We humans can be quite vocal. We talk a hell of a lot, sing on occasion, weep and wail when we're sad and when we're furious we sometimes scream. I have always been intrigued by how appropriately-matched our moods are with the sounds we emit. Consider the phrases, "flying high," "blow my stack," "chillin out," and "down in the dumps" for an illustration of the complementary interaction between emotion and expression. What kind of sound is likely to come out of you, when you're in a given mood? Dunno about you, but when I'm flying high, for instance, I'm "on"...talking excitedly, at a pretty ambitious clip, the tone of my voice toward the right of the spectrum, but not off the charts. Conversely, when I'm a bit depressed, so is my dialogue, the sounds I make being low and slow. I find all this pretty interesting, particularly the influence our mood-expression can have on others around us. On that last note...if you're in a bad mood or just feel like being negative, do the rest of us a big fucking favor and LIE TO US, OK. We don't need you bringing the rest of us down! In fact, lie to yourself...fake it (your motivation) till you make it and maybe you'll convince yourself to stop wasting your precious time on this earth in a funk.
With all this philosophy floating around randomly in my brain-housing-group, my reticular activator (THE RETICULAR ACTIVATOR is a part of the brain the stays on alert. It's job is to make you notice some things and ignore other things (if you noticed everything, you'd be too distracted to function). When you buy a new VW, it seems like the whole world has bought VWs, because you notice them everywhere. That's the reticular activator at work.) sprang to life one day, as I was perusing Musashi's Book of Five Rings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Five_Rings
Musashi is essentially the most accomplished samurai of all time, having bested scores of opponents in his day in sword fights to the death. He was believed to have retreated into a cave later in life, during which time he compiled 'five rings'.... his martial philosophy, which is in my opinion cut out of the same cloth as Sun Tzu's, The Art of War. It is just really good shit. One particular segment of the book spoke to me, a few paragraphs on what Musashi terms, "combat shouting."
"There are at least two entries related to shouting in the Fire Book. One is related to frightening the enemy either before or during combat with a sudden, well-timed shout that breaks the opponent's rhythm and it is stated that you should research this idea well. The other is specifically related to the timing and types of shouting in combat. These are the three shouts.
Musashi breaks down the three shouts into when they should take place: before, during, and after combat. He also explains that the shout has energy. If you remember the external links provided in the Kiai entry, this idea should come as no surprise to you in the sense of the tangible or in the sense of ki.
Later, he goes on to state that in large scale conflict, shouting is done when first entering battle (presumably to "psyche" yourself up and possibly intimidate the enemy). During battle, low-pitched shouts are used while attacking (likely to add strength to attacks). After battle, another shout is used as a victory cry (that also releases pent-up energy)."
The above is very pertinent to our work in the Dr. Drill Instructor Program, merely because we do a lot of yelling. Just to clarify, no one is yelling at each other, it's more of what I term, "yelling at adversity." Furthermore, though we are talking about exercise here, not a combat situation, the same principles in shouting apply. There are many different types of battles fought in life, and there is an entity in DDIP I refer to as, "exercising the demon." On this battlefield, we use our combat shouts to drive a physical work ethic and team spirit that destroys the negative mindset. We're literally using a physical strength to solve a problem in motivation here.
In addition to our sounding off the exercise cadence and repetition in the traditional military format, of 1-2-3...[1], 1-2-3...[2], which maintains the tempo of our workout, team chants are often bellowed, along with organizational cues from the instructors. Finally, we end in "school circle," closing our training with a motivational platoon mantra, "1-2-3...aDDIP...aGMC...aStinkin Rock Pit, Smells Like Shit - Who-who-Woot, Slap/Stand - or the equivalent.
The cadence calling for each exercise is redundant, to such a degree that you may get lost in it, which is to your advantage as the PT grinds onward and upward in intensity. It takes on a sort of meditative quality, which is essentially the frequency of the platoon. A trained ear, familiar with this frequency, can hear plainly when it needs adjusting, and the correction is always up, never down. I have often described the up-regulation of DDIP shouting as analogous to maintaining a volley. As the training continues, the troops become fatigued and the combat shouting begins to falter, there are certain methods of communication which can provide a boost. They are verbal commands, body language and leadership-by-example. The first is obvious. Body language means altering your facial expressions and postures to prompt a motivational reaction from the group. Leadership-by-example means jumping down along side the troops and performing the task in the most exacting and aggressive manner possible, sufficient to prompt a mirror image in the participant. This last point flies directly in the face of standing on the sideline, barking commands but not practicing what you preach.
Practice your combat shouts, my friends...it's not what you do, but how you do it!
