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US Military marching cadences.


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t98kmvWuexg

 

I've always been fascinated by US military marching cadances...the calls and responses. The above posted link is a good compilation of what is a very American thing! I just wondered what reminiscences of such cadences our ex and currently serving military men have? Are they Army or Corps wide or does each division have their own particular ones? Are they traditional/fixed or constantly evolving etc? Thank you.

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some you can't post here :lol:

Yessssssssss, indeed! :laughing1:

 

So, I'd say some cadence counts are traditional and basic to all American branches (e.g. "Hawp Toop Threep Fawr! Yer Left Yer Left Yer Left Right Left")

 

Many, though, are very era-specific according to whatever is part of the general culture at that moment in history. (e.g. the ones that began with the words, "I don't know but I've been told..." etc.)

 

The rest are very branch and unit-specific morale chants.

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So...do they come from the men, the Drill Sergeant...or both?! :evilgrin:

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Old Marine

In Boot Camp, "Recruit Training" they come from the Drill Instructors. Later on in regular units the men can sometimes call cadence, but whatever they are calling is probably what they learned from their Drill Instructors. So it just continues. As Bluehawk said they are pretty unit specific, sometime they can be like an inside joke, that only the guys in that unit may understand. Marines, Airborne, Rangers all have some pretty specific chants.

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In Boot Camp, "Recruit Training" they come from the Drill Instructors. Later on in regular units the men can sometimes call cadence, but whatever they are calling is probably what they learned from their Drill Instructors. So it just continues. As Bluehawk said they are pretty unit specific, sometime they can be like an inside joke, that only the guys in that unit may understand. Marines, Airborne, Rangers all have some pretty specific chants.

 

Thanks! So they're just passed on by word of mouth from one intake of recruits to the next?

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mackinturk

I just remember our night classes getting in trouble at tech school for yelling loud enough to wake up the other squadrons as we marched back from class at around midnight. It probably didn't help that there were some less than polite words thrown in. I couldn't talk for a couple days after one particularly fun night when we had lights coming on in every dorm we passed.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t98kmvWuexg

 

I've always been fascinated by US military marching cadances...the calls and responses. The above posted link is a good compilation of what is a very American thing! I just wondered what reminiscences of such cadences our ex and currently serving military men have? Are they Army or Corps wide or does each division have their own particular ones? Are they traditional/fixed or constantly evolving etc? Thank you.

 

 

Visions of Full Metal Jacket and The Boys in Comapny C...... R.Lee Ermey Classics ;)

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Thanks! So they're just passed on by word of mouth from one intake of recruits to the next?

 

There are some cds and cassettes, but the majority are learned from instructors, other soldiers, big brothers teaching obscene ones to their little brothers, etc.

 

This is one reason Jody is still around. If you remember the 1949 movie "Battleground" Van Johnson asked Kinnie "Whatever happened to Jody?" Kinnie then starts the cadence (i.e. a Jody call). Jody has been stealing the girlfriends and Cadillacs of soldiers for over 60 years.

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uplandmod

Seriously there are times when some threads should be open to or have an adult warning about expletives.

 

This is one of them, I would love to read these cadences and they are historical in scope and it's unfortunate that they don't get documented because of it.

 

My dad still knows his cadences from when he was in the Corp and still very proud of them.

 

Leonardo

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Rakkasan187

There is a Jody call in the Devil's Brigade starring William Holden and Cliff Robertson that stands out,

 

"She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" If I recall correctly it is heard as the vehicles bring the troops back to camp after the bar room brawl with the lumberjacks, and at Frederick's birthday in the wine cellar after the raid when the unit captured the German garrison.

 

We used to sing this cadence in addition to others that can't be mentioned due to content... during Parade Practice while in Berlin and sometimes after PT runs..

 

Leigh..

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHgU-5uPXJ4

 

 

I also remember when I was in the 101st we had our own compnay T-shirts for PT and each unit had nicknames, A co was known as the Angels from Hell, B Co, Bravo Bastards, C. Co was "Choppin Charlie" and our mascot was a masked executioner with a double bladed axe. We had our T-shirts designed with the RAKKASAN Torri and our unit symbols.

 

The Cadence Callers in the Company were identified by having two crossed axes on the sleeve of their PT shirts. Whenever we ran in formation we would run on the outside of the formation and rotate taking turns calling cadences.

