[TPIN] Military Musicians

[Robert DeSavage]

Knowing that times change, what is the status of the Navy music program
today? During the early sixties when I served, there were bands galore both
on shore and at sea. Does the Navy still have sea going bands these days, or
is Navy music limited to just a few shore based bands?

During my hitch, upon graduation from the SOM, the grads would form unit
bands to relieve existing unit bands stationed aboard ships at sea. As a
rule then, sea going bands were either stationed on aircraft carriers and
cruisers. Before that, they also served aboard battleships. But the Navy for
the most part did away with them, leaving MU's to serve only aboard the
carriers and cruisers.

At sea, musicians would often play for refuelings, replenishments, and for
the entertainment of the officers and crew members. When the ship hit port,
the band would be among the first off the ship where we'd go on tour for
most of the time the ship was in port. That was a great deal where we stayed
in hotels paid for by Uncle Sam!

When back at sea, there was a difference between duty aboard either type of
ship where carrier musicians generally had no military duties such as
general quarters and the like. I guess the carrier Navy was being wise where
our GQ stations were in our berthing compartment where we kept out of the
way to sleep or play cards and Monopoly. 8-) However, a Navy musician's
'nightmare' was to serve aboard a cruiser where the band members had
military duties where they'd have to stand radar watches in Flag Plot as
well as GQ stations there when the alarm went off. Having served aboard both
the carrier Forrestal and the cruiser Columbus, I got a taste of both realms
which in either case could be a big pain in the butt.

Now that I'm older, I wish that I could do it over again. One of the
funniest moments was aboard the Columbus when all hands were called to do an
'emergency' replenishment for a destroyer escort that completely ran out of
toilet paper. Naturally the band had to play for the crew who for the most
part shot us the bird since they were on deck working their tails off while
we were doing something somewhat easier in an area where we managed to stay
warm and dry. Credit where credit is due though, because the band sounded
really good that day. I guess one might say that we were on a roll. 8-)
BOB