Over 2,400 members of the Corps of Cadets took to the streets of Fort Worth Saturday for their weekly pre-game review.
The march was part of the Corps trip, a yearly event where the entirety of the Corps travels to support the Texas A&M football team during an away game. Matthew Vanderbloemen, deputy Corps commander, said the march originally was a part of the University of Texas and Texas A&M rivalry, until Texas A&M left the Big 12.
“When we left the conference and we no longer played t.u. on a regular basis or at all, we decided to shift and do something a little bit different,” Vanderbloemen said. “And once the Chancellor and the University System people announced the Southwest Classic would be happening, we started exploring the opportunity to do it again, just with a different rival.” 
Lisa Kalmus, curator of the Sam Houston Sanders Corps Center, said for many years the Corps would march before every away game. Kalmus said the tradition dates back to the 1920s or 30s.
“It goes back a very long time in the History of A&M,” Kalmus said. “Of course prior to 1963 it was all-male all-Corps anyway, so for the away games, the Corps in mass would travel to support the team when they were playing, of course players came out of the Corps too. So the Corps would go on these trips to show support for the team and whatever location they were in.”
Matthew Rollins, international studies junior and member of the band, said following the Corps march through Fort Worth, the Corps was dismissed until the football game in Arlington later that day. Rollins said while the band came back to A&M that night, many cadets stayed for the whole weekend. 
“I think it is a great thing that we get more visibility for the Corps and for A&M and in Fort Worth,” Rollins said. 
Kalmus said in the 1940s and 50s, the band’s transportation was far different from the early morning bus ride of today.
“If they were playing in Louisiana, the band would take a train loaded with their instruments, and the Corps would get there by hitchhiking. They would travel themselves to go to the game to support the team and everything and then hitchhike their way home.”
Vanderbloemen said Corps trips help to bring cadets together.
“The people in the Corps leadership decided a couple of years ago It would be a good bonding experience for a lot of cadets to be able to travel together, to hang out together,” Vanderbloemen said. “A lot of cadets will traditionally stay at, if they have a guy in their class amongst their outfit who is from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, they will stay over at that person’s house and they’ll all hang out and do stuff together.”