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I heard a very credible rumor that the Army is reorganizing-again.

Specifically: Two of the three MACOM (Major Command) Bands (Ft. Monroe, Ft. MacPherson, and Heidelberg, Germany) are on the chopping block. I also heard that the Fort Lewis band is facing the cut too.

Has anyone else heard such rumblings?

Hey,
Well the army is planning on reorganizing, and every time they do they put Ft. McPherson (MACOM band, Army Ground Forces Band), Ft. Monroe etc.... all wind up on the chopping block because they are genrally small posts that do not have lots of units on them. So the Army wnts to look leaner and meaner. BUT Ft. McPherson is run by a 4 star general and having just left there, the generals will NEVER give up their band (and somtimes unfortunately for us they think that we are thiers and not actually a unit will scheduals and commitments, but whatever).
There is always talk of the bands changing and in many ways I wish they would, but I don't see any big changes on the horizon. What will most likely happen is that they will change the names for the jobs that we do, but our jobs will remain the same. What also might change is that they are talking about keeping people at duty stations longer (when I left Ft. Mac the average stay was 18 months even for first term soldiers, which is not very conducive to a cohesive ensemble)
They are also talking about shutting down some bands and giving bands a bigger area to cover, which would be good, but would means longer drives to concerts (for us). That would mean that the band would also have less time to do "Army stuff" (ie. training about wartime missions, M16 stuff and whatnot, which would also be a welcome change, it would be nice to be a musician and actually be able to focus on music for the whole day of work).
Thanks,
Bill Pritchard
8th Army Band Seoul, Korea
344 days and counting

hard to get the bad guys with a tuba I guess. . .

With all of the money our governments waste it's sickening that the bands are on the chopping block.

Yeah, I too wonder why bands are always on the chopping block and I'm all for being effecient with taxpayer money. But instead of cutting bands, I think the gub-mit should cut back on the amount of per diem rates while you are also getting your base pay, housing allowance, subsistence allowance, and clothing allowance (per year). And for some: jump pay, hazard duty pay, separation pay, and etc. Allowance for this, and allowance for that. Did you ever really try to figure out where the fat is in the gub-mit budget?


FLAME SUIT IS ON!! FLAME AWAY. Sticks and Stones, blah blah blah.[/i]

ahhh yes..nothing like the dreaded brown noise.

KevinYoung wrote:Yeah, I too wonder why bands are always on the chopping block and I'm all for being effecient with taxpayer money. But instead of cutting bands, I think the gub-mit should cut back on the amount of per diem rates while you are also getting your base pay, housing allowance, subsistence allowance, and clothing allowance (per year). And for some: jump pay, hazard duty pay, separation pay, and etc. Allowance for this, and allowance for that. Did you ever really try to figure out where the fat is in the gub-mit budget?


FLAME SUIT IS ON!! FLAME AWAY. Sticks and Stones, blah blah blah.[/i]

Just cut back the per diem? Ok, the per diem isn't that great.

So, I suppose you are saying that US soldiers are, one way or another, overpaid? Are there too many soldiers, or are they all just paid too much? Step aside from the sarcasm a bit and let us know what you really think.

My reply was about Army Bands, not the general US Soldier population... If you really want to know my opinion on The Army Band Program - excluding the DC bands, drop me a PM...(in my profile)

K.Y.