USMA Black Knight Drill Team @ Tulane 2008

Mardi Gras Drill National Competition at Tulane University.

New Orleans, LA. February 1, 2008

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• usma
• black
• knight
• drill
• team
• tulane
• nationals

[muellr1369]

still doesnt beat the texas a&m fish drill team

[chucklebob89]

Annoying huh? You have no idea what we've been put through as a team. No other team trains like we do, it's unique. If you saw one of our practices you would know. Plus I know how we won, it's something that different about our drill from others.

[Blademaster865]

@Wyrmshadow what? why what do you mean, lol yeah..... it's awesome.

[giomartin16]

this is the best ive seen so far!good job guys!

[tobinhobbs]

It might interest you to learn why this mindset was so ingrained. Prior to my Firstie year '95-'96 we were forbidden from drilling in competition by the com. It totally sucked. When you're exhibition only, you're less likely to do things that would help you in competition.

Finally, I commend you on changing things from the inside. Those that refused to join because they didn't like the style were weak. Not the critic, but the man in the arena...

[tobinhobbs]

The military view leads to questions such as: Why would you tape a weapon? You wouldn't, a soldier impeccably maintains his weapon so it will not break. A soldier has complete mastery and control of his weapon, so his fingers will never get caught in the sling.

[tobinhobbs]

It's good to hear USMA is winning some tandem, too. I took ind. ex. at Tulane in '96, despite being "old school". I think you hit upon a key point. Drill teams come from two perspectives 1) competition/athletic-this being JROTC style, all things done to maximize points in competition or 2)military-the team is a recruiting tool, and much of the mindset is driven by a military view.

[tobinhobbs]

Thanks for the response. It's MAJ Hobbs, but who cares? I AM biased toward the old style, as admitted previously, but found Cornell '06 to be the best I had ever seen. Who was your unsupportive OC? Was it the Phunkadelic E (Jesse Easter?) I think you should get extra points in any competition for drilling in Dress Gray (I know you won't) simply because A) it's a bitch to raise your arms above your shoulders, and B) you get choked when you do.

[bodasivrak]

While I generally try to stay away from these, as Armed4Life07 and others can vouch for, I think my own two cents is required.

I am CDT Andrew Hill, Commander of the USMA Drill Team the past two years.

The team over the past three years has changed not only it's uniform and routine, but it's goals and attitude. When I first arrived on the team in 2005, it was how Mr. Hobbs describes it.

[bodasivrak]

It was a precise, slow, very "Service Drill Team" style routine. And no matter how well it was performed ... was a 2nd place routine. The culture on the team was of disdain for change. Many great drillers from National Championship teams in the 90's went to West Point ... but did not join the Drill Team.

[bodasivrak]

And after speaking to some of them, the reason was this general attitude of "we're better than JROTC drill".The team lost YEARS of great talent because of this exclusionary, elitist attitude. This was brought to my attention my plebe year, when I won 1st place Tandem at Cornell with another plebe ... beating the upperclassmen.