The
day I enlisted was 29 January 1968. While my mother was crying,
my father gave me twenty bucks and a shaving case kit. He
told me that I would need them both. I kissed my mother and
shook my father's hand and said good-bye, and God Bless. Then
I turned away and walked through the main post office's doors.
I had no idea that, "mommies little baby boy would
soon become a MEAT HEAD and MAGGOT!" I became all that, then
some, despite my amazement.
"When I joined I had no idea how anything worked. Everything was brand new," Gerhardt says. "For me, hearing that first cadence the very first time was awesome. Because you always wanted to hear what the next verse was. So you always wanted to keep up so that you could hear the person calling the cadence so you knew what to say back to them."
The infectious appeal of cadences is used to motivate and coordinate people who might not have anything else in common. But they also do something more fundamenta. |
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(DI) Your Left Youre Right... Left Right Left Right... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) You never get home when your Left... Your Right... (Boots - [Maggot])
(DI) Your Left Youre Right... Left Right Left Right... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
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(DI) Hey, De high De Oh... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Up the hill... The way we go... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Forty inches all around... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI)That The Ft Ord special... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) What a crazy sound... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Up - One, two, three, four... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats) |
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(DI) I want to be an Airborne Ranger... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Live a life of Gus and danger... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Up the hill... down the hill ... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I want to be an Airborne Ranger... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Up - One, two, three, four ... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats) |
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“I don’t know, but I’ve been told” is definitely real, but after that, whatever you’ve heard in the movies or on TV was cleaned up with soap and bleach, because in the military it gets real dirty, real fast. And fun.. |
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| Yellow Bird Cadence |
(DI) A yellow bird, with a yellow bill. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) He landed on My window sill. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I coaxed him in. With a piece of bread, (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) and then I kissed his Little Little head! (Stomp your falling foot in unison) (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I called the doctor. The doctor said. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) My dear good man. This bird is dead. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) The moral of The Story is (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) If you want some bread (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) You better Give some Head (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Up - One, two, three, four... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats) |
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| MAMA MAMA Can't you see Cadence |
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(DI) Mama mama can’t you see, (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) what the army’s done to me. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) They put me in a barber’s chair, (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) spun me around I had no hair (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Up - One, two, three, four... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats) |
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(DI) Mama mama can’t you see, (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) what the army’s done to me. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) They took away my favorite jeans, (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) now I’m wearing army greens. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Up - One, two, three, four... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats) |
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(DI) Mama mama can’t you see, (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) what the army’s done to me. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I use to date beauty queens, (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) now I love my M16. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Up - One, two, three, four... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats) |
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(DI) Mama mama can’t you see? (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) What the Army’s done to me? (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I used to date the prom king (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Now I hug an AR15. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Up - One, two, three, four... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
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(DI) Mama mama can’t you see? (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) What the Army’s done to me? (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Took away my lovin’ man (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Now I sleep with Uncle Sam. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Up - One, two, three, four... (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats) |
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| I put my hand on my girlfriend Cadence |
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(DI) I put my hand on my girlfriend’s toe (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Ya ho Ya ho (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I put my hand on my girlfriend’s toe (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Ya ho Ya ho (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I put my hand on my girlfriend’s toe (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) She said dear boy you’re much too slow (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Get in, get out quit f**ing about. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Ya ho Ya ho Ya ho (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I put my hand on my girlfriend’s knee (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Ya ho Ya ho (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I put my hand on my girlfriend’s knee (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Ya ho Ya ho (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I put my hand on my girlfriend’s knee (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) She said dear boy you’re tickling me. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Get in, get out quit f**ing about. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Ya ho Ya ho Ya ho (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I put my hand on my girlfriend’s thigh (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Ya ho Ya ho (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I put my hand on my girlfriend’s thigh (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Ya ho Ya ho (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I put my hand on my girlfriend’s thigh (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) She said dear boy you’re much too shy. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Get in get out quit f**ing about. (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Ya ho Ya ho Ya ho (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats) |
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| Infantry Cadence |
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(DI) Oh, sol-dier (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Com-bat sol-dier (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) Pick up your weap-on and Fol-low Me (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats)
(DI) I am the In-fan-try (Boots - [Maggot] Repeats) |
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Heavy Heart ...
I remember the biting cold as I stepped from my car. I looked toward the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and walked with the growing crowd. I saw people clustered from one end to the other of the Memorial ... The Wall. Read More---->>> |
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The Power of a Name by: Valerie
The Castilleja School Palo Alto, CA © 1999
I never really imagined that a name could have so much meaning. Walking along the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial I was faced with thousands of names belonging to thousands of people who had each given their lives for our country. I stood there, surrounded by spectators, all quiet in respect and honor, but the personal meaning didn’t reach any deeper than the engraved letters on the wall. To me they were just labels, not the true souls that they represented. I had never known the soldiers who had lost their lives; I hadn’t even been alive to experience the war.
Read More---->>> |
