O.K., so TExas Aggie Corps Trips to Oxford, Auburn, Starkville and Tuscaloosa are out of question.

What about Dallas on September 15th ?

Anyone recall the last downtown Dallas Corps Trip ?

Oh, the train trip didn't work out?

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Anyone recall the last downtown Dallas Corps Trip ?

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Wasw it the 1986 trip?

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Oh, the train trip didn't work out?

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Anyone recall the last downtown Dallas Corps Trip ?

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I know we had one in 1997.

Lobotomy...
You may have had a Trip of sorts BUT A&M did not play SMU in a 1997 Dallas venue, nor anywhere that year.

Last downtown Dallas Corps Trip (for an SMU game) was, come September, almost a double of decades ago...1992.
Enuf' time laps for many to forget and

Hell, most who read this were not even in, or out of their teens in 1992, nor even ah littl' gleam in their dad or mom's eye.

[This message has been edited by BeBopAg (edited 1/31/2012 7:01p).]

1997 was to play North Texas in Texas Stadium.

Prior to that was a trip to Ft. Worth for the TCU game in 1995.

Corps trips as many of us knew them died with the SWC.

One thing for sure, the 2010 Corps Trip to Austin, up Congress Avenue, WAS a "Last Corps Trip" experience in that locale.

"It was just another Corps Trip boys, we'll march in behind the band."

The future Zips of the Class of 2013 should NOW NOT be "Sleeping on Guard Duty" concerning a Dallas Corps Trip for 2012.

Ya got to start lobbying the Trigon now !!!

Bop,
I'm not one of those young'ns of which you write, being Class of '82.

I've done the Dallas & Austin and Houston & Ft Worth CT "back in the day." This was long enough ago that CT's were lucky to be 1 in 5/7 to have automobiles--so arranging rides was a huge hassle. Only thing worse was in sorting out where to park all the cars for March-in, let alone getting to the game venues (if funds for tickets had not been expended on gas and going to out-of-town MYP).

Getting to Houston was not too bad, that was back when 3 of 4 people you met on campus claimed "Houston" for a hometown.

Now, in my under-grad time, we had hit upon that cusp in the calendar where there were not enough weekends in the regular schedule to play the sips on TG--which meant the tcu game was the Saturday of TG; which was a logistical nightmare (missou falls on the Saturday after TG this year, unless the schedul shifts again).

Given the kids' response to the "mandatory" trip this year, we may not find a lot of pressure on the U side of Trigon to push hard for an organized trip of any sort.

Perhaps, what the "modern" CoC needs is more involvement in things like the Service Birthdays, in Armed Forces' Day, in Armistice Day and the like.

capn-mac...
Bop somewhat agrees.

Bonfire and Corps Trips are now only for the memory book.

Adieu - ol'Army.

If not a Corps parade in downtown Dallas, why not Greenville Avenue, Snyder Plaza, or all around North Park area ?

Yea, kinda ridiculous since how many Corps persons will NOT even attend the game ?

Freshman year, 1978. Maybe not the last but it was a helluva weekend with my fish buddies.

Back in the day, Corps Trips were fun... tickets to the football game weren't expensive or hard to get... you were told where to show up to form up for the parade and the cadets had to figure out how to get there. Many times there were social events after the games in the host city, re: The Band often had a dance or some other type of event.

Times were simpler then. Ever since the Bonfire tragedy, the school has been paranoid to a fault about avoiding any type of liability assumption regarding student activities, whether they be on or off campus. If any of you with school-age kids wonder, sign them up for a sports camp or other type of activity at A&M and take a look at the draconian hold harmless agreement you're forced to sign to participate. You basically have to absolve A&M from any responsibility for what might happen to your kid, even if it's A&M's fault. The same theory applies to Corps trips...

With the change in conferences, we'll be lucky if our future cadets get two Corps trips in their cadet careers.... and those will come only if A&M plays a non-con game in one of Texas' major cities and a Corps trip can be arranged.

Corps trips are one of the greatest recruiting tools the Corps has... and should be a good time for the cadets. Too bad they will be fewer and farther between....

Why do Corps trips have to be associated with a football game? Lots of cities have major parades in conjunction with different events. Why can't there be a Corps trip associated with one of those? A lot of the same benefits with easier scheduling, you unfortunately don't get the football game.

We have to stop trying to make the current Corps our Corps and let the kids make it their Corps.

