Cadence Songs

Yesterday was an Army function- a cookout and formation, basically. It was actually fairly exciting. Most of my platoon was there, and we went over marching and formations in Wickham Park in East Hartford. There were lots of onlookers, who probably wondered why squads were marching along the park roads, and standing in formation in the parking lot. Because we can, that's why! My unit was under the command of one PFC Malloy, recently finished out of AIT. She was pretty cool, and obviously had had a good deal of practice with marching. There were, prior to all this, several civilian speakers, all of whom had useful information, however one tended to drone on and on, filling about 20 minutes with examples and stories that didn't actually seem to go anywhere. I was sitting with a couple of people in my unit, and we debated throwing hot dogs at the drill sergeant, our rationale being then we would have to run laps or something- anything except listen to this person go on and on! But then we realized, as punishment we probably wouldn't be doing pushups or running laps- we'd have to sit there and listen to the whole thing again! Besides, throwing hot dogs at the drill sergeant is not something we would generally do anyway. Actually, I kind of liked the drill sergeant- clearly, this is a person to whom one listens. But apart from that, not without a sense of humor, and he worked well with us. Perhaps we need more drill sergeants in everyday life- I would imagine things would get done then! Or just those Smokey the Bear hats- anyone ever in the military knows them, and they do indeed strike terror into the hearts of the bravest soldiers! But really, the DS is not a bad guy, just a hardass. And besides, no one takes it personally.
Apart from that, yesterday it rained initially, then giving way to sun. And humidity- a nice little foretaste of the conditions in Fort Benning, no doubt! But that's okay, if the skies are that clear and the breeze smelling of trees and flowers, I wouldn't mind a full pack and a little humidity!

And, on a closing note- here's a running cadence I happened across- if I ever get called out in basic to do cadence, this is going to top my list-
Drill Sergeant and the Devil
Out jumped the Sergeant from the coconut grove,
He was a mean Drill Sergeant you could tell by his clothes.
He wore a wide brim hat and BDUs,
Had badder breath than the CO and you.
Lined a hundard soldiers up against the wall,
Made a two dollar bet he could train 'em all.
Trained ninety-eight and we thought he was thru,
Backed off, right stepped, and dropped the other two!
Well, when he died, he went straight ta' Hell,
Where he trained the Devil's daughter, and his sister as well.
The Devil said Drill, let's make a deal,
You can have my daughter if you get outta Hell!
Ain't no problem is all he said,
If I can't train ya', then ya' should be dead!
Hey! All the way!
I run every day!
Hey! All the way,
I run all the way!
The Drill Sergeant runs the earth today
,And if you listen close, this is what he'll say.
Gotta like it, gotta love it,Gotta have, more of it!
Hey, Hey! All the way!
Gotta run, all day!
Gotta run, all night.
And all night, is all right!
I guess you wonder how I know this tale,
cause I'm the Drill that came from Hell!
I gotta mean, mean wife and father-in-law,
But they're not the meanest people that I ever saw.
Can't be, like me.Can't do, like you!
Blood and guts,Thru and thru!