Howdy Y'all!

I was looking at some photos of Old Army Bonfire and I noticed that there were quite a few more Redpots back then that we have now.

Does anyone know what all of the old ones were?

The ones we have now are Stack, Civilian, Corps, and Truck, if I remember correctly.

In the early 1990s, I remember the various Redpots as

Head Stack / HMFIC
Head Civilian
Redpot in charge of Load
Redpot in charge of Unload
2 other Redpots in CT woods
2 other Redpots in Non-Reg woods

and ShockPot

Thank you for the info!

Then the climber lines were consolidated into one redpot line in the early/mid 90s.

In old(er) army days it went like this...Head Yell Leader was head stack. The other four yell leaders (2 seniors and 2 juniors) ran the cutting sites. Redpots were only involved in the activities at the stack. There were three stack outfits, A2 (became L2), C2, and F2. Redpots came out of those outfits each year because that is all they did from fish year on. There was a floating pot that came from any outfit, and a non-reg pot. Total of 6 redpots and nobody else counted for much as far as managing the stack. The BQ's provided climbers on demnd when needed. The band also unloaded just about every log that came to the stack, trimmed them and organized them by size and needs.

In '74 the Head Yell Leader was the last to be Head Stack by rights and it ended up being a floating pot...not associated with a specific outfit or job title. In '75 the rest of the yell leaders were replaced from leadership positions at the cutting area. There were starting to be too many women on campus and yell leaders ended up being too socially active to have time to commit to the cutting area.

Thanks, Red. I've wondered about the specific dates all the changes took place.

I am sure today's bonfire is much different, but back then the senior redpots lit the fire from the bottom and the yell leaders tossed their torches up high for the crowd effect after leading the band around the stack once. We pumped about 1100 gallons (if my memory is right) of contaminated JP4 on the stack and had the fire depatment build an earthen berm around the stack that held gasoline for the real ignitor. I'd be interested in knowing how its done today.

If memory serves me right, in 2006 we stuffed stack full of dried pine slats for kindling to create a quick bed of coals, then pumped around 500 gallons of diesel to the top as the main starter fuel. Used sheets soaked in kerosene as the primary ignitor.

Reds, JRPs, and Browns walk around Stack, Reds light it via the sheets Rebel mentioned, Reds and JRPs then throw torches up high. There's a little berm around the bottom still to contain the fuel, which I wanna say was 800 gallons of diesel this year, double from the previous year.

There were 9 reds in 1995/1996:

Head Stack / HMFIC - would float between all woods during cut

Head Civilian - focused on tractor paths at cut

Civilian Woods - handed out woods on the morning of cut

CT Woods - Decendant of the Yell Boy pots as even the Jr pot was painted nice.

Shock Pot - electrical work at field and assisted climber with crossties and other "climber" duties

Climber Red - Combo of the climber lines. Hence the reason the Shock Pot's assistance was needed.

Load Red - In charge of the load site.

Unload Reds (2) - the "Rough Rider" and B2? lines




[This message has been edited by 3B Paul 97 (edited 2/15/2011 5:16p).]

I am looking for some red pots, any class year, preferably head stacks or head yell leaders who have an interest in sharing some of their experience with the Dallas A&M Club. We host a weekly lunch and are planning a special day dedicated to bonfire. I am putting together a panel of red pots from various eras, in order to get a good variety of perspective and stories. Please reply back if you are willing to help.

Late 80s and early 90s we had 8 pots (pretty sad, but I forget all the exact titles).

Head Stack
Head Civilian
Load
Unload (2)
Shock
Cut (2 - Corps/Non-Reg)

All pots (excluding load and unload) were responsible for specific sections of woods at cut. For example, as the Shock Pot, I had Regiment woods, or Southside dorms if it were a non-reg only cut).

Each pot (head gear, not person) had its own, unique characteristics; and each line had unique traditions.