Marching & Running Cadences

[williamstamato]

I have a half hour playlist on my iPod of Marine cadences and it helps me run and finish my run without even thinking about walking! (I like to think there's a DI right there who would chew me out if I start to walk haha)

[Achamness]

I dont know what my favorite's exact name is but a line from it is
" AC-130 rolling down the strip, Gonna get on board and take a little trip"

[pocatellodave]

The Old Corps cadence that you had to listen well to do the commands properly,not one-two-three-four, platoon halt,but ell-ight-yo-ell- ight,tooon hoot!

[dentonz]

Born in the bush,
raised by a bear,
I gotta double set of dog teeth
and a triple coat of hair.
I got two brass balls
and a cast iron rod,
I a mean mother f@#$#$
I'm (insert your unit here) by God

[Nerd]

one, two, three, four
one, two, three, four
the army & navy was not for me
the air force was just too easy
what I need was a little bit more
I need a life that is hardcore

Parris Island where it all began
a little rock and a lot of sand
can't forget about Hollywood
San Diego, and it's all good
PT drills, all day long
keep me rolling from dusk to dawn

a one, two, three, four
tell me now what you're waiting four
one, two, three, four
come on now we're gonna sing it some more

first phase, they broke me down
second phase i start to come around
third phase i was lean an mean
graduation standing tall in my greens
to anybody who asks me why
here's the deal, i give my reply
i'll be a Marine to the day i die
motivated and semper fi

a one, two, three, four
tell me now what you're waiting for
one, two, three, four
come on now we're gonna sing it some more

Tun Tavern to Belleu Wood
we're making history so it's understood
Iwo Jima to Guadalcanal
Kickin' butt just everywhere
Berute, Lebanon
I think it's time that we get it done
Frozen chosin to Hochimin
I think it's time that we do it again

[Steve018]

I dont know what my favorite's exact name is but a line from it is
" AC-130 rolling down the strip, Gonna get on board and take a little trip"

Same, I almost put the same exact thing u said but i saw your comment and quoted it instead lol

[Rough Hands]

"Mama Can't You See", definitely my favorite.

[PARKER93]

My favorite is "Mamma told Johnny not to go downtown"

[wilsontc11]

Blood and Guts

[younger223]

Navy, Navy, I'm in doubt
Why's your belly sticking out?
Is it the whiskey or the wine?
Or is it lack of PT time?

[Svage]

I just came back from my very first Drill meet with my school's AFJROTC program. I took part in the Tapout competition but I was quickly taken out because I couldn't understand the Marine D.I.'s commands. After I was taken out I went and sat down to watch. When he started marching them I couldn't help but notice how he called cadence. I kept on trying to understand the words and I started to understand them. My question is: Can someone please type out the basic marching cadence in their phonetic spelling? Forward March. Right and Left Oblique. Right and Left Flank. To the rear March. and just the plain old Left right left right? I tried to make this question as clear as possible. Thank you for your help.

[Svage]

People call cadence differently, so there is no specific phonetic equivalent of the words you're asking about. e.g. forwwaaaaaard, MARCH! and just for marching along, hey, heya left right left, your left right left, and a hundred other ways to do it!
So your question may not have an answer.
I would suggest two things, though.
I would spend time listening, on the sidelines like you did.
More importantly, I would not be embarrassed to approach the Marine DI and request help from him on this, after all, HE is the one calling cadence and giving commands.
Quite the opposite of him being upset, he is there to instruct you and shouldn't mind at all instructing you.
This is far different from being at Parris Island and raising your hand and saying, excuse me, sir??? LOL
Good luck....like anything else that is foreign to us, it takes time, practice, effort, assistance from others.
I know you'll do well, because you're on here asking questions. So you're interested and motivated to learn. That is the first step, and you've already taken it, so I know you'll do well.

Thank you for your advice, I think I'll ask the Marine Recruiter when he comes to my school. But what it sounded like to me was whats in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gseNZnC9nEg almost identical. Skip ahead to :50 thats when he starts calling cadence.

[Svage]

Well, the "problem" with that is that the recruiter is not the one who actually called cadence where you were asked to sit it out. So his cadence and someone else's in a video may or may not be different from the DI whose cadence you listened to and did not quite understand.
Cadence is cadence, yes, but it is like you knowing how to speak Spanish, then asking someone from Spain to speak Spanish for you. Yes, the language is the same for all, but their different accents will make some easier to understand and some harder. So if you don't understand someone speaking Spanish, you would not go to someone else and ask them about it, you would go to the person who spoke to you in the first place.
It can be a highly individualized thing--cadence. Because, in a way, it is a language all its own, and it does not sound exactly the same coming from everyone who calls it.
But, you don't have to try one approach or the other, you can try them all, as long as it gets you into the position of fully understanding the cadence your particular DI is calling. Whatever works, in other words.

Well I would go up to that D.I. and ask him but the thing is I probably will never see him again. Maybe he will be at the next drill meet at the end of February. But I'll ask around. Thanks for your help.

[Zulu 36]

Part of understanding cadence comes from repetitive hearing and doing, reinforced by pushing your nose in the dirt for a while until your hearing becomes more acute.

Essentially, that is exactly how Marine recruits learn. Easily by Second Phase you can tell your Drill Instructors apart by their cadence and command voice. An important skill on the grinder when other platoons are out there too. Essentially you learn to tune out any other voice except those three or four. When I was in boot camp, other DIs would wander past and give a command from behind us and see if we reacted. If we did, we went to the pit for more voice recognition training.

Watching that YouTube video, I clearly understood the cadence and thought it was a rather basic one. The platoon is doing Final Drill Comp, so the SDI is going to make his calls in more "plain English" than normal. Also, remember the squad leaders are giving commands of their own over the cadence which may confuse the untrained ear.

[Old Marine]

Does this D.I. come out of MCRD, San Diego to your drill sessions. I didn't know that they let the D.I.'s out of their cages to attend drill sessions off base. We used to go to High Schools in the San Diego area and judge drill competitions.

Some D.I.'s when they call cadence say one, two, three, four. Some just grunt and you have to figure out what they are saying. If you do not, the pit is always available. There is no way of calling cadence that is written in stone.