In all honesty, the vast majority of cadets would not want to do a Corps trip of any type. When I was there, cadets would rather sleep in than go to a free luncheon to thank their scholarship donor. Challenge for the current Commandant is getting cadets motivated to be in the Corps, and thus motivated to represent it, and represent it in a positive light. From what I gather from the few cadets I know, it's not like that.

I don't think Corps Trips are a recruiting tool at all. The last two Corps Trips we took while I was in school (Waco, Austin), there were a grand total of about 8 people watching the march in.

Due to a legendary 1926 student riot at the A&M/Baylor game in Waco (and the unfortunate death of a senior A&M cadet) for 69 years all Corps trips to Waco were suspended until 1995.

Bop attended that 1995 Corps Trip and game in Waco.

During the game it was noticed there was a glaring obvious absence of the usual number of A&M cadets normally in attendance.
With binoculars - only counted 67 uniformed cadets in the A&M sector. From top to bottom, bottom to top, counted them twice.

Halftime - Bop went to the concessions stands and hailed ah couple of A&M cadets.
"Where's the Corps? Why are so few cadets in attendance ?" asked Bop.

Answers Bop received was sorta sadly
shocking.
"Sir, most of them went back to campus to study, or they simply went home for the weekend. Away game ticket prices are just too expensive."
WOW !!!

Now from some quirk in the next season scheduling, Texas A&M was to play Baylor again in 1996 WACO.
Bop had an idea to propose to encourage Waco Corps Trip A&M cadets to stand/sit in Baylor's south end zone (for student prices of $5 a head).
It required cooperation and covert planning "without Baylor Ticket Office advance knowledge."

(You see, Baylor would not sell General Admission end zone tickets unless...there was a good chance of the game being ah sell-out. Then, and only then, those General Admission tickets would be scheduled to go on sale only at the Waco ticket office early on a Monday - five days before the game.)

Bop made contact with a sergebutt Corps Staff member (who was to become the 1996-67 Deputy Commander) and presented a plan.
Future Deputy Corps commander presented the plan to Corps Staff, Corps Staff to Trigon.
With Trigon approval and support, unit 1st Sergeants collected ticket orders and money from members of their unit. The complete money was collected (and recorded) the envelopes were passed on to the Deputy Corps Commander by 1st Sgts.

Five days before the 1996 Baylor Corps trip & game in Waco, Deputy A&M Corps Commander gets up early. Drives up to Waco. When the door opens at 8am, she (yes she) walks into the Baylor Ticket office with $4,000 cash. Purchased 800 student tickets for the Corps. Baylor folks courteous but, sorta shocked.

Days after Aggie victory (with 800 cadets in south zone, at $5 ea) Baylor officials decided to close Casey's south zone for future General Admission seating. They purchased a green tarp.

Future Corps Trips to Waco reverted back to...too few cadets attending the game (as henceforth became the standard M.O. of most Corps Trip game attendance by cadets).

(Yea, Corps Trips, downtown parade AND GAME were once a great event for Texas A&M Cadets, and spectators.)

[This message has been edited by BeBopAg (edited 2/6/2012 12:52p).]

The Corps parades in Austin... from my day in the '70s to the last two held that I attended... were always well attended. Always.

Waco, that's a different story. I went to the Waco parade in '08, the crowd was marginal, numbers-wise.

The parades in Fort Worth and Dallas always pulled a lot of spectators. I'd be willing to bet they'd do so now, too, as it's been so long since the Corps paraded in the downtown area of either city.

Downtown sidewalks in Houston were always spectator packed for Corps Trip parades.

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The parades in Fort Worth and Dallas always pulled a lot of spectators. I'd be willing to bet they'd do so now, too, as it's been so long since the Corps paraded in the downtown area of either city.

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Are we talking the Corps just taking a trip to Dallas for the sole purpose of marching two miles down a street? I just don't see how this would draw that many spectators, especially if it's just the Corps marching, with no other attraction. Also, do you not recall the number of cadets and parents complaining about the Corps Trip to Arlington this past year? I really don't think this would go over well either.

BigTRuck, we are talking about downtown venues vs. marching around a parking lot in Arlington. Big difference. Downtown Corps Trips drew the town out to see a 2000 man Corps parade down Main St. following the Fightin Texas AGGIE Band. It was also good publicity for the school and created a certain amount of excitment about the game we were playig that weekend.

This was also a chance for the Corps buddies to buddy up and stay 6 or 8 to a house where Corps parents were glad to put them up for the weekend.

