Happy Birthday U.S. Coast Guard!

[davewerden]

You know, when I first joined the CG Band, it was just a way to get a military job in a band. (But in fairness to me, I was exceptionally stupid about life at the time!) The longer I was in, the more I began to understand what the Coast Guard did and the more proud I became to represent them. For such a small service, they have a truly big job. (During one tour we stayed at a Navy Base for a night - that one base had more personnel than the entire Coast Guard.) The following numbers are the most recent ones I found, and such facts were used as part of "The Story of the Coast Guard" - a narrated composition by the former band director.

On an average day, the Coast Guard...

• Saves 10 lives
  
• Saves $200,000 in property
• Conduct 4 high-risk boardings of suspected dangerous vessels
• Performs 70 container inspections
• Conducts 134 recreational vessel boardings (enforcement of regulations)
• Conducts 16 fisheries conservation boardings/enforcements
• Screens 1,194 vessels and 81,000 passengers
• Performs 396 small boat missions
• Performs 164 aircraft missions

And more. The Coast Guard is 1/4 the size of the next smallest armed service (Marines), and is the only military service that can enforce laws during peacetime.

I just made a little video for the celebration. I play the melody of Semper Paratus (CG marching song), then the part the euphoniums actually had, which combines some melody and some counter melody. During the ending "slide show" I mixed the 2 part together!

https://youtu.be/FHqII3VVEcs

[John Morgan]

Very nice, Dave. You have a lot to be proud of! I feel the same about my service to the Army.

Happy Birthday to the United States Coast Guard!

[RickF]

Very nice, Dave! I always liked the march, "Semper Paratus" (always ready).
...one of the few marches that doesn't add a flat in the trio.

Al Roker of the Today Show paid tribute to the USCG Birthday this morning with a visit on the Baroque Eagle ship built in 1936. Below is a link to a five minute video.

Al Roker Spends a Night on US Coast Guard Historic Ship Eagle:

[davewerden]

Thanks for posting that video - I really enjoyed watching it!

Funny you should mention the no-key-change deal. I've just had occasion to work on 2 marches that stayed in 2 flats (treble) for the whole march. But they cheat a little - they both start in G minor and switch to Bb major at the trio. Here is one of them, called Simoraine (I'm still waiting to edit the other one, In Storm and Sunshine):

https://youtu.be/DCgJIIlUToc

[RickF]

Interesting and a bit challenging march. Never heard it before.

FWIW, the embedded video doesn't play for me but the link to YT works fine.

[davewerden]

FWIW, the embedded video doesn't play for me but the link to YT works fine.

Hmm. The embedded video works fine for me using Chrome on Windows. What browser/computer are you using?

[RickF]

Firefox browser on Windows 10.

[davewerden]

Firefox browser on Windows 10.

Thanks for the info. I tried on FF, Chrome, and Edge on my Windows 10 PC and they all work.

It's possible it will work after you reboot next time. It is also possible that an ad blocker could be getting in the way.

In any case, I'm trying to always include the regular link above the video player - looks like I'd better keep doing that!

[RickF]

Thanks. It could be my ad blocker, forgot about that.