Geeks, Bullies, and Global Dictators

Well said Joe! I got cornered in Memorial Hall by a certain Anal-American bully and was asked if I beat or blew.I told hime that neither was the case as I played banjo and plucked.PLUCK YOU! The jerk went ballistic and started roughing me up and threartened to stick me for Gross obscenity or some such silly thing.It wasn't pleasant but it was worth it.To my deep regret he never turned in a report.Would have really enjoyed him trying to explain things to Major Whitcombe.Band had a lot of good guys (and a few idiots) just like the rest of the companies.
Truth to tell those Band uniforms are pretty garish and none seems to fit very well.Perhaps a rethink is in order.At The Citadel I wore a kilt and nobody ever made comments about them-it wouldn't have been healthy.I spent a lot of time with the Latino gang helping with their English which resulted in my acquiring a staggering knowledge of Spanish obscenities and insults and a taste for Cuban Partagas cigarillos.OK I admit that they stank but I liked them.Used to drive my roomie nuts.
Dick '56

Sam, I remember none of that...The only fight I remember was when Sumner came at me in 86-87 after many months of hazing and I had to put him down. As far as football went, I spent all my time in the training room trying to get in shape.

Hey McCord, as far as Ayling goes, he actually ended up teaching me much. Btw, last I talked to him he was out of the Navy, married and an EMT down in NC somewhere.

As harsh as I can be sometimes toward the PG program---They were ADULTS and they knew how to act. I never saw a PG bully anyone or feel the need to make life a living hell for someone just because they were outside of whatever coolness standard FUMA had set.

That may be a testament also to the kind of guys coach Shuman and Arritt look to bring on board. The old cliche is true--if you have a strong sense of self-worth you don't need to pick on others. I didn't have that all the time at FUMA--sorry to say.

Heck the PG's probably thought we were ALL geeks! :P

I am awake....

I wanted to stay in Band Co. my senior (never really had a problem with the beaters/blowers things, not to mention the trips off campus were nice). I went to Maj. Lazizza at the end of my Junior year and asked him if he'd would give me the Company Commander position, but he shot me down faster than Will Anderson could play "Flight of the Bumble Bee" (God, I hated that song). So I defected to Battalion Staff. It was a good position, but I missed the fun and people in Band Co. That's why, when I had the chance, I moved into the Band Co. Tac. Officers "Apt."

John McCord, I remember you pretty well and I thought you cool because you had the backbone to march to your own beat and not let others dismiss you.

I am going back to sleep....

Charles Schaeffer. Third Bravo. Wierd melanoma looking discoloration on his nose. His roomies would put him in a laundry bag for fun. He was a supply corporal and made the huge mistake of hitting me in the back of the head with a full laundry bag once. I remember the blow and coming to with John Tulloss draging me out of Shaeffer's room, me in a full nelson. John, Jerry Fredericks, and Stanley Forbes all claimed I threw the kid across the room, one handed. Being that my maximum bench press then was around 135, I have my doubts, but that was THEIR story. I'm just passing it along. :roll:

I diasagree, Jesse. I was in one actual fight at FUMA. Scott Judd and I got into it over me throwing his hat out of Todd Jones window on the B company annex in 1986. Real fist throwing, kicking, choking and biting. MIke Fuller, Todd Jones, their roomie (Pullman?) were in the room with about ten guys watching from the hallway. I lost. Walked out on the fire escape, made some dumbass remark about John Belushi (I remember saying something to him, but can't remember what, went and showered with my clothes on for effect and went on with life. That fight came back to haunt me the next year's Jr Prep football tryouts when Judd bullied me the entire time.

I also witnessed one case of being called a beater and a blower. Rick Brittain (the guy cornholed by Broga's lightning fast broom handle) told Mark Bowman to call me that. I was friends with Mark, but this caught me on a bad day. I went to James Poole (Band's 1st sargeant)who went over to 3rd platoon Alpha and scared the crap out of Bowman. Rightly so, Bowman was stand-offish to me for about a month.

Of course, only two incidents out of four years. After I moved out of Band I never heard those terms again.

We had 'beat on Vakos day' (a creation of Gollihew and Woodrum) in 1987 one morning while buffing the section. No bruises, no cuts, no fists, just lots of humiliation. Bryan laughed at all of us. Bryan is still one of my closest friends.

Did a lot 'pro-wrestling'. Max Hardy threatened to piledrive me on the tile floor (I was being held upside down while he did. Mike witnessed this as well.). Lonnie Foltz and I got into a wrestling match once and he did some amazing thing where he kicked off the wall and we (me holding him in a full-nelson) went flying into the desks. And Rob Hill used to love to torture me by trying any submission hold he saw on WWF on me (they are all real and all hurt).