We always had a Yell Practice the night before at a designated location and a Corps Party after the game usually at the Adolphus Hotel or one of the Convention Centers.

Corps Trips were widely looked forward to because of the fun generated by being a unified body out of town.

Last one in Dallas was Oct. 31 1992 when we played SMU in the old SWC. Works out real good when the game is in the afternoon.

The curent Commandant is putting units in the Fiesta Battle of Flowers Parade in San Antonio and the Houston Fatstock Show.

All of this is good publicity for the Corps and school not to mention fun for the cadets.

Those 95 and 96 Corp trips to Waco were the worst I have ever been treated worse anywhere by anyone. The 95 trip especially. We had a stop-n-shop owner try and refuse us service and when sitting in the stadium I had more verbal abuse than at any other stadium ever.

The 96 trip was no better and made me even more mad because I was attending with my sister who was a freshman at Baylor and was excited to have her big brother attend a game with her. She was embarrassed and upset by the way her fellow Baylor students were treating the cadets.

This is not the 1970s. Nobody (except CT girlfriends and parents) came to see the ones I participated in in Austin and Waco and whatever. And we had to buy our own hotels and our own game tickets and our own transportation. Tell me why this should be made a priority?

HuslinOne, pretty much everything you just said makes me think cadets would be against it.

A giant Corps party - most cadets want to party with just their buddies, or they want to get drunk. BQs don't want to hang around CTs, cadets from non-integrated outfits don't want to hang around wags, and I'm sure no one wants to be partying around a bunch of bulls.

Yell practice the night before - you might get half the Corps there, especially if it's an early morning march-in. Otherwise they're going to drive there in the morning and come back as soon as it's over.

" fun generated by being a unified body out of town" - yeah, the Corps really isn't very unified anymore. At least I never felt as though it was. Felt more like a bunch of individual outfits wanting to do what was best for them without thinking about what's best for the Corps.

"good publicity for the Corps and school not to mention fun for the cadets." - It's only good publicity for the Corps if cadets look squared away, stay in step, and actually look like they want to be there.

Now don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my 4 Corps trips (except Baylor - felt like I was marching through a ghost town and dirty streets). I remember stuffing about 12 of us into a cheap motel room once, and then staying at a buddy's girlfriends place in Austin, and her dad (former CT) cooked us an awesome Thanksgiving dinner. It was great.

But realistically, the academic environment at A&M isn't made for all this anymore. And the cadets don't care about all the fancy formal stuff anymore. And if they're going to march down main street looking sloppy and half as sleep, I'd rather they just stayed in College Station.

Not piecemeal unit parades at various festivals but an entire Corps Trips gone? Extinct ?

Well ?

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, with the evidence before you...I REST MY CASE.

Wooahhhh,

It was a great time. I also think our Corps Trip to Houston when we crammed all the guys into the Roadrunner Inn after the party at Epps house was pretty good.

Come to think of it, I really don't have any bad memories of our time in the Corps other than of course the loss of you brother and perhaps the crap-out that only you and I showed up for.

All I can say is that I've attended the last two Corps parades in Austin and the sidewalks were packed... and it wasn't just Ags either, there were a lot of sips there watching too.

Total Corps - Texas Aggie Corps Trip downtown parades ?

Sorry, GONE WITH THE WIND !

(Jerry World - Arlington Corps Trip...a disaster.)

[This message has been edited by BeBopAg (edited 2/8/2012 11:51a).]

An unintended consequence to leaving the Big 12.

Times change and TRADITIONS die or become heavily modified, like fast.

I for one think we need to plan Corps trips across the SEC, even though it wouldn't be easy, simply because our SEC brethren need to understand that Texas A&M always wins halftime.

Always.

Gonna take some big cigar/deep pocketed Ol'Army Ags to finance Corps Trips into the SEC (via rail or chartered bus).

Yea, SEC definitely needs to get an idea and feel for Texas A&M and its Corps of Cadet Traditions.

But sorry, just don't think it'll happen.

We were all married and most had kids but we made the trip as a unit in a caravan of cars (all with CB's a'blazin' to stay in contact and on the lookout for "Smokey". Note the crowds on the sidewalk behind us!

BTW, that's the original W-1, Minerva's Finest, behind us.

Squadron 13 was the only AF unit not under a Wing Commander. We were in an otherwise all crunchy regiment, along with the Army Day-Ducks (R-1), the Jocks (E-1), and the "Women Aggies aka Waggies" (W-1).