The US Armed Forces Bands have been "restructured". I read the article with some dismay this morning. During Viet Nam when those of us music majors eligible for the draft took our physicals - well the ranks of the armed forces bands were filled with the best young talent ever. One had a choice - be drafted and carry a rifle or practice like crazy and audition for a service band, post band, any band and enlist for 4 years. I was a pretty good trumpet player at that point - not great - but adequate and there was a position in the Buffalo Philharmonic for 2nd chair and one for the West Point Academy band. I showed up in Buffalo in the spring with about 40 others who had submitted tapes and were permitted to come. I traveled on to the grounds of the Academy overlooking the Hudson, parked in the overflow lot next to the stadium and got in line with about 300 others (353 to be exact as I was 4 from the end and my number was 349). I got a call back from Buffalo although I didn't make the finals and never heard a word from West Point. Anyway, the institutions that were once led by John Phillip Sousa and played music like this below (written for the US Army Band) are going smaller and lighter. Oh my.