What made you want to become a Cadet.

[Joel Thomas]

I first saw them in 84. I just watched and saw perfection. I knew then that I wanted to be one. In college, I met George Croissant and Scott Slutter who were both involved and informed me alot about it. I was going to try in 86 but Mono put me in the hospital for over a month and the doctor said no. Finally, I got my chance in 87 and was able to become one. I remember after semi-finals, we were marching back to the buses and I saw Scott against the stadium just bawling his eyes out. Afterwards, I asked him if he was okay and he said you will understand in a few years. Well, a couple years later I went to a show in Hershey and I just welled up and bawled my eyes out. I was just so moved by what I had seen and heard. Later on, I told Scott and he said now you know what it means to be a Cadet.

[Dave Fowler]

I first saw a DCI telecast on PBS in 1979 or 1980. Having played in a parade corps since elementary school, I was just blown away by the power and precision. I went to my first live DCI show in 1981 and fell in love. At that time I was totally into the Santa Clara Vanguard. I loved their uniforms, their busses, their aura.

In 1982 I went to finals for the first time and saw Garfield. I could tell they were up to something big. RPH, Cuban Overture—amazing. But I still wanted to march in Santa Clara. I just couldn't figure out how a high school kid in NY could do that. They were 3,000 miles away and I didn't even have a driver's license!

And then something happened...

The summer of 1983 blew my mind. I only saw Garfield twice that summer, but I just knew I was watching something... magical. It was loud, it was soft, it was beautiful, it was unique. It was taking the activity, throwing it on its head, and creating art. It was AWESOME!

After the '83 Bloomfield show, I was riding up to my house with my dad and I said to him, "next year I will be a Garfield Cadet." I'm sure he thought I was kidding, but I had a passion in me I had never felt before. The following year my goal was met.

I have heard a lot of people say that they don't choose the corps they march with. That the corps chooses THEM. That is certainly true for me. I will forever look up to the 1983 Garfield Cadets as a group of Gods walking among us.

I have had a fantastic life so far. I have basically done everything I have ever wanted to do. My only regret is that I didn't march until my age out year of 1989. I was too young to understand that life and college can wait until you're older. DCI is only available for a limited time, and once it's over, it's over for good.

And then I remind myself... At least I had one summer with the best corps in the world. There are many, many people who never get to experience something like that. My one year with the Garfield Cadets is something that I will always cherish.

[Kathy Wygant Pantel]

Well this is an interesting forum. Having marched 7 years prior in class A corps who seemed to follow around Garfield, the Bridgemen & every other corps of the late '70's & early '80's trust me - I NEVER in 10 million years thought I'd march with the Cadets (yes, my brother will confirm this) Again, my life as a Cadet was given to me as a blessing I can never forget, and am in awe of what I was able be a part of.

I was actually supposed to march with the Sky Riders the summer of 1983, but due to family issues, that never happened. I was going to be happy just having a summer off, when my dad brought my brother up to Mahwah for a rehearsal. The rest they say, is history. A week later I was in the mellophone line, with the following week being Memorial Day & the 1st time we wore uniforms. I still can't believe how fast I got caught up in the season - and I didn't have to live through winter camps! I was hooked & would do it all over again - and again - and again!

[Charlie Bailey]

Hey Kathy, You took my mellophone spot on the field. I just couldn't hack the drill so I switched to contra to hide. Funny how things work out?

[Kathy Wygant Pantel]

I never knew this! I do remember there being several extra horn players who (unfortunately) stood in the end zone waiting for a spot to open for them. In all my years, I could never imagine having too many members for the line, and those additional Cadets actually waiting for their turn & never getting discouraged. I just continue to look back & realize how fortunate I was to even have a spot!

[Ross Kramer]

My H.S. band director got me hooked on drum corps in the summer of 1982 - just before my freshman year of high school. Back then, I fell in love with the Bridgemen and Madison hornlines from 1980 recordings. And since I lived in NJ, joining the Bridgemen made perfect sense. I loved their hornline's sound, their uniqueness and their crazy uniforms.

But in November of that year, when PBS played the 1982 DCI highlights, I was mesmerized by Garfield and their Rocky Point/Piano Concerto in F program. This was NOT drum corps! At least, it was not like anything ever put on the field. Garfield's sound was more like an orchestra, and I fell in love with that sound! But more than that, it was the marching style and show design that really wowed me. I could not stop watching and listening to that 1982 show! I would have joined for the 1983 season, but I knew I was too young to take this on (I was only 14!)

