I heard that the Fish Drill Team has been disbanded. Does anyone know if this is true?

Nothing to report... yet. Team has not yet formed or practiced because of major discipline problems involving some of the (now former) advisors. Season is up in the air at this point.

I find it very disheartening that discipline problems were so severe that they could not be managed in some way that did not destroy the continuity of a unit that was an integral part of tradition and the spirit of the Corps.

91, the problems were of such a nature that the offenses got elevated above the Corps level... once those types of problems get to the university level the Trigon is no longer in total control of the process.

It would certainly help if the advisors would not do totally stupid things to each other, and to others. The sh*t that we got away with 15-20 years ago in the Corps simply will not fly today. Lament the passing of some "old army" traditions if you want, but we live in a different time now... just like my days were different than the 1950's.

Shocking!.......Not.







We keep you alive to serve this ship. Row well, and live!

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It would certainly help if the advisors would not do totally stupid things to each other, and to others.

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This times eleventy billion!

From my understanding, what led to FDT disbandment was a shift in mentality from becoming perfect at drill to being hard and being good at PT no matter what. And I think the current advisors are starting to think along those lines as well. Producing the best drilled/disciplined fish is losing priority over producing hard fish.

And there's no reason why one can't be good at drill and hard, and in fact they should go together. But you don't need to do stupid things to prove how hard you are.

There is still a possibility of FDT starting up this year but I was told that team would most definitely not be going to Tulane to compete

If the advisors are focused on teaching instead of trying to make themselves look hard in front of the fish, they can produce a national champion quality team in 2 months. The fish will have to put in some extra time to practice on their own, and study for practice, but it will be possible. Our drill really isn't that hard to learn when you know how to break it down and compartmentalize it in your head.

I thought they were disbanded back in the late '90s for hazing incidents; didn't realize they'd gotten a reprieve.

I really dislike 'code words'. No disrespect to the last poster.
"Hard"? No. Hazing? No. Pysical Hazing. No. Touching a cadet? No.
Beating an underclassman with closed fists? YES!
When the punishment fits the crime, THEN and ONLY then will the behavior end.
FTD advisor/Cadets should have been prosocuted in the 90's when it was disbanded the first time.
When you ask FTD members from the yr they were disbanded, you hear 'code words'. Maybe when individuals "man up" and take responsibility and ownership of the actual behavior thing will stop.
THe same attitude exists in the cadets who were in Sq 1 the last couple of yrs before disbandment(2 yrs after FDT bisbandment). Always some little 'crap out' at midnight that ended it. Or 'the trigon was after them'. CRAP. They were beating underclassmen. 13 yrs later they still wont own up to the completely unacceptable behavior.

[This message has been edited by mcrews (edited 10/27/2011 12:49p).]

I'm sorry to hear this has happened again. I was just talking to my daughter last night about going over to campus to watch the FDT practice. While her flag and rifle squad in high school is nothing like the performance you see from the FDT, I think it would be good for her and her teammates to see the level of discipline within the FDT.

mcrews, with all respect, most of us on this board do not know the specifics of what caused the current FDT status.

I definitely do not know. Nor do I think what was happening 13 years ago in SQ 1 bears any influence on what the FDT advisors were doing this semester.

IMO it does a disservice to the cadets and leadership of today to blame "culture/history/tradition" for the problems that exist.

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Has the FDT been disbanded?

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AGAIN??!!

It got disbanded after my freshman year.

I did hear that one of the advisers tried to light a fish on fire. This is after the story had time to filter throughout the Corps, mind you, so he may have just made a comment about how hot it was that day in a gruff tone, but that's how the best rumors get started, so I'm sticking with it.

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For The Good Times
First of the Finest, Finest of the First

it involves a pissed off ex-gf.

This is why girlfriends should know very little, if anything, about the corps...And mommas too

[This message has been edited by SpiDer2008 (edited 10/27/2011 3:53p).]

I agree^. I never told my mom anything except doing a "few" pushups. I think she knew it was more than that.

