Tag Archives: military

USC NROTC Dining In

TEXT

At the end of the spring semester, USC’s Naval ROTC has an yearly celebration event called dining in, where midshipmen (ROTC students) wear their formal dress white uniforms and enjoy a nice, catered dinner at an off-campus venue to celebrate the end of the semester and their hard work. The highlight of the celebration are the “skits” and “roasts”, in which midshipman are allowed to address the entire room to make jokes or call out fellow students. Any individual that is found “guilty” of what they are being called out for, violate celebration customs, or make a joke/skit that the room deems unfunny, are required to drink out of “the grog”, a disgusting drink created from blending and mixing a variety of drinks, food, and condiments.

CONTEXT

This informant is a 20 year old USC sophomore studying aerospace engineering. In addition, he is a part of the USC Naval ROTC battalion and hopes to be a submarine officer after he graduates. His relationship to this celebration is that he is someone who takes part in this celebration, and he first learned about this celebration last year from an older NROTC member when he was a freshman. He recounts that he was cautioned to not go on stage and make a joke, as anyone that addresses the entire room will eventually be forced to drink out of the grog. The informant explains that he looks forward to the event every year not only for the good food, but also the fun jokes and skits, and the fact that this is the one event they are allowed to wear their dress whites, which he believes looks cool and gives him “aura”.

ANALYSIS

This yearly ritual from the USC NROTC folk group functions as not only a celebration for the end of the school year, but also a way to reinforce group identity through formal uniforms that invoke military pride, a shared dinner, and skits/performances that are based around inside jokes that only midshipmen and staff would be able to understand. In addition, with NROTC and its different classes/ranks based on the midshipman’s academic year, dining in provides a unique opportunity where this hierarchy is temporarily challenged from midshipman being allowed to make a joke about another midshipman regardless of rank. However, with this strict hierarchy being the backbone of structure in the military, the punishment drink grog and specific celebration customs/rules continue to maintain a sense of order, ensuring the core values of the military are always maintained.

Korean military folk food: ppogeuri

Text

Ppogeuri (뽀글이) is a slang name for instant ramen that Korean soldiers often eat. The food has to be eaten at a specific time, and that is late night after a soldier comes back from night watch. What makes ppogeuri different from regular instant ramen is that because cup noodles weren’t available during the time my informant was a soldier, they had to use the plastic packaging the instant noodles came in as the cooking pot and plate. With no kettle and hot water only being available during shower times, you would have use cold water and put the packaging near a radiator to actually boil and cook it. With Korean culture’s emphasis on age and the strict environment Korean soldiers train in, my informant talked about how only sergeants were allowed to secretly make this dish after night watch. The only time he ate ppogeuri as a lower-ranked personnel was when he was a private and one of his superiors allowed him to have a bite, which he described that first bite as heavenly.

Context

The informant is a 51 year man born and raised in South Korea. As a South Korean male, he was required to serve in the military, and he served in the Korean army from October 1994~ December 1996 after his freshman year in college. This topic came up when we were talking about military food, when I told him about my worries for food quality at my military training center for ROTC. He first saw this folk food when he was coming back from his first night watch as a private, when one of the superiors he was standing watch with cooked ppogeuri as a late night snack. Even after his discharge, he said he tried cooking instant noodles the same way but said the noodles tasted raw and the soup was chalky. His interpretation of this dish is that it can only be enjoyed by people who went through the same military experience – during his service, when barracks were old, cramped, and soldiers often trained hungry, soldiers could at least count on ppogeuri to fill their stomachs after a grueling shift of night watch.

Analysis

Based on what I learned, my takeaway from this folklore is that ppogeuri is a vernacular folk dish that can only exist under specific, strict constraints. To start, its preparation method was created due to the lack of cooking tools on base, and can only be eaten by superior ranks while lower ranks can only hungrily watch or stand lookout. In this way, ppogeuri symbolizes the hierarchal nature of militaries, where even simple acts like cooking ramen is denied. However, just like my informant’s first experience with the dish, when a lower-ranked personnel is allowed a bite, this goes beyond an act of kindness – it creates an unforgettable moment of bond as one individual directly contradicts the system he’s supposed to blindly follow for a fellow soldier. Finally, the timing of when one eats ppogeuri, which is after a long night of watch, reflects the shared struggle a folk group (soldiers in this case) go through. As such, it may not even be a stretch to say that one way to identify membership within the folk group of Korean soldiers is if one has ever ate and enjoyed ppogeuri under these same conditions. All in all, ppogeuri is a reminder of how folk dishes can be crafted from creativity that is developed to get around constraints. At an individual level, I believe ppogeuri holds a great personal value for former Korean veterans, as it is a dish that symbolizes the strict system they adapted to during their youth, while being a source of comfort and nostalgia they can look back on.

Korean Military folk dish: gundaeria

Text: ***google translated from Korean to English via google translate

Informant:

“Back when I was in the military 30 years ago, our country was slowly becoming a developed nation. As a result, the military decided to copy foreign armies and offer a wider variety of food option. Western-style dishes began appearing on the menu on weekends. That dish was the “gundaeria” – essentially a chicken patty and some shredded lettuce inside a hamburger bun. It didn’t taste particularly good, but it was a welcome change from the usual rice and soup, and since it was something you could only get while in the service, it’s something I Iook back on in a bittersweet way. When I first saw it, it felt like nothing more than a cheap imitation of a real hamburger. As for the taste? It tasted like shit. Looking back now, even that has become a cherished memory”

Context:

The informant is a 51 year man born and raised in South Korea. As a South Korean male, he was required to serve in the military, and he served in the Korean army from October 1994~ December 1996 after his freshman year in college. This topic came up when we were talking about military food, when I told him about my worries for food quality at my military training center for ROTC. As shown in his words, his first impression was not particularly good, but it has become one of his core memories from his time in the military.

