Title: Blood Stripes

General Information about Item:

Customary Folklore: Rituals, Rights of Passage

Language – English

Country of origin – America

Informant Data:

Cory Green is a 26 year-old male from St. Albans, Vermont. He is now located in Boston and is attending Northeastern University. He joined the Navy in July of 2008 out of high school to be a hospital Corpsman. He did boot camp in Great Lakes, Illinois. From 2009-2011, he was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan where he worked in the ER and ICU doing basic hospital medicine. In 2011, he transferred to first Marine division to be an infantry corpsman where he specialized in combat medicine and combat trauma. Finally, in 2013 he transferred to Portsmouth, New Hampshire where he worked in family practice and eventually, got out of the military.

He joined the Navy because he was 3-sport athlete in high school, and his grades weren’t the best. He also didn’t feel mature enough for college. His dad suggested the Navy as the best option for him. Cory is 6th generation Navy. He felt that corpsman had the best opportunities for real-life experience and jobs outside of the Navy.

Contextual Data:

After being promoted to E4 or above and receiving your red stripes, there would be a meeting where everyone who is above you punches you in the leg where the red stripes are located.  This serves as sort of a hazing tradition.  The military focuses on hierarchy, and the blood stripes serve as a right of passage where the higher ranked officers put someone through some hazing when they become a certain rank.

Item:

Blood Stripes: After receiving your red stripes for ranking to E4 or above, higher ranking officers punch you in the leg.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript of Associated File:

Cory: The blood stripes more fell with the Marines. When they became NCOs, an E4 or above, how we did it with 24 was that we had a NCO meeting in one of the rooms and to earn your blood stripes, it’s just that all the people that are E4 and above they’re in a room, and it’s pretty much just like you get Charlie-horsed until everyone does it, and then you just can’t walk for a couple days, you know, nothing too crazy. But that was more for like the Marines, even though I don’t wear blood stripes, I still went through it just because when I picked up E4, it was part of the tradition that we had so even though I don’t rate blood stripes, I still went through it just to do it with them so there’s that one.

Cole: What is a blood stripe?

Cory: When you become an NCO on the dress uniforms of Marines, they have the red stripe going down the pants, and they call that the blood stripe so that’s how they get those.

Informant’s Comments:

Even though he wasn’t a Marine and didn’t get the red stripes, when Cory became an E4, he went through the blood stripe tradition because he was in a Marine unit.

Collector’s Comments:

This process serves as a sort of hazing ritual that respects the hierarchy that the military focuses on.

Collector’s Name: 

Matt Girouard

Tags/Keywords:

Blood Stripes, Rite of Passage, Marines, Red Stripe, Military, E4