Of course, there was the shower incident, mentioned and argued in another thread. But, that was not a truly violent situation; more mischevious.

I suppose maybe Jesse is right. For years I lived under the belief that FUMA was a place of bullies. After reviewal, I'd have to say I was wrong.

Times do change... no one ever called the Band guys beaters and blowers; it was more that Wickham wanted to rant about something.

And in our day, no one got anything beaten out of them. I don't recall a single true fight - lots of pushy-pushy stuff, but not one beating, not one fight. And I think plenty of people here can attest to the fact that if any cadet was at the top of the list for said beating, that cadet would have been Waters JB -- 9273.

So as for regret, or quesionable memories, I think I'd rather regret a few cut downs than actually kicking the sh*t out of someone for same offense. But then again -- times change.

If he could 've, I bet Shuman would've mopped the floor with my skinny butt. But that's what happens whan you stink at billiards.

;)

J

Jess

What is all this crap about Geeks??? Particularly in the Band. I was in the Band my first 3 yrs at FUMA with a great bunch of guys before going on the Battalion Staff my last year. Never had special uniforms like they do nowadays. All Companies looked the same except for our instruments. Wasn't as large a Band as you have now but played better and marched better. No one called us "beaters or blowers" or they would have had the s---t beat out of them. Cadets in other Companies were jealous because we got to go on weekend trips with the football team. Not every time but quite a few. I think we had more respect for each other. Most of the better students I knew (Geeks to you) were always willing to help anyone who needed a little help with their studies. Didn't have computers, etc., but earned the grades the hard way. Always figured I should be nice to those guys as I might have to ask them for a job one day. We also had an "F" Company back then. Eighth graders who were not quite grown up enough for Upper School but to old for Junior School. As NCO's and Officers we tried to look out for those kids because it was hard for them making that transition. Always practice the Golden Rule and you won't have to have questionable memories in later years. With best
regards, Joe K '55

Bill Gates was a geek ......

Broga--you and Heueisen were ten pounds of hipness in a five pound bag---you had a BAND! Don't try and act like you have anythin to say on geekdom!

John: We were in band company. Of COURSE we were geeks...of course we didn't fit in. Taxi managed to transcend the band curse, Eugene Vango (yes a guy named Eugene was actually cool enough that he could be in BAND and still have credibility)...a couple of other guys managed to pull it off---all athletes---but the deck was stacked against us. My first night at FUMA (Jesse and Sam you may remember this) Captain Wickham went on a 20 minute tirade about how we should NOT accept being called "beaters and blowers." Lucky for Jesse and Sam--they could rest easy that they were just placed in band by accident...I had to go to sleep on my first night of school with a sober realization that the rest of the corps thought we were geeks!

For me it never ended...I was a geek for four years but once I embraced my goofiness I managed to really enjoy the place. Make no mistake though--FUMA is a challenging social environment. I didn't know you very well John M--but what you are saying about "power" in terms of your seeming infatuation with all things German makes sense. I cetrtainly don't remember anybody messing with you. That's something right? There were a couple of guys that were BRUTALLY tortured nonstop from reveille until Taps. To this day I wonder how they endured it. None of them have found their way to this board--I wonder how nostalgic they get about their time at FUMA? So John--you had a solid group of friends...you weren't picked on...you lived with TAXI for a while...Doesn't sound like a bad deal to me!

Jesse--Steve Sumner's geekiness is open for debate but I don't remember any real desire the guy had to become a ninja! I liked Steve a lot--I hope he finds his way to this forum some day.

Ayling did scare the crap out of me.

Wasn't this thread about Garrett Robinson? (another great guy--never heard a bad thing said about him!)

Sorry, Sam -- those circle of friends WAS geeky. Vakos designed imaginary worlds where the four of you psent most of your time; Steve Sumner pretended he was a ninja, for flip's sake. Ayling and Mcord, the John's , were both German history/warfare freaks. But there's nothing wrong with that, is what may be interesting....

J

John--

What a genuine, honest post! As I recall, yes, you did have a hard time fitting in, but like many of us, you found your niche, and made strong friendships that seem to have lasted, well... almost 20 years. That, to me, is pretty special. Zelinsky lives down here in Wilm., and while we don't see each other THAT often, I don;'t think either of us ever have lost the thread that FUMA brough us together as geeky 14 year-olds, and that we have a bond that goes beyond the avg. friendship.
AS for fitting in - hey -- I NEVER had that problem!!

Nose and all,

Jess