TubeNet

On the LA times webpage, there's an article called "Call-Up Prompts Sour Note," and it says that a former army euphonium player has been called up to fight. Does anyone know who it was?

Who knows. Someone who had not completed his or her 8-year contract and who was in the "Control Group" of the Army's Individual Ready Reserve (IRR).

The text below is excerpted from the article, so as not to raise the spectre of copyright violation.
Los Angeles Times, July 8, 2004, Call-Up Prompts Sour Note
* * *
[Rep.] Snyder [D. Ark], a former Marine, noted that the Army's list included two trumpeters, one trombonist, four clarinetists, three saxophone players, an electric bass player and a euphonium player.

"Is there not a way to do without the euphonium player?" Snyder asked Gen. Richard A. Cody, the Army's vice chief of staff. "Do we need to really draft an electric bass player, to pull them back in? Is there not a way that we can't let that kind of thing slide?"

After a laugh in the hearing room, Cody answered with a straight face that the bands have been busy, tending to services and funerals. These days, Cody said, "our bands are being stressed quite a bit."

"Is there not a way that we can't let that kind of thing slide?"

No, the euphonium player cannot slide, they leave that job to the trombonist!

I was just watching The Daily Show, the very liberally biased but extremely funny news show on Comedy Central, and they mentioned this story in the "Headlines" section! It was pretty cool to see on TV what I had just read on Tube-Net. This is more proof that for news relating to tubas, you hear it first from Tube-Net!

My questions is why are they bringing in the musicians again -- more specifically, are they being "drafted" to do combat or some other non-musical duty?

If that's the case, I suppose what matters now is how well they had kept up their combat skills.

If they're coming back to fill musical duties, then that representative needs to keep his mouth shut.