Inspiration Haven

scriptsoldier:

Cadence
is, first and foremost, a method of maintaining marching rhythm. It
is called to create unification, order, and synergy between marching
troups. It’s described as having a “call and response” because
there’s one person calling the line of cadence, and then the line or
the next line recited by the soldiers marching. Not only does this
setup make it easy to march to/learn new cadences on the fly, it
keeps participation high and it helps pass time on longer marches.

Please
note that the army has this issue with you calling or referring to
cadence as “singing,” even though that’s essentially what it is.
So basically just don’t have your characters call cadence
“singing.”

Each cadence follows a beat that corresponds
with a step. When marching, the left foot goes first, followed by the
right, then left, then right, etc. When calling cadence, you begin on
the left foot, and end on the right. I’m sure there’s one or two
weird cadences that are exceptions to this, but generally speaking
you start left, end right.

You’ve probably heard in army
movies the “Left, left, left right left!” bit. That’s more of a
bridging cadence than proper cadence in itself. It’s usually used
when the person marching is thinking of a new cadence to start
saying, isn’t allowed to call cadence for some reason, or the
location they’re marching to is coming up within thirty seconds or so
and they’re getting ready to bring everyone to a halt. It goes
without saying that even though the cadence calls three lefts in a
row, each left is spoken on the left foot, meaning that in between
each “left” is a pause as soldiers step on the right, and when
“right” comes up there is no pause. “Left (pause) Left (pause)
left, right, left.” More often soldiers mix things up a bit and say
“Your left, right!” or something else. Certain intonations of
“left, right” can actually be the lead-in to certain cadences,
but that’s cadence specific and I won’t get into it here.

Please
keep in mind that step isn’t determined by the word, but rather the
rhythm. Don’t make the mistake of assuming each word = one step.

If
you like, listen to this recording of “Hey, Hey Captain Jack!”
and try to march along. You can actually hear the footsteps in the
audio to represent the soldiers marching.

If you march to
Captain Jack, your lyric/step will look something like this:

Hey
(Left)
Hey (Right)
Captain (Left)
Jack! (Right)

Meet
me (Left)
down by (Right)
the
rail-road (Left)
track
(Right)

If a soldier is out of step with the cadence, they can
perform a “change step” while marching to get themselves back on
the right foot. They don’t have to wait for a command to do this; if
they realize someone’s nipping at their heels and they’re off-pace
with the cadence, they can do it any time to get back into rhythm.
Still, this can be tricky as you’re not supposed to look down while
marching except maybe a passing glance to ensure you’re on step with
everyone. You’re supposed to always stay on step with the person in
front of you, unless you’re at the front, in which case you keep in
step with the person on the far right (that person is called the
“guide,” for reference.)

Again, this can be tricky because
if the person in front of you is out of step, it could result in a
chain reaction of everyone change-stepping to get on step with that
person, resulting in half the unit being out of step with the guide.
This is another reason why cadence is called; the person who’s
calling the cadence (the “post,” for reference) is always on step
with the guide, so if you’re on step with the person calling cadence,
you’re probably right.

Cadence is actually kinda fun because
the lyrics are usually humorous or risqué.
They’re also often interactive, and soldiers will throw in their own
add-ons or fun renditions. For example, if you listened to the above
clip for Hey, Hey Captain Jack, you’ll notice that the soldiers go
immediately from one verse to the next. In a normal unit though, you
might hear a rendition that looks more like this…

(final
line of chorus)
I’m gonna be your gunnin’ man!
(bonus lines)

The best I can!
For Uncle Sam!
Re-up, [Oh, re-up!] you’re
crazy!
Re-up, [Oh, hell no!] you’re outta your mind!

These
are doubly interactive lines because the part in square brackets is
said by the soldiers before the line is fully finished.

Ordinarily
when you call cadence, it looks like this:

Caller: “Re-up,
you’re outta your mind!”
Soldiers: “Re-up, you’re outta your
mind!”

But in this case, the “Oh, hell no!” is said
after the caller says “re-up,” and then the line is repeated back
normally.

Renditions like that vary by unit and some prefer
that you don’t do it at all.

Sometimes cadences involve a
“stomp” for bonus effect, usually to end a line for dramatic
effect or to fill in for a explosion sound or to cut out a cuss word.
The stomp is usually performed on the right foot where the verse
would usually end, and is merely the soldiers taking a particularly
firm step all at once to make a louder combined footstep. Below is an
example in “They Say That in the Army”

“Oh
lord, I wanna go!
But they won’t let me go-oh, oh-woah-oh, hey!
[stomp]”

Some cadence tidbits:

•
Cadence
can be called at either quick time (normal speed) or double time
(running speed) but some cadences are exclusively meant for running
due to the pace of the lyrics.

•
Cadences
are always expected to be called-back loud and clear, even when
running in formation.

•
Cadences should end on the right step, and then soldiers should begin
on the next left step they take.

•
The post is usually the leader of the unit marching. If it’s a squad,
it’s a squad leader. If it’s a platoon, it’s the platoon sergeant.
It’s rare (if ever) for an officer to call cadence.

• Calling
cadence is considered an essential part of enlisted life. Leadership
will often call lower-enlisted up to call cadence to test their
abilities. Calling cadence requires
(1) Knowledge of cadences.
You can impress people if you can effectively call an uncommon
cadence.
(2) A command voice and presence. Soldiers can hear when
a person knows what they’re doing and when they don’t. Being able to
sound off loud and clear shows your motivation and your
(3)
Marching discipline. You call cadence WHILE marching, so you need to
know at what point it’s appropriate to stop calling cadence and give
a command if necessary. That means being cognizant of your surroundings
and where your troops are going.

•
Officers rarely, if ever, call cadence. Most NCOs would be insulted
if an officer were leading a unit and calling cadence. The only time
I’ve ever had that happen is
(1) On a battalion run, like once,
my battalion commander stepped in for a minute, and it was a very
symbolic gesture.
(2) My very high-speed platoon leader jumped in
to call running cadence sometimes but the NCOs clearly didn’t care
for this.

That’s
everything I can think of as far as cadence goes! If you have any
more questions, feel free to hit up my ask box, and stay tuned for
Sing-a-long Sundays for more fun cadences you can use!