Military Cadence

During morning PT, we call running cadence for a few reasons. It keeps your mind off aching muscles, builds esprit de corps, sustains motivation and builds endurance.

Cadence calling is also a good yardstick to measure the progress and potential of young soldiers and a way for specialists to stand out from their peers.

Wikipdeia.org defines a military cadence or cadence call, “as a traditional call-and-response work song sung by military personnel while running or marching.”

Running will build lung capacity, while singing while running will improve diaphragm control. With additional diaphragm control Soldiers can improve their command voice. Developing a command voice is important for young soldiers as is getting out front and leading a formation. Many new troops are shy or scared they might be embarrassed when they inevitably mess up a cadence call. We rarely march in my unit but we run most every day.

My favorite running cadences are, Bo Diddley, Drip Drop, Drippity Drop Drop and I Feel All Right Now.

There are dozens if not hundreds of military cadences out there. Units, regiments and individuals will tailor a call to their audience to personalize the experience. I added another verse to Drip Drop to stretch it out and draw upon my deployment experience.

The 50 Cal gunner is asleep up in the turret
Drip Drop, Drippity Drop Drop
The 50 Cal gunner is asleep up in the turret
Drip Drop, Drippity Drop Drop
I punched him in the goonies and told him get back to work
Drip Drop, Drippity Drop Drop

Note: The hackneyed cadence, “C-130 Rollin’ Down the Strip” should be banned except at BCT. I mentally mock anyone over E-4 who pulls out that overused call during company run.

Army Promotion Board Prep

This week, I went to my E-5 board. I am glad it is over.

Out of the dozens, if not hundreds of pieces of advice here are the ones that worked for me.

1. Learn the Creed of the NCO early and say it every day at the position of attention. Say it out loud and say it thinking of the next line in the middle of the sentence you are in. That way, when board members get up and make remarks intended to throw you off, you won’t notice or be flustered (like I was in the mock board). In the real board, I was told you could hear me down the hall. I nailed it.

2. Get your NCOs to run a mock board. By far the biggest performance enhancement tool for me, a mock board will help you polish your presentation, get feedback and practice. They should make the mock board many times worse than any real board including people walking around.

3. Print out the ArmyStudyGuide.com PDF. They were asking me questions from it verbatim and in order. You will kill half a tree, but you can also bequeath it to one of your Soldiers. If there was a Kinkos near Fort Polk, I would have paid to get it bound. Bring it everywhere and have people quiz you as you answer in board format (rank, repeat question, give answer).

4. Come up with mnemonics to help remember the 30+ AR, FM and DA-PAM numbers mentioned in the ArmyStudyGuide. For example, BRM or Basic Rifle Marksmanship (FM 3-22.9): BRM has 3 letters; you can practice with a 22; or your 9. Another example, Drill and Ceremonies (FM 3-21.5): C in Ceremonies is the 3rd letter of the alphabet; you have 21 gun salutes; and the Taps playing device in the bugle works half the time or .5 of the time at funerals.

5. When you don’t know an answer, if you know the manual, you can say, “Sergeant Major, while I don’t know what the ACS symbol represents, I can find the answer in AR 608-1.” I used it in conjunction with the old standard, “Sergeant Major, as soon as I find out what the third paragraph of the Code of Conduct is, I’ll report back to you immediately.”