The Riverside Military Academy Band passes in review.
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum
I love a parade;
The tramping of feet,
I love ever beat
I hear of a drum.
I love a parade;
When I hear a band
I just wanna stand
And cheer as they come!
APRIL 2, 2019 | The place was Gainesville, at Riverside Military Academy (RMA) on Friday, as Col. (and Dr.) Stanley Preczewski was installed as that school’s new president. A delegation of people from Gwinnett were on hand for this new chapter in “Stas” life. He was the second president of Georgia Gwinnett College, and has been a member of the RMA trustees for three years.
Riverside, you’re luck to get this guy as your 10th president. The school dates back to 1907, preparing ethical young men of character for success in college and in life on its 200 acre campus.
Friday’s ceremony was the first military parade that I have seen in quite some time. The 530 member corps of cadets marched smartly around the field to the beat of their band, and to the applause of parents, townspeople, and alumni amid congratulations from Stas’ friends.
It’s a tradition of the military to march, dating back to a more formal warfare that saw troops deployed by marching orders, swinging whole regiments and battalions into place by the movement of feet.
Today parades are more ceremonial, but still thrilling to see.
For me, perhaps it’s because of my early involvement in the military. Growing up in Macon, I became a member of the Lanier High School Junior ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) for three years, first with a M-1 on my shoulder as we marched, and later heading a platoon during my senior year. Then it was four years in college at Mercer in ROTC, but this time not shouldering a rifle during parades.
Col. Preczewski speaking on Friday (photo by Scott Rogers, The Times.)
It happened this way.
“What’s your name?” a gruff military voice asked. I told him, and then he said: “That’s all,” dismissing me.
A few days later, I was told to report to a certain campus location, and was immediately asked by the same guy: “What instrument do you play?”
“I don’t play an instrument.”
“You do now. You play the drums,” I was told in no uncertain terms.
So, without my even volunteering, suddenly even without any musical ability or training, I was playing the bass drum in the Mercer ROTC band. “Just bang the drum each time the drum major’s baton comes down,” I was first told, thus setting the pace for the rest of the cadet corps to twirl around the parade grounds. Depending on how fast I boomed the drum, we might speed or snail-crawl during each Monday’s parade.
The only way I got out of hitting the drum, after three years, was to get promoted to lead a company my senior year. That ended my musical career.
This all came to mind watching the Riverside cadets in their traditional gray uniforms on a nice spring day. The Riverside job opened unexpectedly for Dr. Stas, as he was retiring. The job came to him; he did not even know a vacancy existed.
Stas is now leading the top military boarding high school in the United States. Today Riverside, at its hilly campus in Gainesville, has students from 28 states and 25 foreign countries. It had graduates at our three military colleges (Colorado Springs, West Point and Annapolis), and its grads are military leaders across our country.
Thanks, Dr. Stas, for the invitation. We know you will do well at Riverside! They are lucky to get you.
I love a parade;
A handful of vets,
A line of cadets,
Or any brigade,
For I love a parade!
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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