The following year, after seeing the 1983 show (on video only - I still had not seen a live show), I knew I had to join.....right now! I needed to be a part of this experience and I needed to know what it felt like to be part of the unique, innovative creative process that was Garfield.

So, I joined The Cadets in the winter of 1983 at the age of 15 (turned 16 the following summer), and was lucky enough to be part of the 1984 West Side Story show.....and continued to march until I aged out in 1988. Marching with the likes of Warren Corman, Brian Wilke and Barb Maroney was like marching amongst the gods. And witnessing the creative genius at work in George Zingali, Jim Prime, Donny Van Doren, Marc Sylvester and others was awe inspiring. I never took for granted the opportunity I was fortunate enough to have that first summer as a Cadet!

Interesting note: my first live drum corps show was the first one I performed in as a Cadet!

[Brian Wilkie]

Ross...like Dane said to me once..."You were always a Cadet, you just didn't always know it"...without the guts and determination that you and everyone like you brought in 84, that show would not have happened. No gods...but YOU and the rest of our family - from yesterday, today, and tomorrow - made the corps what it was and still is...

[Christie Duez Northcraft]

Ross...like you, my band director played DCI tapes in our band room. I was completely taken in by the Mellophone line. As a freshman, I was a trumpet player. At the end of the year, my director asked me to play Mellophone. I had no idea what a mellophone was. Our high school had never owned one. After playing it for the first time, I was hooked. (I also switched to French Horn). My director encouraged me to audition, but I was living in Pittsburgh and couldn't afford to go. I decided that I would take my graduation money and march. As soon as I graduated, I was off on tour. The first live performance for me was also my first show. I actually got to go into the stands after our performance and saw Phantom. It absolutely amazed me how much sound a live corps put out compared to the tapes I saw. I tried to come back the next year. I made it to a few winter camps, but then finances didn't allow me to continue. I wish now that I would have pushed harder to be there a second year.

[Michael L Jones II]

All I know is that i was never going to wear yellow, red white and blue or play Elks parade. Actually when Garfield came on in finals in Montreal 82' i thought it was a good time to go get some food and be back intime for SCV. While trying to get out the fanfare soloist started and then this full brass impact that blew me away. But a bet from a friend actually pushed me to the first camp. We were suppose to go together just to say that we went. he wound up not going till the following year. I actually made the drum line. I don't to this day know how. i could not read a note of music but i guess my hands were okay. wow i made a DCI corps. There was no knowledge or inkling that that choice was going to change the rest of my drum corps life forever and the lives of many other Inner city kids who saw this kid from the bronx do it, maybe they could too. wow, Garfield.......

[Dougie Beard]

To answer the question: I could not transcribe the drum charts.
I had a great drum instructor, Wayne Voogd, in San Diego that fed me information constantly. Wayne marched VK '84-'86 and hence owned a stockpile of DCI audio and video tapes that he shared per my desire. As I progressed, it was no longer acceptable to press "PLAY" and sit back to enjoy the show: I wanted to drum along.
I could understand what everyone was playing save Cadets and SCV. I charted many of the solos from those years. Full battery scores for Suncoast, Cavaliers, Troopers, Spirit, and the Blue Devils. No problem.
I realized there was another level (or 90) to my craft that I had yet to understand and it was in those tapes. It was happening in New Jersey; I had to go see.
db

[George Lea]

I never imagined myself marching in a DCI level corps let alone the Garfield Cadets. I began marching with a local parade corps in 1976. I had joined that July right after the Bicentennial and just a few short weeks later I discovered the DCI broadcast on PBS one saturday afternoon that August. I was hooked! I never missed the broadcast from then on and I had attended shows every summer but I had never performed on the field until 1979. We entered Garden State competition for the first time in 1980 and that's where I had my first taste of what it was like. That October, I was at school when me and a friend decided to cut class one morning to get some breakfast at the Student Union. It was there that we ran into Glen Foster, who I knew from the Pearl River Cadets and marched Garfield in 1980. In our conversation I was telling him that I was considering becoming a member of the Bridgemen or the Caballeros. He invited me to the open house the Cadets were having at School #1 in Garfield that coming sunday. I went, met so many great people, Hoppy handed me a horn and I've been hooked ever since. I remember attending the corps banquet that year and hearing the stories about how the corps survived 1980. At that point I could see just how special this corps was and there was no way I could not be a part of it. Cutting that class that day to get a bagel essentially changed the course of my life.

[George Lea]

not until 2008

[George Lea]

that explains alot....a man from New Orleans placed in charge of drinks....