in a land called Atco, a series of strategic, victories and blunders alike happen to it's citizens and their organizations. It is up to the brave Sun-Tzu Warriors to share and reflect on these. these are their stories. It was dark, and getting darker. the tension rising as a Christmas Parade unfolds in Willacoochee, Georgia. It is a small band, where the flutes are almost louder than the trumpets. And where my Drumline i try to always keep poppin'. Its a wonderful night to turn heads, with music. Christmas tunes one minute -and Atco beats and cadences the next. However, the tension rising, is not the climax of our story. The fame and glory, and the love of music, keep us going... but soon, too soon that all ends. I'll be honest i'm exhausted at this point. and so is the rest of our drumline. after we stray away from the crowd, we turn down the next street in a U-turn. Unlike last year, the bus was not pulled up to this location. Instead it was a nice 20 minute walk from where we were at. and our 'gas' was on low as it was already. instead of putting this into consideration, letting us rest, or do anything that would've helped us walk farther.... a couple Band-Boosters stayed in back, to be our "cheerleaders." Threats popped out left and right. and things were getting worse. seconds passed by like minutes the longer we went, the more our frustration and drained wills multiplied. we couldnt even take our instruments off, or walk out of formation. It took some time until we could march without doing a cadence ...i dont know how many of you have been on the drumline before, or if it's the same, but playing a beat is purely psycological here. if your not primed, your beats arent either. appearantly it was every band booster's ideal to have a band that could fit their fantasy of unrealistic expectations. even the lightest material drums get heavy -with time. even the most muscular arms, get sore. and unsurprisingly, this wasnt the idea the picture that they saw, before the 'show' Honestly, who were this band...or our drumline... "dressed up" for? we kept passing darkened houses making our roughening cadences, i felt sorry if i woke people up. Sun Tzu has it right... threats to deter action, rewards to encourage it. never press people father than they can go the commanding officers use to many punishments, they are in trouble. all these things spun in my head, in the mad cycle of dizzyness. however, just near the breaking point, we neared another float, and hopped on. things settled down... although i was resting like the others in my group, i couldnt help but wonder, what were we trying to accomplish? and, is it just me, or was something slightly cruel going on here?