Author Archives: f001yvy

Blood Stripe

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Title: Blood Stripe

Informant info: Michael Rodriguez. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2003 and was a member of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Bravo Company, which is an infantry military unit. He was stationed out of camp Lejeune North Carolina. Informant served in Iraq from June 2004 to December 2004. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He was from a military family, as well. Informant is 31 years old.

Type of lore: Customary Lore, Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: When a soldier in the military gets promoted to the level of Non-commisisoned officer they are given a ceremony and pants with a red stripe on the side. This stripe is called a “Blood Stripe”. During the ceremony, other NCO traditionally go up to the person being promoted and punch him in the thigh along the red stripe to give him a blood stripe on his leg.

Associated file: Blood Stripe

Transcript: “There’s also when you become like a corporal and a Non-Commissioned Officer, you get these things called a blood stripe,you see it like, next time you see a Marine Corps uniform ya its like blue pants that have a red stripe that go right down the side. They call it the blood stripe. You get that when you become a non-commissioned officer. Or an officer. So um back in the day, they’d used to uh you’d get… you’d become an NCO like and maybe they still in some places they still do it i don’t think they do it too much anymore but uh  you buddies would pull you aside if you were a sergeant or corporal already they would like pound and just like beat the shit out of you. And you’d have these bruises that run up and down the side of your legs. You’d have your ‘blood stripe’.”

Informant’s comments: Informant thought this was a funny tradition. He mentioned that a lot of the traditions are dying down.

Collector’s comments: I thought this was an interesting tradition that was similar to hazing at our school.

Tags/Keywords: Blood Stripe, Customary, Military, Tradition

Pin Hitting

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Title: Pin Hitting

Informant info: Michael Rodriguez. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2003 and was a member of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Bravo Company, which is an infantry military unit. He was stationed out of camp Lejeune North Carolina. Informant served in Iraq from June 2004 to December 2004. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He was from a military family, as well. Informant is 31 years old.

Type of lore: Customary Lore, Tradition, Ceremony

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was asked if there were any traditions or celebrations related to the military. He claimed that during promotion ceremonies after the person being promoted was given a pin there would not be a stopper on the back to prevent the pin from stabbing the person. While this was happening the close friends also in the military would come up to the person and hit on top of the pin to stab the person. By the end of the night the person would have “snake bites” on his chest.

Associated file: Pin Hitting

Transcript: “They used to, you know, we used to get promoted they would uh…like corporal or something like that they don’t.. there’s these little stoppers that go on the back of the pin so obviously you don’t stab yourself, ummm, for your ring. But when you do the promotion, you don’t put those stoppers on and so like what used to happen back in the day is like you’d get them pinned on and like everyone afterwards would like very quickly would come up and like (makes hitting motion on chest) ‘How you doin’ Mike? How you don’ Rodriguez’ and so your constantly by the end you get these two little stab wounds.. these two little snake bites on either side of your neck and your chest.”

Informant’s comments: This tradition has been dying down as well because of the connection to hazing.

Collector’s Comments: During the interview he banged his chest to indicate what it looked like.

 

Poker Hands

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Title: Poker Hands

Informant info: Michael Rodriguez. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2003 and was a member of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Bravo Company, which is an infantry military unit. He was stationed out of camp Lejeune North Carolina. Informant served in Iraq from June 2004 to December 2004. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He was from a military family, as well. Informant is 31 years old.

Type of lore: Customary Lore, Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: The informant was asked if there were any traditions or ceremonies related to the military.There is a tradition that the battalions used to do together before they were deployed. This one was specific to his platoon and these traditions are dying down because they want to make everyone more identical. Each of them were given a specific poker hand before they were deployed to Iraq. They would then wear these cards in their helmet while in Iraq. These were mean to unify the platoon as a group.

Associated file: Poker Hands

Transcript: “Uh, we all got… we were all given poker hands. Like, a poker hand you know like when you play poker, there’s different hands for the different types. So, we were all given one and we were all wearing one in our helmet and we got in a lot of trouble… because that’s a very Vietnam era thing and there always like they don’t really want you to be an individual. So, here we are our platoon being like individuals and putting this … ‘well if you have it on your helmet then why doesn’t everyone else do it’.”

Informant’s comments: He told the collector that they got into a lot of trouble for this specific tradition.

Collector’s Comments: Thought that it was interesting how this ritual tied to the Vietnam war. Collector did not understand the reason for getting in trouble at first.

Tags and Keywords: Customary Lore, Poker Hands, Tradition

Shrapnel Charm

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Title: Shrapnel Charm

Informant info: Michael Rodriguez. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2003 and was a member of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Bravo Company, which is an infantry military unit. He was stationed out of camp Lejeune North Carolina. Informant served in Iraq from June 2004 to December 2004. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He was from a military family, as well. Informant is 31 years old.

Type of lore: Material Lore, Charm

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was asked if there were any charms that they had related to the military or that he had while in the military. He said that one of his charms was the shrapnel that the doctor took out of his leg and he keeps it in a little vial.

