New Haven Independent

According to Lt. Colonel John Whitford, the public affairs officer for the Connecticut State Military Department, the reasons are two-fold.

First is BRAC, military lingo for base realignment and closure policies that come down from on high in Washington. That is, saving money. “Increasingly,” he said in a phone interview from Hartford, “units will be sharing a facility, as the 102nd is doing with the Marines at Fort Nathan Hale.”

It also means, of course, that when a unit leaves a state facility to a federal one, the federal government picks up the tab. More on this later because the Foot Guard, and particularly its several musical units, will be staying. No realignment for them, according to Whitford, “because in no small part they are so intimately connected with New Haven.”

Formed in New Haven, with members such as Ethan Allen and Aaron Burr to help out Benedict Arnold, the unit demanded the keys to the powder house and arsenal on the eve of the revolution, and when Washington came through on his way to assume command of the continental army, the Foot Guard escorted him. The unit also defended New Haven against a major invasion by the British. Some of these events are commemorated every year in reenactment ceremonies by the Foot Guard on the Green, especially on the occasion of what is known as Powder Day.

“The other units have moved out,” according to Chief Warrant Officer John De Pastino, “simply because units don’t train like they used to. They don’t need to drill in the same way as the past.

The imposing drill shed, on the second floor of the armory and accessible via Hudson Street for cars to drive in and park near a few army trucks and jeeps. Its size opens the retina, but doesn’t fit today’s military bill. “Today,” said DePastino, “units need classrooms and computers.”

“More and more units,” Whitford confirmed, “need to be in what’s called force readiness and force protection mode. “What especially makes the armory inappropriate in a post-911 world,” he said, “is the proximity to the city population. Clearly the force must be out of the urban area. And the way the armory abuts the jail, that’s not good either for security purposes these days.”

This pattern, which is regional and national, has resulted, for example, in the Ansonia Armory, according to Whitford being closed, sold to that city for a buck, rehabbed and turned into a community center. Likewise, the armory in Waterbury, where DePastino hails from, but there the success story, he suggested, was not so successful.

Whitford estimates that within three years the state would offer the Goffe Street building to the city of New Haven.

New Haven economic development chief Kelly Murphy said that she has been hearing this time frame already two and a half years ago when she arrived in New Haven. She’s positive about the prospect, however, and calls the armory wonderful and challenging. “It’s a large parcel on a major corridor,” she said, “and of course we’re interested in its re-use. When — if ! — it happens, our first consideration would be to see if and how the city could use it for its own facilities and needs. I think one or two departments already have expressed some interest. If that proves too costly — because these spaces, like the huge drill shed are impressive, but then how do you heat them? — then we would begin speaking with the local community groups about what they want.”

Murphy was involved in the rehabbing of similar large buildings in the Bronx. “Typically, armories and courthouses get re-used by an institution,” she said. Still, planning is difficult, because the timing of such a transfer, which she expects would be ceremonial, for a dollar, is still so up in the air.

In the meantime, the several musical units of the Foot Guard (concert band, dance band, marching band, drum and fife corps) rehearse regularly at the armory on Monday nights, and frequently more often.

The place, according to Whitford, is old and needs wiring and lighting improvements, but DePastino (pictured with Sergeant First Class Joe Nuzzo) say their cozy and well-lit band room, on the floor below the drill shed, is fine for rehearsals. Another room called the Lounge has enough shining wood and murals (1937-era views of previous Foot Guard engagements as well as images of the Nine Squares by WPA artist Salvatore Milici) to be a living history lesson in its own right. And there is another room set aside as a museum, to which Nuzzo and DePastino did not have access.

“If we ever get moved out of here,” Nuzzo said, “by law all these artifacts go with us.”

In the meantime, the band has some 60 active members, ages 18 to 83 who hail from all over Connecticut. For the first time in its history, it is also lead by a woman (there are perhaps three or four women instrumentalists), Sergeant. Lisa Pettinicchi (with her husband Staff Sergeant Robert Pettinicchi to her right.) The members are particular about their ranks being attached to their names and noting that they are not re-enactors but, technically, members of the state militia who do indeed receive military training and could be called up in emergencies.

Pettinicchi, who is a music teacher in Naugatuck, said she was enjoying her experience. The players are considerably more accomplished than her middle schoolers, she said, and many play in other bands. “They also pay attention.”

Especially good at paying attention is the newest member of the band, oboist John Cizick, whose day job is as a public defender in Hartford. How did he join?

“Hey, a friend called up and said, ‘We need a baritone sax and an oboist,’ so here I am.’ He’s maintained his love of music throughout his legal career, and the rehearsal commitment, which is considerable - two hours Monday and two Friday when shows are approaching - seems to him, if labor, then labor of love.

Also important is the camaraderie, according to one of the older members, Corporal Marvin Bottinick (foreground. A member of the Seabees, fabled World War Two engineering battalions, Bottinick helped build an airfield in Okinawa in 1945. He plays in a band in Branford, but likes the companionship of other vets, over the past five years with the Foot Guard band, including several from Korea and Vietnam.

“Marvin,” says Sgt. Nuzzo, “is the oldest corporal in the state of Connecticut.”

For upcoming concert schedule and more info about the Foot Guard, click here.

For what the armory might become for the city of New Haven and how that will affect the venerable Foot Guard, stay tuned, as they are.