The Corps (song)

The Corps is a poetic hymn associated with the United States Military Academy. It is second in importance to only the Academy's Alma Mater. The words were written by West Point Chaplain, Bishop H.S. Shipman, around 1902. The accompanying music was composed in 1910 specially for the ceremonial closing of the Old Cadet Chapel and opening of the new Cadet Chapel. The Corps was first sung on the steps of the Cadet Chapel on 12 June 1910, and became part of the graduation ceremony starting in 1911. Today, The Corps is typically sung by the Cadet Glee Club (West Point's choir) in companion to the Alma Mater at alumni gatherings, graduation, memorial ceremonies and funerals.

Lyrics

The original words to The Corps, as written in 1902 are:

Gender specific lyrics controversy

In 2008, the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy, LTG Franklin L. Hagenbeck ordered a change to the lyrics of The Corps and the Alma Mater. The change was to remove gender-specific language in both century-old songs, which were both written at the turn of the 20th Century, when the Academy only admitted male cadets. LTG Hagenbeck wrote a letter to the Association of Graduates explaining the reasoning for his decision. Many graduates objected to this alteration of the original and hallowed lyrics of West Point songs, but to no avail. A poll taken of former graduates resulted in a majority of objections, but the Superintendent proceeded to make the changes notwithstanding.

The Corps

The Corps may refer to:

Organizations

The Corps (song), a traditional hymn of the United States Military Academy

Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets, a student military organization at Texas A&M University

Corps of Cadets, the collective student body of the United States Military Academy at West Point

Fiction and literature

The Corps (comics), armies in the 2000 AD and Judge Dredd comic series

Captain Britain Corps, a league of Marvel Comics super-heroes

The Corps Series, a fictional series of books on the U.S. Marine Corps by W.E.B. Griffin.

Toys

The Corps!, a military action figure line produced by Lanard Toys.

Space Corps (comics)

The Space Corps of 2000 AD's Judge Dredd strip are professional armies which deal with conflicts and peacekeeping away from Earth.

Mega-City One's Space Corps are the main group shown and have appeared in several stories, most notably Judge Dredd: Mandroid and its sequel,Warzone, spinoff The Corps, and Debris. They are unlicensed to act against citizens in Mega-City One (Chaos Day riots being the rare exception) and the strategic interests of the city come above the interests of individual colonies, who may be abandoned to alien attack.

Foreign Space Corps have been mentioned and shown: Sino-Cit in "The Corps" (who have an alliance and co-administered forts with the Klegg Empire) and Latin American and "Asian Union conscripts" in Warzone, the latter involving an international coalition.

The idea of offworld soldiers had been mentioned in 1980s strips but the concept was first named and fleshed out by Garth Ennis in 1994, as "the Corps", "the military arm of Mega-City 1's Justice Dept". This was written at the request of editor Alan McKenzie, who wanted a war story featuring space Judges; Ennis lost interest after the strip was partially rewritten by an uncredited figure. As The Corps has the characters trying to undermine the Sino-Cit/Klegg alliance, it may have been part of McKenzie's push for a storyline (later dropped) where Mega-City One and Sino-Cit would go to war. Coincidentally, The Corps came out at the same time as a long-delayed, similar strip called Maelstrom, which featured another team of similarly-armoured soldiers called "STAR Judges" and also had art by Colin MacNeil. Both strips had their military forces established as Judges - the Corps' Special Squads were pulled out of the Academy of Law at ages 3–6 after showing abnormal levels of violence, and trained solely to kill.