Associated file: Shrapnel Charm

Transcript: “They took a piece of shrapnel sort of that was very close to my man parts um and i was like i want to keep that, man. They’re not supposed to.. there supposed to test it for like heavy metal toxins, but um i was like no just give it to me. So, I have it… I have it in a little vial. It’s a little smaller than my pinky finger nail.

Informant’s comments: Informant kept the shrapnel that was in his leg. He claims that it is a charm. He said they put it in a little vial and that the doctors were not supposed to have let him keep the shrapnel.

Collector’s comments: The shrapnel came from the incident that earned him his Purple Heart.

Tags/Keywords: Charm, Material Lore, Purple Heart, Shrapnel

Dog Tags

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Title: Dog Tags

Informant info: Michael Rodriguez. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2003 and was a member of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Bravo Company, which is an infantry military unit. He was stationed out of camp Lejeune North Carolina. Informant served in Iraq from June 2004 to December 2004. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He was from a military family, as well. Informant is 31 years old.

Type of lore: Material Lore, Superstition, Charms

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was asked if there were any charms that he had while in the military or related to the military. Informant said that he carried around his own dog tags along with dog tags from his great grandfather from when he served. He claims that they were good luck charms.

Associated file:

Dog Tags

Transcript: “Uh, kind of. I mean i still have… I usually wear like I mean I have my dog tag my identification tag. I have my great grandfather’s from World War II.”

Informant’s comments: This was his first thought when i mentioned charms and he seemed to think his great grandfather’s and his own dog tags were charms.

Collector’s comments: These could be scene as contactor contagion because he carried around both dog tags in the hopes of having good luck like his great grandfather.

Tags/Keywords: Charms, Dog tags, Military

Marine Corps Ball

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Title: Marine Corps Ball

Informant info: Michael Rodriquez. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2003 and was a member of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Bravo Company, which is an infantry military unit. He was stationed out of camp Lejeune North Carolina. Informant served in Iraq from June 2004 to December 2004. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He was from a military family, as well. Informant is 31 years old.

Type of lore: Customary, Ceremony, Tradition

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was asked if there were any ceremonies related to the military. He replied that there was the Marine Corps Ball on the Marine Corps birthday. Informant claims that there is a ceremony every year where the people either still in the military or retired wear their dress blues to. It occurs on the birthday of the marine corps. He claims that there is a ceremony during the ball where the youngest and oldest active military member will cut the cake.

Associated file:

Marine Corps Ball

Transcript: “Every year we have the marine corp ball, which is on the marine corps birthday. We have that and even like  when you’re out it’s a pretty serious thing. so Im like not in any more but each year theres a marine corps ball I usually get invited to the one here in Hanover. Been doing that for a couple of years because the Dartmouth Grad student thing. And then um theres another one over in New London. I did my undergrad at Colby-Sawyer so I know the people over there. So, you carry that on and the oldest and the… we always read the commandants message most of the time it’ll be the current commandants message. Sometimes like if the person running whatever sort of Marine Corps birthday in your area doesn’t like the New Commandant will sometimes read the old Commandant’s. You’re not supposed to do that but sometimes it happens. But ya you get in your dress blues.”

Informant’s comments: He seemed to not really care for the idea of not reading the current commandant’s message.

Collector’s comments: Informant talked about the youngest and oldest tradition later and how they cut the cake together.

Tags/Keywords: Cake, Military Ball, Youngest, Oldest

 

Hymn/Song

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Title: Hymn/Song

Informant info: Michael Rodriguez. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2003 and was a member of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Bravo Company, which is an infantry military unit. He was stationed out of camp Lejeune North Carolina. Informant served in Iraq from June 2004 to December 2004. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He was from a military family, as well. Informant is 31 years old.

Type of lore: Verbal Lore, Oaths, Traditions

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was asked if there were any traditions that he remembered and reported that these two were very traditional oaths to learn. The Marine Corps Hymn and the Rifleman’s Creed.

Associated file:

Traditional Songs/Oaths

Transcript:

“When you’re like in the marine corps like. I don’t know, I cant, I cant recall any songs that were passed around, but there is the marine corps hymn. Which is like the marine corps song. Um, we call it the marine corps hymn. It’s like you know it starts out like ‘The halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli’ like these great things that the marine corps has done over the years. It sort of glorifies it. Um, there’s that, and there’s also this thing called the rifleman’s creed, which might be interesting to look up. Its sort of a, ah, like an oath that you say to yourself. You learn in bootcamp but you kind of carries on into infantry cause were just you do a lot more obviously with, uh, rifles and stuff. But uh sort like this, uh, creed to emphasize like the bond between a person and their weaponry.”

Collector’s comments: They are separate oaths. The rifleman’s creed is for more specific positions.

Informant’s comments: He claimed that the rifleman’s creed got more prevalent in infantry.

