These are my Late grandparents, Nelson & Johhnie Lee VanHook. They were visiting with me at the School of music which is located on the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base in Virginia Beach, VA. The ship in the back ground is much like one of the ships that my grandfather served on in WWII. I got chewed out by base police for taking pictures on base, and they took a bunch of my film. Fortunately I had this one squirreled away. I would sure have hated for the Russians to get hold of this picture of my Grandparents in front of this boat.

(Click on image to view my ticket to freedom from this place-this document dedicated to my good buddy, David Pressley, AKA Elvis).This is the day that I graduated from the school of music in March of 1990. You can see my new rank, taped on over my old. Army Bandsmen are automatically inducted at the rank of Private first class (grade E-3). This is because it is one of the few skills in the military which you can't just come in and learn from scratch. It requires a certain level of music ability to enlist as an Army Bandsman, and all who make it have passed an audition to determine eligibility. The skill that it takes to pass this audition is usually attained after years of practice and dedication, that is why the Army starts you out 2 grades higher than most. Upon completion of the School of music, Army Bandsmen are automatically promoted to the rank of Specialist (grade E-4). The school is very intense and many fail. Those who don't make it are shipped off to what ever other occupation the Army chooses FOR them. Students are crammed with the equivilant of about 2 years worth of college music study in the span of 6 months.

This is a picture of my late great-grandmother, Myrtle Evans, and late grandfather, Robert Robinson (USMC Gunnery Sgt, Retired) the day of my graduation from the school of music. I was blessed with the strong support of my family. I had several family members attend my graduations from Basic Training, AIT, and U.S. Army Airborne School. In the back ground you can see a couple of sailors milling about. The Armed Forces School of Music is very unique in that it is the one of the few schools that teach primary occupational skills to more than one branch of service. The school caters to the Army, Navy, and Marine Corp Bandsmen. The music theory, ear training, and performance classes are taught together, and the only part taught seperately is the drill band (marching band) because the different services practice different technique and commands. The Army students also spend a great deal of time working on soldiering skills in the field through-out the 6 month school. A great deal of this training is centered around the before-mentioned security and enemy prisoner of war duties. The Marine Corp & Navy Bandsmen have generally finished all of their non-musical training before arriving to the school of music and as far I can remember they only concentrated on their musical training while at the school. Additionally, the Army students were the only ones that enjoyed an additional 6-7 months of living under the constant supervision of several drill sergeants.

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