Blood Upon His VISR

History

 * Over the course of five hundred years, many things about the human soldier changed. The weapons, the gear, and the people came and went, but one thing that remained all that time was a song. Originally adapted from Battle Hymn of the Republic, Blood Upon the Risers was sung by Paratroopers of the United States, and was kept decades later when the UNSC was formed.
 * When the parachutes changed to SOIEVs and Paratroopers to ODSTs, the song was changed to fit the men and women serving. Each group of troopers had their own version and name for it, but they all shared a single chorus.

Lyrics

 * He was just a rookie trooper and he surely shook with fright
 * He checked off his equipment and made sure his pack was tight;
 * He had to sit and listen to those awful engines roar,
 * "You ain't gonna drop no more!"


 * (CHORUS)
 * Glory, glory, what a hell of a way to die,
 * Glory, glory, what a hell of a way to die,
 * Glory, glory, what a hell of a way to die,
 * And he ain't gonna drop no more!


 * "Is everybody happy?" cried the Sergeant looking up,
 * Our Hero feebly answered "Yes," and then they stood him up;
 * He jumped into the icy black, his pod went hurlin’ down,
 * And he ain't gonna drop no more.
 * (CHORUS)


 * He counted long, he counted loud, he waited for the shock,
 * He heard the wind, he felt the heat, he felt the awful drop,
 * The ‘mbrella jerked and broke away, the jets propelled him on,
 * And he ain't gonna drop no more.
 * (CHORUS)


 * The straps constricted 'round his neck, the shielding burned away,
 * The heat within his pod began to cook him like an egg;
 * His pod became his coffin and he hurtled to the ground.
 * And he ain't gonna drop no more.
 * (CHORUS)


 * The days he'd lived and loved and laughed kept running through his mind,
 * He thought about the girl back home, the one he'd left behind;
 * He thought about the medic corps and wondered what they'd find,
 * And he ain't gonna drop no more.
 * (CHORUS)


 * The ambulance was on the spot, the ‘hogs were running wild,
 * The medics jumped and screamed with glee, rolled up their sleeves and smiled,
 * For it had been a week or more since last a pod had failed,
 * And he ain't gonna drop no more.
 * (CHORUS)


 * Now down below, unknown to him, a fight was raging on,
 * The Covies, they had called a Wraith, and marines were ‘bout to die,
 * His pod came in, with a howlin’ screech, destroyed the tank outright,
 * And he ain’t gonna drop no more.
 * (CHORUS)


 * He hit the Wraith, the sound was "boom," the shrapnel went up high,
 * The Hunters they were heard to say: "A hell of a way to die!"
 * He’d killed the Elites and wrecked the tank, and saved the damned marines,
 * And he ain't gonna drop no more.
 * (CHORUS)


 * (slowly, solemnly)
 * There was blood upon his VISR, there were brains all o’er his boots,
 * Intestines were a'dangling from his ODST suit,
 * The Captain watched him took away, said he’s a hero through’n’through,
 * And he ain't gonna drop no more!
 * Glory, glory, what a hell of a way to die,
 * Glory, glory, what a hell of a way to die,
 * Glory, glory, what a hell of a way to die,
 * And he ain't gonna drop no more!

Procedure

 * The song was sung by ODSTs on the battlefield, during rest on a base, or even as they dropped into hell themselves. Sometimes, companies with different versions would be together. When this happened, someone from the 'hosting' unit, usually an officer or NCO, would be called upon to sing the verses, and everyone would join in the common chorus.
 * For this particular version, Elites was eventually changed to Brutes.