 

I still have my Choppin Charlie T-shirt with my crossed axes identifying me as one ofthe compnay cadence callers. Anyone in the unit could call cadence, but they usually called on those who were coordinated enough to keep the guys in step and sing at the same time...

 

Will post pictures of that shirt here sometime..

 

Here is one cadence that I recall from the time period.

 

"Michael Jackson came to town, Coca Cola turned him down, Pepsi Cola burnt him up, now he's drinkin 7 Up"...

 

This of course was in made when MJ was doing a Pepsi commercial and his hair caught on fire, causing severe burns to his scalp. This of course led to his addiction to pain pills and his untimely death..

 

Anyway, one of the funnier cadences we used to sing and it was clean as well. The Soldiers today still get a kick out of that one when I mention it to them...

 

 

Leigh..

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The fun part was when two or more units were moving past or across the path of another one, and the TI would sometimes start a cadence call that was intended to be an insult to the other, so then that other unit would come up with a retort and back and forth like that for a little while... it could get really funny as he(ck), all in good fun.

 

Units (line mine since I carried the Flight guidon, for example :rolleyes: ) who got really sharp on close order drill could be something to witness in call and response.

 

But then, being a sick person, I actually loved drill.

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Ian, here's about the only clean one I can remember.

"GI beans and GI gravy, gee I wished I joined the Navy"! :lol:

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Ian, here's about the only clean one I can remember.

"GI beans and GI gravy, gee I wished I joined the Navy"! :lol:

 

 

"My grampaw was a horse ma-rine! ........." (Complete in no more than seven syllables!) :lol:

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The one in the link when you get to the part of your Military Left, was in my day used with MOTHER F....ING left, only on very rare occasions would Military Left be used. These cadences are from what I heard in the link are Marching ones, their are also Running Cadences, that in the old days were just as profane. In Basic Training and AIT in the Army, (I'll stick to Infantry as that is what I know best, but I'm sure it was the same at most Trainging centers, in the 60s-early 80s) there was also Chants, and Rejoinders. Two instances; when in the Company Area, when falling in, the DS will call his Platoon to attention, where as we would bellow out real loud our Platoon chant as we snapped to attention, ours was, as I still do remember it, was FIRST PLATOON WERE THE BEST F... REST, GIVE US HELL DRILL SERGEANT, GIVE US HELL ! this was followed by a GROWL, the other Platoons had similar ones, just as equally vulger, I say vulgar but to us it was really just one word, their where more vulgar ones trust me.

 

As for when a Infantry Training company took to Ranges ( Any place in "the Field" where blocks of instuction are given are called ranges for the most part, with it not being necessarily a weapons firing range) the Company would fill up bleachers or if none, stand in formation with the idea of sitting on the ground, the DS or sometimes later in AIT, the Senior Cadre NCO who was part of the instruction team as these particular ranges, who was normally a Vietnam vet, as were most of our Drill Sergeants, would shout WHO ARE YOU !, this time the Company in unison woulds shout out the Company rejoinder, our was BRAVO BOBCATS IS OUR NAME, SIT RIGHT DOWN AND WATCH US TRAIN, NIGHT AND DAY, BRAVO BOBCATS LEAD THE WAY! again ending with a GROWL, where upon we where told AT EASE, BE SEATED, the same applied to any class room instruction as well, here it was just in doors behind those long tables. This one as you see has NO profanty in it, my guess is that, for reasons like civilian press or some other, say outside non Military Governmental entites that might happen to be out watching or reporting on training ETC, and may or would not be amused if it was a curse filled reply, imagine if you will the flick the Green Berets, at the beginning of the movie, there is a show and demostration for the press and civilians, this what I am referring to.

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The staple of Ft Benning, always done at a double time and always during jump week.

 

Blood Upon The Risers

 

He was just a cherry trooper and he surely shook with fright

as he checked all his equipment and made sure his pack was tight

He had to sit and listen to the awful engines roar,

And he ain't gonna jump no more.

 

CHORUS:

Gory, Gory, What a helluva way to die

Gory, Gory, What a helluva way to die

Gory, Gory, What a helluva way to die

He ain't gonna jump no more.

 

"Is everybody happy?"cried the Sergeant, looking up.

Our hero feebly answered "eyes," and then they stood him up.

He leaped right out into the blast, his static line unhooked.

He ain't gonna jump no more.

 

CHORUS:

 

He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock;

He felt the wind, he felt the clouds, he felt the awful drop;

He jerked his cord, the silk spilled out and wrapped around his legs.

