MSgt Baldwin wrote:
Re: Commentary being made during the appearance of the USCM colour party
on the Dragon*Con parade video.
Dear friends at Dragon*Con,
I am the USCM Colour Party Sergeant; you see me bearing the sabre, and calling out drill instructions.
Could you kindly PLEASE stop calling us, the USCM colour party, active military? Especially not "active U.S. military"? This is not true, and we don't understand why your commentators say this yearly.
This year the colour party was comprised of:
One US Navy sailor,
One US Army reservist,
One former Canadian Army reservist,
One former Royal Army reservist,
One former French Navy sailor and,
Three civilians; two Americans and one British.
We do not wish to be mistaken for active military, we are costume enthusiasts wearing costumes inspired by the film "Aliens". During Dragon*Con, we do not represent our respective armed forces, we are there to show our costumes, represent our fandom, give a good show for the parade, and mostly, have fun.
We thank you in advance for your understanding.
Best regards,
Dom Baldwin
Kris, I assumed you were a Reservist, my aplogies if this was an error. Sean, I assumed that you are a sailor, again... apologies if this is incorrect.
Jan Price wrote:
Hi Dom,
My apologies. Several years ago, I was told that the color guard was comprised of active and reserve duty military. We've never received any updated info to say that was no longer true.
I am truly sorry if we offended anyone. I have been putting the information in the commentary script each year to ensure we were appropriately recognizing the members of the color guard. It will be
removed.
Again, my apologies,
Jan Price
Director, Dragon Con Parade
Brian Richardson wrote:
Dom: thanks for the information, I'm very sorry we got this wrong. We had a note in our rundown that the group contained active military, so that's why it was mentioned in our commentary. I want to make sure we get this right, so we should make sure it's not in the parade rundown notes for 2015. I want the parade coverage to represent everyone properly, so thanks for letting me know what needs to be fixed.
MSgt Baldwin wrote:
Hi Jan,
We have no issue if you mention that the colour party is comprised of active and former servicemen from around the world, as well as civilians. This would be much more accurate.
Regards,
Dom Baldwin