CS Lewis said one of the great pleasures in his life was
listening to male laughter. One morning
last week we were marching just past 5 a.m. and I suddenly remembered how much
I like the sound of men singing.
Our platoon sergeant has the kind of voice born to call
cadence, so the whole formation sounds best when he is marching us. Also, when we form up to march, the short
people move forward and the tall people go to the rear. This is standard practice in military
formations, but it has the side effect of making putting the women in the front
and the men in the back.
I am just about six feet tall. With 80 soldiers in four ranks, I am near the
back and surrounded by the men with the deepest voices. With the platoon sergeant’s voice ringing out
in the cold morning air, the formation echoed his calls loud and strong for the
half-mile march to the gymnasium.
The calls are all sterile now, none of the sexist bravado
and kill the enemy songs of my Viet-Nam-era basic training. Even when the swearing and bragging are
removed, 80 voices sounding off before dawn is an inspiring sound.
If you want to hear marching songs the way I heard them 40 years ago, watch the movie "Jarhead."
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