HBCanine08 and Spider08: I hope for both your sakes that the women in your lives do not give you the trouble you deserve from the karma you must have built with those attitudes.

forget it.

[This message has been edited by HBCanine08 (edited 10/27/2011 5:18p).]

HBCanine you're so new army its laughable. I'm sure if you told your mother you did pushups, situps, bear crawls, and wall sits her reaction would be "so..."

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her reaction would be "so..."

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sure.

[This message has been edited by HBCanine08 (edited 10/27/2011 5:18p).]

My mom was the wife of a cadet, the mother of two and the grandmother of two more.

I don't think anything you told her would surprise her.

You need to give your moms a little credit. They raised you to be a man. Not all mamas are helicopter mamas. If they are you wouldn't have made it 4 years in the Corps.

As the mom of a dead zip and one hoping to be one in the class of 19 - I am more likely to tell you to suck it up.

If you don't give a girl a chance to understand then you deserve the BSC ones you get.

If FDT advisors only aspired to train the fish to be as good as FDT back in the day they would do all right.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gm1E60fmBs

I don't think drill that good exists anywhere in the world today nor has it since before I went to A&M, not even at 8th & I.

amazing footage.
My older brother was on the 1972 team that won the 5th national title.

Is it my imagination or did the throw a weapon over 3 cadets and pass sideways???

mcrews;
I'd have to see the film, but we threw weapons to the man to our right on the same file. The far right hand man did a cross ranks throw to the man in the far left. Is that it?

I talked to a couple of fish who were on the 90's team and asked why it was disbanded: very eye opening! That nonsence would never have happened when I was on the team (class of '75).

BTW, I was on the 5th straight nat. champ. I wonder if I remember your bro.

"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man," Psalm 118:8.

[This message has been edited by NJ75AGfdt (edited 10/28/2011 2:40a).]

Once you disband like the 90's, you lose the expertise and nuances of drill. Take the ripple: I visited a number of years ago and the ripple was moving too slowly...because the team was doing it wrong. Once I told the advisors the "secret", they instituted it and the ripple sped up to the speed I remember.


"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man," Psalm 118:8.

I may have miss spoken.
Tim Crews was class of 72. so he arrived in fall of 68.

That footage was incredible.

HBCanine08, I think the verdict is in.

NJ75AGfdt, a story I heard at the time of the '90s disbanding (caveat: I'm non-reg as can be, so it's likely 10th-hand information at the very least) involved some pretty sick goings-on at the Centerpole hole. Did you hear anything in that vein, or is that story full of crap?

I've never heard anything involving bonfire or centerpole.

OCEN99; That's not what they told me. All I have to go on is their word. It had to do with "earning their brass" and the "ritual" associated. That's all I'm going to say. I cannot vouch for the absolute truth because I was not there, but I remember clearly what I was told.

The Trigon did a number of things to try to keep the drill in sight. We drilled on the old Simpson Drill Field across from the Old MSC near Albritton Clock / Tower @ West gate. We would run back to the quad area and start hi-porting the weapons we reached the quad entrance all the way to Duncan.

The late 90's version (after the restart) drilled immediately west of quad area near the Corp history building. This was in view of "bulls" who had an office in one of the old "between dorm" lounges (they were in my day). I received a "very cool" reception from a bull when I asked where the FDT was drilling that day.

"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man," Psalm 118:8.


[This message has been edited by NJ75AGfdt (edited 10/30/2011 3:34p).]

This comes from my buddy, who isn't in FDT, but this is what he heard. (More hear-say.) One of the fish had a cable on his collar, and so one of the Hounds or some other guy out there with a lighter used it to burn it off. In the process they burned part of his face as well, to the point that it was significantly noticeable. Not sure if it was intentional, or even a true story.

^^If this is still an open investigation I don't think you should be posting details in a public forum.

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and so one of the Hounds or some other guy out there with a lighter used it to burn it off

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That's why you use a nail clipper.