Hey Mr. D.J.

This past weekend was my reserve duty weekend. Saturday was our Battalion change of command. For the uninitiated, an Army change of command ceremony work like this: the troops spend most of the morning "practicing' in formation. The problem here is that the troops are only taking the commands from the leaders, who are the ones really practicing. I've always thought maybe they should practice without the troops and we could show up for the actual ceremony. If the commanders are of high enough rank, they may be fortunate to get an actual band to play at the ceremony. A LTC is not quite high enough to get a real band. That's where the Mr. D.J. comes in. At one point during the "festivities" I was asked if I had a job for the ceremony, I replied other than standing in the sun with everyone else, no. I was then given the option of running the sound equipment, which I of course was all over. Over the past 18 years I have been in more change of command formations than I care to count. My job was to follow the change of command script and at the appropriate places, play music. The selections were: Ruffles and Flourishes, The Star Spangled Banner and The Army Song. Grammy nomination anyone?