Buddy Cooke

Buddy Cooke has been a brass player for over 30 years. As a kid, he was a member of his local drum and bugle corps, school bands, the school marching band, and community band. Buddy attended West Point where he was a member of the Cadet Field Music Group and had the opportunity to be trained by the Hellcats. After serving as an Engineer Officer in a US Army Cavalry Unit (where he continued to bugle for some official functions) he started a career as an Army Civilian. He founded the "Powder Kegs" community band at Picatinny Arsenal. Dr Cooke is now an Assistance Professor in the Department of Military Instruction at West Point where he teaches tactics and is head of research for the West Point Simulation Center. For over 20 years, Buddy has been collecting bugle music and researching military manuals about the history of field musicians. Now he is assembling that information into books to share with the world. His hope is to encourage others to learn this ancient art.