codings 
 codings
sunday, 11 may, 2003
academically, historian and wwii infantry veteran les cleveland in his 'dark laughter' identifies six codings of service songs;
 happy warrior, hungry warrior, mortal warrior, bawdy warrior, the reluctant warrior, the vietnam warrior.
 traditionally used codings are each war the songs are sung in, and in the case of edward dolph's 'sound off',
the additional coding of 'songs with hash stripes'    [i].
 I identify this coding as 'trans-generational songs'.
 I have run an ethnomusicological program recording veterans and their songs for ten years now;
 as I transcribed the songs, a picture of service and service life, society, at right angles, more accurately, opposite what history, anthropology, and sociology have presented.
 the common paradigm as presented by cleveland et al is that soldiers    [ii] come from and return to a 'parent' society.
 the global nature of society today, especially in light of trans global inequities and terrorism, makes this perception inaccurate, misleading, and unuseful    [iii].
 I have identified thirty- seven codings, to date.
 amongst these is the coding 'closed society songs' ;
 songs not to be sung in the presence of non soldiers.
 the reality of service songs, mythology, legend, folklore in general;
 institutional aspects of military service, are all closed society songs;
 not to be sung in the presence of the uninitiated.
 I have used this coding specifically describe the songs that are never sung in public, have a 'currency' amongst, at most, a squad, section, ten to twelve comrades.
 some songs in this coding, such as 'airborne all the way' and 'where was god?'
 were never even sung by the soldier/songwriter;
 they were only sung in the heart and soul of the soldier.
 many of the songs fit in more than one coding;
 they are 'multi purpose'.
 similar situations frequently arise, and there is an appropriate song for most situations;
 each time the song is sung, it is not merely a 'song' in a repertoire, it is a 'right now, right here' current, and original comment on the situation.
 it, simultaneously, and without contradiction puts the troubles experienced in the context of all those who have gone before and found solace in their part of tradition, heritage and process.
 I have listed 450 songs, but this is also not accurate;
 some songs have as many as eight versions, each of which, I feel, should in reality, be counted, and identified by an individualized title, which I haven't always done due to the sheer quantity of material to be transcribed;
 each version of a song has it's own identity and context;
 there are more than 1500 songs if described in this manner.
 it should be remembered that the demographics of the codings do not give more than an indication of the importance of that song or coding;
 'closed society' songs are by nature, very personal and private;
 the expose a core of intense feeling in a soldier who most likely has post traumatic stress;
 even when other songs are recorded to the researcher, it takes, at times, many recording sessions and visits to elicit and uncover more songs.
 I have only been as successful as I have to my participation as a soldier, and an elite combat soldier, in an elite unit, through some of that war's hardest and costliest battles.
 after ten years on this project there are still songs I know that I know…but the emotions they elicit keep them buried, along with my comrades and the manner of their death.
 all songs are part of the ritual and rites of a living traditional society that pre-dates historical records;
 and of the songs that soldiers have sung, or kept in their 'footlocker' of the soul, only very few have survived.
 the codings, however, have been and are relevant to all periods of time, all societies and cultures that have, or have had organized armed forces.
 soldiers across time and geographic boundaries have more in common with each other than they do with 'parent' societies;
 they also have more in common with traditional peasant societies than they do with 'parent' societies.
 war having been declared against western consumer hyper real society by international terrorism in the form of the al queda network, and their recruitment based on fundamentalist jihad against western society, makes soldiers an important interface with traditional societies and peasants;
 makes the soldier a socially important tool in identifying of peasants with aims and goals of global society, and thus thwarting recruitment of the disaffected.
         [i] hash stripes are used in most anglo=celtic military services, worn on the right cuff, and parallel to the cuff to indicate number of re-enlistment's a soldier has completed.
 hash, being a traditional army type of meal, is the cant service term for enlistment stripes, worn on right cuff.
 wound stripes are oblique slashed stripes worn on the left cuff.
       [ii] macquarie dictionary defines soldiers as all who have, or do, serve in the armed forces of a country;
 it includes all corps and services;
 army, navy, coast guard, marines, air force.
       [iii] stereotyping of the services and service personnel over the last several hundred years in anglo- celtic western consumer 'hyper real' society' that all research regarding anything to do with military service is so biased, influenced by stereotyping that it brings into question not only research into military service and personnel, but most aspects of research.