The American Section

Been out of town for about a week and a half -- apologies to my daily readers!

As I start to get back into the swing of things here in Saints Scribblings, I thought I'd share something I posted earlier today out on Drum Corps Planet ... it's written with love for all of us who spent any time at all in the American Section, as well as for those who came to rehearsals to make sure that the drills written by Uncle Ralph, Tony, and Rosie were up to code ...

All for now -- corpsdially yours from jo!

-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-<->-

Question posted by Chris: I know that a presentation of the national colors was mandatory once upon a time and corps would use other flags too (Their sponsors, their state, ect.); but what did they do with the flags after the shows got into full swing? Was there somewhere for the honor guard to set them down or did they just continue to march around with them somewhere off the field?

The answer to this isn't as simple as it sounds, because the rules changed a few times over the years ... as did the organizations that enforced the rules (local circuits vs AL vs VFW vs DCI vs DCA vs RCA ad infinitum).

My simplified (believe it or not), hybrid explanation:

For most of my experience (late 60s to 1976), the Colors Section required at least 2 members comprised of the National Flag and someone carrying a weapon (rifle, sabre, pistol). Under some rules, a Sponsor Flag (AL, VFW) was also required. This sometimes required an additional weapon, but mostly not. The Flags were never abandoned -- translation: they were carried in a sling or posted with the bearer directly behind.

In a lateral line, the National Flag was always to the right of all other flags (measured by the direction of its bearer), and the weapon had to be within a certain distance at all times (I believe it was 4 feet front-back-side, and never separated unless by another weapon, but don't have quick access to any rule books right now). In addition to the lateral line rule, there was also a forward-back rule, which meant the National Flag always had to be in front of (or in an equal line to) all other flags, measured laterally.

Finally, the National Flag could be no lower than any other flag on the field at any time, and could be of equal height. This measurement changed from "when in use," (meaning that the tallest member of the guard had to bear the flag or use a taller pole within spec size) to "when measured at posting," which opened up the world of flag work to tossing, arm extentions, etc.

Keeping all this in mind, the Colors Section could only remain stationary for certain amounts of time, and marking time was usually a requirement of that. This meant that the Colors Section had to stay within the boundaries of the fields or floor and move from corner to corner (or wherever) without violation of the side-to-side and front-to-back lateral lines by members of the Flag Line marching and turning directions all over the place. The "safest" positions were facing diagonally into a corner (no flags could get in front or to the right) or facing forward along the sideline in a position furthest right along the boundary (no flag could get to the right). Changing directions when a Sponsor Flag was in presence was a bit tricky, and usually required column or pivot moves.

Every time we designed a new drill (corps or winter / summer guard), we would have a couple of the Timing and Penalties Judges from the local circuits come in to look over everything strictly from a T&P perspective.

I feel like I just channeled my dear and great friends Walter Kelly and John Collum in spelling all this out ... thanks for helping me relive this memory!