Tags/Keywords: Creed, Hymn, Song, Verbal Lore

 

Malaria Pills

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Title: Malaria Pills

Informant info: Michael Rodriguez. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2003 and was a member of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Bravo Company, which is an infantry military unit. He was stationed out of camp Lejeune North Carolina. Informant served in Iraq from June 2004 to December 2004. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He was from a military family, as well. Informant is 31 years old.

Type of lore: Verbal Lore, Myth

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was asked if there were any ghost stories that related to the area that he was stationed in or military related. He replied that there weren’t really any ghost stories but there was a sort of myth around the malaria pills that gave you night terrors or weird dreams.

Associated file:

Malaria Pills

Transcript:

“You are on Malaria pills, you know malaria… and I don’t know if they still do, but the pills that they gave us, like, they’re known to cause, um, like a, not necessarily like nightmares, sort of like, they give you weird dreams. Everyone knows, when we take the malaria pills, you’re gunna get some fucked up dreams. I can’t really remember mine, but I remember my buddies, like popping up, like. He was sleeping, and we were in this tent out in the desert, and he like pops up in the middle of nowhere and he’s like ‘There’s a snake! There’s a snake! Get it off me! There’s a snake!’ and we were all like looking at him like ‘yo, bro like there’s no snake there, like, I think you were just having a nightmare.’ ‘No , there’s a snake…’ No those malaria pills just fuck you up. And you always hear a lot of guys like, whether it was actually those malaria pills or like people being stressed. And like you’re near those people at night when you’re normally not. And you’d hear these people having these nightmares, which normally do when they’re stressed, but you never know that. So, whether or not it was the malaria pills or just like the normal stress of going to a new area and being deployed, I’ll let science decide on that.”

Informant’s comments: He thought the effect that the malaria pills could’ve had on those people was funny. He was skeptical on whether or not it was actually the pills or just stress and described the malaria pills incidents as kind of ghost stories.

Collector’s Comments: Thought it was funny the way he described his friend’s dream.

Tags/Keywords: Malaria, military, pills, verbal lore

 

Adapt, Overcome, Improvise

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Title: Adapt, Overcome, Improvise
Informant info: Michael Rodriguez. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2003 and was a member of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Bravo Company, which is an infantry military unit. He was stationed out of camp Lejeune North Carolina. Informant served in Iraq from June 2004 to December 2004. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He was from a military family, as well. Informant is 31 years old.

Type of lore: Verbal Lore
Language: English
Country of Origin: USA
Social / Cultural Context: Informant was asked if there were any traditions that his family of veterans had told him about the military and he said there were not. Then he said there was a saying that his father used to tell him that was a military saying. The saying is meant to encourage.

Associated File:

Adapt, Overcome, Improvise

Transcript:

[I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: “He would always harp on me ‘Adapt, Overcome, Improvise’, which is this sort of like military motto. You know you just sort of keep on keeping on. Like oh you fail, you know, work your way around it and try again.”
Collector’s comments: Informant is referring to his father when he says ‘he’. His father was also in the military. He had previously talked about his father.

Informant’s Comments: Found this one more interesting because it was passed on through the military and the Coast Guard, which his father was in.

Tags/Keywords: Military, Retort, Verbal Lore

Third Battalion

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Title: Third Battalion

Informant info: Michael Rodriguez. Informant attends Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH as a United States Army Veteran. Informant enlisted in the Army in 2003 and was a member of the 1st Battalion 8th Marines Bravo Company, which is an infantry military unit. He was stationed out of camp Lejeune North Carolina. Informant served in Iraq from June 2004 to December 2004. He was awarded a Purple Heart. He was from a military family, as well. Informant is 31 years old.

Type of lore: Verbal Folklore, Myth, Song

Language: English

Country of Origin: USA

Social / Cultural Context: Informant was interviewed at Dartmouth College. Informant was asked about certain superstitions or rituals that they had experienced during their time in the military. The informant described a myth that the third battalion group being tougher than the other battalions, even though there was no difference between the battalions.

Associated file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByAeKMYqcV3uc1FlcG9SYWY5dHVtMkdtWDBfLTV3TFh6Y2hV/view?usp=sharing

Transcript:

[I have recorded the item exactly how it was told to me in the interview]: “I was in the second battalion. There’s three battalions, like thats how they would separate all of these people that were coming in. Like, ‘hey you’re in the second battalion’ and then the next group that’ll come in… they sort of rotate between these battalions and the companies between them. There’s always this sort of idea that the third training battalion was a harder group of marines, if you came out of third battalion boot camp. But it’s really just a load of crap. They think they’re harder because they’re sort of in a different section of Parris Island, an older section. Where there’s more woods and stuff and i think thats it. But they think ‘well we’re kinda out in the woods by like 400 meters’… you know what I mean. It’s not like they’re out in the middle of nowhere. There’s just more trees.”

Informant’s comments: He did not believe in this tradition at all, but he believed that the soldiers in the third battalion strongly believed it.

Collector’s comments: Interesting how offended the informant seemed to be by the thought that their battalion was thought to be better than his for no good reason. Especially since he thought that boot camp was pretty easy for himself.

Tags/Keywords: Third Battalion, Military, Myth