He ain't gonna jump no more.

 

CHORUS:

 

The risers wrapped around his neck, connectors cracked his dome;

The lines were snarled and tied in knots, around his skinny bones;

The canopy became his shroud, he hurtled to the ground.

He ain't gonna jump no more.

 

CHORUS:

 

The days he'd lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind;

He thought about the girl back home, the one he'd left behind;

He thought about the medics and wondered what they'ed find.

He ain't gonna jump no more.

 

CHORUS:

 

The ambulance was on the spot, the jeeps were running wild;

The medics jumped and screamed with glee, they rolled their sleeves and smiled;

For it had been a week or more since last a chute had failed.

He ain't gonna jump no more.

 

CHORUS:

 

He hit the ground, the sound was splat, his blood went spurting high;

His comrades were then heard to say, "A helluve way to die";

He lay there rolling around in the welter of his gore.

He ain't gonna jump no more.

 

CHORUS:

 

There was blood upon the risers, there were brains upon the chute;

Intestines were a-dangling from this paratrooper's boots;

They picked him up, still in his chute and poured him from his boots.

He ain't gonna jump no more.

 

CHORUS:

Done at slow cadence

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HEY HEY CAPTAIN JACK ! MEET ME BY THE RAILROAD TRACK ! anyone know the rest ? this one was a common one.

 

Hey, hey Captain Jack

Meet me down by the railroad track

With that rifle in my hand

I'm gonna be a shootin' man

A shootin' man

The best I can

For Uncle Sam

 

Hey, hey Captain Jack

Meet me down by the railroad track

With that knife in my hand

I'm gonna be a cuttin' man

A cuttin' man

A shootin' man

The best I can

For Uncle Sam

 

Hey, hey Captain Jack

Meet me down by the railroad track

With that grenade in my hand

I'm gonna be a killin' man

A killin' man

A cuttin' man

A shootin' man

The best I can

For Uncle Sam

 

Hey, hey Captain Jack

Meet me down by the railroad track

With that bottle in my hand

I'm gonna be a drinkin' man

A drinkin' man

A killin' man

A cuttin' man

A shootin' man

The best I can

For Uncle Sam

 

Hey, hey Captain Jack

Meet me down by the railroad track

With that book in my hand

I'm gonna be a studyin' man

A studyin' man

A drinkin' man

A killin' man

A cuttin' man

A shootin' man

The best I can

For Uncle Sam

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Hey, hey Captain Jack

Meet me down by the railroad track

With that rifle in my hand

I'm gonna be a shootin' man

A shootin' man

The best I can

For Uncle Sam

 

Hey, hey Captain Jack

Meet me down by the railroad track

With that knife in my hand

I'm gonna be a cuttin' man

A cuttin' man

A shootin' man

The best I can

For Uncle Sam

 

Hey, hey Captain Jack

Meet me down by the railroad track

With that grenade in my hand

I'm gonna be a killin' man

A killin' man

A cuttin' man

A shootin' man

The best I can

For Uncle Sam

 

Hey, hey Captain Jack

Meet me down by the railroad track

With that bottle in my hand

I'm gonna be a drinkin' man

A drinkin' man

A killin' man

A cuttin' man

A shootin' man

The best I can

For Uncle Sam

 

Hey, hey Captain Jack

Meet me down by the railroad track

With that book in my hand

I'm gonna be a studyin' man

A studyin' man

A drinkin' man

A killin' man

A cuttin' man

A shootin' man

The best I can

For Uncle Sam

 

 

 

Ah yes thats is it, I of course know this one, but as we see it does not have that alternative stansa, you remember the one ,it goes WITH MY P........ IN MY HAND I'M GONNA BE A F........... MAN or the more mild with my GIRL/WOMAN IN MY ARMS/BY THE HAND I'M GONNA BE A LOVINGMAN

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Thats an interesting take on Captain Jack Ian, In my day it was not a running song, it was sung only when marching. Many of the Marching songs can be quite old, the Jody types as mentioned, but also one that was quite popular but was quite old, was one called OLD KING COLE, this marching song shows up in Army song books as early as 1941, perhaps even earlier, it, though not vulgar in any way, it was one that was sung many many times, not only when I was in Basic and AIT but also when I was in the Cav and up in the 4/9 at Wainwright, these being permanent party units filled with long serving soldiers or ones that have been in a year or two.

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