In the armed services

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

, a military cadence or cadence call is a traditional call-and-response work song

Work song

A work song is a piece of music closely connected to a specific form of work, either sung while conducting a task or a song linked to a task or trade which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest song....

 sung by military personnel while running or marching. In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, these cadences are sometimes called jody calls or jodies, after Jody, a recurring character

Recurring character

A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus...

 who figures in some traditional cadences.

Requiring no instruments to play, they are counterparts in oral military folklore of the military march

March (music)

A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John...

.