Photo By Tech. Sgt. Kyle Johnson | Staff Sgt. Rembert Dash, a quality assurance inspector with the 374th Maintenance...... read more read more
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Rembert Alphonso Dash III didn’t have time to pay attention to the thousands of spectators in the Indianapolis stadium seats above him. It’d be pointless to try, with the stadium lights in his face.
He also didn’t have time to appreciate the color guard running in front of his formation. His mind raced to remember where the formation was going, to hold his body posture, and to maintain his step-size – all while simultaneously playing the euphonium and watching for his next cue from the drum major.
According to Dash, performing with 149 other people, all communicating to each other in their own language and completely synchronized musically and physically, felt like a spring breeze in his heart.
“I just wanted to perform with really good people,” said Dash, now a Staff Sgt. and inspector with the 374th Maintenance Group, Quality Assurance. “The feelings you get from playing – from speaking to each other in music – is incredible.
“I get chills down my spine and I feel weightless.”
Dash had grown up a saxophonist, but when he heard of Drum Corps International (DCI), he wanted to be a part of it. He had seven months to learn how to play the euphonium. However, he didn’t just need to be able to play it, he needed it to be second nature.
A drum and bugle corps competition that only accepts individuals 21 years old and younger, DCI is the major leagues of marching music and Dash wanted to be a part of it, he said.
He practiced four hours a day, not stopping even when his lips started bleeding. They’d begin to heal only to be opened up again by the next practice session. Before long, he’d developed calluses, he said. Even still, when he got to the Phantom Regiment brass boot camp, he had to continue to prove himself as he ran up and down a football field splitting his lung capacity between pumping oxygen to his body and pumping air into his euphonium.
Nearly ten years later, Dash fills his lungs with steady breaths as he crouches over a metal log in the gym at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It’s eight o’clock at night and the only people in the gym are the regulars. He loads the 60-pound bar up with 125lbs. on each side, takes a deep breath, throws the whole contraption up to his chin and proceeds to push-press it repeatedly toward the sky. He’s training for the log lift, one of the exercises he competed in the day before for his first strongman competition.
He placed first overall.
A quick internet search of “strongman competition” brings up images of larger-than-life characters, heavy objects and angry faces under extreme physical stress. It’s a far cry from the colorful uniforms, stadium lights and instruments that will turn up with a DCI search. That’s not to say, however, that DCI wasn’t physically demanding. The reality is, Dash attributes his current physical state specifically to his time in DCI.
“Fitness was never a part of my life until I was forced to run in the Phantom Regiment,” Dash said. “When I got out, I went for a run and did six miles like it was nothing. After that, I started running every day. Eventually, that turned into lifting weights and now – strongman.”
For Dash, they’re experiences that equally satisfy different ambitions.
“It has been said that people are happiest when we are meaningfully engaged,” said Major Bryan Vralsted, 374th Medical Operations Squadron family advocacy officer. “The sense of accomplishment that comes from setting and achieving meaningful goals both at work and at home should not be underestimated.”
Vralsted went on to explain that many individuals who struggle to find happiness report that they are unfulfilled in their occupational or recreational pursuits.
“The feelings I get from achievements in strongman and music, they’re polar opposites,” Dash said. “I really don’t like to compete. I just like to achieve goals.”
Dash has dedicated a large portion of his life pursuing two completely different competitive sports without concerning himself with competition. He said his dedication in the pursuit of success and his consequential realization of that success is what drives him to the next challenge.
Music remains a significant part of his life, he regularly plays with other creatives on base and he is currently trying to find venues in the Japanese community he can perform at.
Strongman competitions in Japan are few and far between. So much so, that the Yokota Friendship Festival competition is considered one of the premiere events for the sport in Japan. As active duty Airman, Dash will move soon and he intends to be ready to compete at a higher level when he does.
“U.S. Navy Admiral William H. McRaven said, ‘If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed.’ Life is all about momentum,” Vralsted said. “Accomplishment in one area can have a global impact in the motivation to achieve in others. The net benefit to our resilience can be tremendous as we build a sense of purpose and confidence that allows us to overcome the obstacles in our day-to-day lives.”
The musician in him waxed poetic when Dash described the pleasure of live performance as a fresh spring breeze in his heart. What song will his heart play when he’s hugging a 220-pound atlas stone, and who’s listening?
| Date Taken: | 09.24.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 09.24.2019 00:18 |
| Story ID: | 343242 |
| Location: | FUSSA, TOKYO, JP |
| Web Views: | 57 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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