along with the 27th Lancers, Boston Crusaders, Blessed Sacrament Golden Knights, and Blue Rock, formed the United Organization of Junior Corps (also known as the "Alliance"). This action was taken in reaction to the rigid, inflexible rules of the American Legion and VFW (the primary rule makers and sponsors of both corps and shows) and the low or nonexistent performance fees paid for appearing in the various competitions. The corps felt that not only were they having their creative potential as artistic performing groups stifled, but they were being financially starved. (A similar group of Midwestern corps, the Midwest Combine, was formed by the Blue Stars, Cavaliers, Madison Scouts, Santa Clara Vanguard, and the Troopers.) The Alliance members felt that the corps should be making their own rules, operating their own competitions and championships, and keeping the bulk of the monies those shows earned. For the 1971 season, the corps stuck together, offering show promoters the five corps as a package. Despite pressure on show sponsors, judges, and other drum corps, the corps were booked into a number of shows together. In 1972, the Garfield Cadets, along with the nine other corps from the Alliance and the Midwest Combine, plus the Anaheim Kingsmen, Argonne Rebels, and De La Salle Oaklands were founding members of Drum Corps International, which remains as the sanctioning body for junior corps in North America. At the first DCI World Championships in Whitewater, Wisconsin, the Cadets just missed making Finals and finished in thirteenth place in a competition that featured thirty-nine corps from the East, the South, the West Coast, the Midwest and Great Plains, and Canada. The corps would fail to make DCI Finals for the first three years they were held and for six of DCI's first eight seasons. After their third Finals appearance in 1980, the Cadets quickly regained the corps' former championship form. In 1983–85, the Garfield Cadets became the first DCI corps to earn a three-peat—three consecutive DCI titles. On July 4, 1986 the Cadets performed as a part of the Liberty Weekend celebrating both the hundredth anniversary and the restoration of the Statue of Liberty. In 1987, the corps won its fourth DCI crown in five years. The Garfield Cadets relocated outside Garfield to Hackensack and became the Cadets of Bergen County in 1989. The Cadets of Bergen County won DCI Championships in 1990, '93, '98, and 2000. In 1996,