The current legend has it at around 4 hours, the entire batt staff going down, somebody fainting and falling on their bayonet slicing open their neck with blood everywhere, and that because so many (as a % of total) firsties went down compared to plebes, the firsties all got reamed, were of course pissed and took it out on the plebes right through AC year... and the story always ends with... but our plebe summer was so much worse!
Wow -- interesting that our experience is "legend."
To dispel the myths . . . it really lasted about 2.5 hours -- on the longer side if you were 36th company vs. 1st company.
But nowhere near 4 hours.
We had fixed bayonets and more than one person got cut when folks fainted and their bayonets ended up places they weren't meant to be. Not sure about the blood "everywhere," but know that there was some blood.
It is true that an entire batt staff went down. As a percentage, more firsties probably did faint but I don't think anyone was counting. As anyone who's been in a parade knows, not fainting isn't about machismo. It's a combination of proper hydration, proper stance, and a lot of luck! And I've never seen anyone reamed for fainting. Maybe some good natured joking from peers but everyone knows it could happen to them in the next P-rade.
I'm not aware of the plebes getting "reamed." To the contrary, we actually earned a lot of respect from not only the firsties but the other classes, who of course heard the story or maybe were in the stands (can't recall which). It was more along the lines of, "I can't believe you guys made it through a 2 1/2 hour parade!"
But that is the Friday of parents weekend, right? And so the stands had to be crawling with parents... I just assumed that some helo-parent would have decked Lehman if it really happened that way, or were parents wimps back then, LOL??
I know it was in August. I thought it was PPW but it could well have been one of the earlier formal parades or even and extra one at the end of Dead Week, before reform. If it was PPW, it was the first parade for the parents so they didn't know any better -- didn't know that all parades didn't last that long. But now that I think back on it, maybe it wasn't PPW. Sorry, I'm not sure -- it was 1981 -- a LONG time and many parades ago.
I don't know that our PS was the worst, but I think we still hold the title of longest/worst parade -- unless Mr. Lehman has been visiting recently.
Did anyone ever clue in John Lehman on why it happened afterwards? Just curious
I haven't a clue.