Analysis:

In my opinion, this piece of food folklore serves great historical value that helps one understand the culture and history of South Korea. Historically, as South Korea rapidly industrialized and grew its economy following its desolate state after the Korean War, issues in human rights, free speech, and democracy were often suppressed by force to prioritize improving its world image as a developed nation and growing the economy. Likewise, this dish symbolizes this trend of Korean history, as it was introduced to mimic the Western and developed countries South Korea strived for, but its inner truth of cheap ingredients could not be masked, as shown from the informant’s distaste for the actual dish.

Despite its horrid taste, however, its exclusivity of only being served on weekends and contrast from traditional military meals created the dish’s significance for soldiers during their service, and gundaeria’s distinct taste only being something you could taste in the military made it an unforgettable memory for veterans at that time like my informant. Hence, just like this famous Ratatouille scene where the critic is blown away by the dish’s ability to bring back nostalgic memories, it goes to show that folk dishes can become significant not just for its taste, but for the nostalgic values it brings. Moreover, this exclusivity surrounding this food also becomes something that only the Korean military veterans folk group can relate to, serving as a group marker. In short, while it may not be remembered for taste, gundaeria is a folk dish that provides historical commentary and a reminder of shared experiences.

Birthday Pushups

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Language: English

“In ROTC or Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, we had a tradition to, or I guess it’s kind of ritualistic. Um when it was someone’s birthday, we would in class, we would have to do our birthday pushups. So, we would have to, ou know, get down in push up position and then the leader in at the time would command us to basically begin push ups. And as you do the push ups they sing happy birthday. But they sing it really slow. And so even if you finish your push ups you have to stay in a plank position until they’re done singing it. And then you have to wait for the leader to let you come back up.”

Context: High school Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, on someone’s birthday.

Analysis: This tradition, as one of many life cycle traditions surrounding birthdays, plays on the idea of shared pain, similar to birthday spanks. The subject has to complete push ups and go through the ritual to prove themselves and be celebrated by the group as a whole. In this ROTC tradition, the object is not just pain but achievement. By completing the birthday pushups, the individual can show their increased athleticism and reassert their place in the group identity based on strength and discipline. By knowing everyone has to do the same when it is their birthday, the individual is more willing to complete their turn in good humor and recognize it not as a punishment, but as a way to bond with their peers and recognize the achievement of another year. 

Marine Jody

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: College Student
Language: English

Text: 

(Each line repeated once by leader and once by platoon)

Around her head, she wore a yellow ribbon

She wore it in the springtime, the merry month of may

And if you asked her why the hell she wore it

She wore it for that young Marine so far, far away. 

Far away

Far away

She wore it for that young Marine so far, far away

Around the block, she pushed a baby carriage

She pushed it for that young Marine so far, far away.

And if you asked her why the heck she pushed it 

She pushed it for that young Marine so far, far away.

Far away

Far away

She pushed it for that young Marine so far, far away

(3rd verse non PG- song ends after this verse)

Behind the door, her daddy kept a shotgun

He kept it in the springtime, in the merry month of May

And if you asked him why the hell he kept it

He kept it just to blow that young Marine’s ass away

Far away

Far away

He kept it just to blow that young Marine’s ass away

(3rd verse PG- song continues to verse 4)

Behind the door, her daddy kept a shotgun

He kept it in the springtime, in the merry month of May

And if you asked him why the hell he kept it

He kept it for that young Marine so far, far away

Far away

Far away

He kept it for that young Marine so far, far away

(4th verse, slowing)

Around his grave, she laid the pretty flowers

She laid them in the springtime in the merry month of May

And if you ask her why the hell she laid them

She laid them for that young Marine so far, far away

Far away

Far away

She laid them for that young Marine so far, far away

Context:

“This is my favorite jody that I learned in high school in JROTC. It’s passed down by a Prior, which is a Cadet who has been in the program at least for a year, so she was like a year older than me, I was a freshmen and she was a sophomore. And it was her favorite jody and it’s, according to her, originally a Marine jody. Jodies are- I guess I should explain what Jodies are. Jodies are songs you sing while marching, kind of sing, they’re kind of sing songy, but they’re yelling and they’re call and response. So you yell a line and the platoon repeats a line and it’s while marching. A lot of them are story centered, so I want to share one that’s story centered. I love this jody because it’s sad, it tells a story.

“I said young Marine, but when we would say it around our senior Chief, we would have to say Sailor because we weren’t allowed to sing Marines jodies because we were in the Navy unit. And each of the lines is repeated back, I just did it straight through”

“And then the third stanza, there’s two versions. Also, I said hell, but we said heck when instructors were around. And the third one, there’s two endings, one is non PG and one is PG. 

Analysis:

The jody itself is a chant, meant to (in the case of this informant) draw people together within their platoon. Especially as the informant mentions how she was taught this by a classmate in the grade above her, one can see this folk song as a form of mentorship. Learned from the mouth of a more senior individual, the jody is passed between them and gives a sense of identity within the group. The informant even mentions how important the specific branch is. She wasn’t allowed to sing this as a Marine jody normally because they were the Navy unit and therefore could only sing Navy songs. Specificity is important to the practice of this jody even though the rest of the lyrics are unchanged by a change in branch or between platoons. 

Additionally, we can see the influence of some of Olrick’s epic laws within the narrative. Repetition of the chorus and of structures make the stanzas easier to learn, and the chorus itself has three lines. Most ‘scenes’ are between the woman and the soldier, with one between the soldier and the woman’s father. All detail how two characters relate to each other, keeping the story straightforward and in line with the expectations of tales and folk songs.