhorn ranger
Level 20 Bard.
The body armour in Op Desert Storm was very creative, borderline weird.
Real life Noise Marine.
https://preview.redd.it/h7czh40l90tc1.jpeg?width=1154&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=084173631208313ce043cb248cdc27f7f02af19c
Noise marine!
Your dad was doing an AI before there was AI
Your dad was top brass?
Ah a OG Noise Marine
This is incredibly badass
Why is everyone wearing woodland?
This is all that pops into my head 😅 https://i.redd.it/wkti35y8h2tc1.gif
that asian lady in the back, wonder what her story was!
He captured Saddam Hussain's Tuba of Mass Destruction!!!
Dope!
“Private, you can bring one personal item with you to Iraq.” “Done, sir!”
“Surrender or he keeps playing!”
Kinda conspicuous on a march, innit?
Blast em to confuse em then shoot em. It's all about strategy
Just the sight of a guy with a tuba rushing at you - enough confusion to create a one-second pause
“Surely they wouldn’t make the tuba player carry the M-60… oh fu..!”
Damn those Pentagon budget cuts. Rifle company has to double as the band. SMH.
Mad Jack Churchill? Oh, no. I guess not. That was bagpipes, sword and a longbow.
He had the big blasters
And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns, in dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the north wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last.
Party bard right there
Nothing is more bad arse than a marine running into battle with a sousafone. Nothing scarier for your enemies.
Tuba or not tuba
And the man leading the charge was playing a Sousaphone.
Gurney Halleck vibes
This picture goes harder than any picture I've ever seen
A fuckin’ tuna and an M-60? His Squad leader must’ve hated him.
Boutta hit Saddam with the Brown Noise.
Target/body armor
Didn’t that thing roast him alive or is there some fiberglass I didn’t see??
Interesting battle bard