Parade field snowmen

From USAFA Folklore

Fun can be had during parades if they occur after snow storms.

[edit] Accounts

• We played Army at home late in the season (1981). The previous week it was announced that the wing would have a parade for the visiting army cadets the day before the game, which pissed us off because who wanted to march while the piss-ants watched comfortably from the bleachers? Then, it snowed six inches the night before the parade. We were happy because we thought the parade would be canceled. But no! Not only would the parade go on, but we would do it in combat boots and overcoats (only time I remember wearing the latter). This REALLY pissed us off and it was the first (and only) negative thing I remember the Comm doing (Gen Beckel).
  So we get out there, barely able to keep step. Just before we "piss in our shoe" (pass in review), the first jet, an F-16, makes this unbelievably low fly-by. What follows one after another is just about every significant aircraft in the inventory at that time, including the SR-71 and U-2 (which seemed to have an engine problem and circled uncomfortably close to my squadron's (CS-02) position on the parade field). Only then did we see Gen Beckel's logic for the parade: he wanted to demonstrate to all the army pukes what they would be missing in the US Army.
  After the fly-bys, we marched off the parade field per procedure but significantly happier. As I passed the grandstands where the army cadets were, I could hear them laughing. I thought at the moment it was because we couldn't march too well due to the snow. It was only later I found out what was so humorous: during the fly-bys, while everyone was looking up, members of the wing had constructed multiple snow men behind the squadron formations. One even had a wheel cap. They only became visible once a majority of the wing had initiated their pass in review. Oh, and we beat Army the next day.

• We were out for a parade as part of a Double Threat. It had snowed quite a lot the night before and was quite cold, so we were all wearing the dreaded overcoats and combat boots. I can't remember exactly who the speaker was or if there was some kind of fly-by, but we were put at rest for an extended period of time. During that at rest time, some bright boys got the idea to have some fun with the snow.
  When the pass-in-review commenced and the squadrons began to leave the parade field, a number of snowmen (many with parade hats and gray leather gloves) were left standing at attention. It was pretty damn funny, but the tight ass Flamian O-6's in CW were not amused. They commenced trying to correlate positions of the snowmen to squadrons and looking at the left behind wheel hats to identify perpetrators. Amazingly enough, the Comm thought it was freaking hilarious, and no punishment ever came down. - (25 Sep 2001)

• That was the most memorable parade of my cadet years. I was in CS-40, so we were the last to march off the parade field. During most parades, as we were marching up the ramp from the parade field, other cadets from V-hall were already streaming out in civvies headed for the parking lot. During this parade, the firsties in the squadron who weren't up front leading the formation filled the rear rank. They constructed a whole rank of snowmen. I wasn't aware of the prank until we had made the turn to pass in review. It was a hoot!

• I was a gimp on Sick Call during that parade. My memory is that it was to recognize the something-th anniversary of SAC, since I only remember SAC planes flying by. Anyway, snowmen were all over the parade field, one was even wearing a tie.

[edit] External Link

• We have video! (You can see the snowmen between about 2:00 and 2:45, but there are some good flybys before that, too, so you might want to start at the beginning.)