Why does the US military not have a Company J?
A recent comment over at valorguardians.com pointed out that there has never been a company “J” in the US Army, leaving the letter J to be a bit lonely and left out. Being a student of military history, I realized that I’d never heard of a company J, but there are India, Kilo, and Lima companies in most modern 3rd battalions. So where did the missing J go and why?
First come the popular, modern theories. These are the ones brought up by scuttlebutt, rumor, and theories passed down from generation to generation as gospel. Most of these have to do with the phonetic alphabet used.
Most people if you ask now would say the reason for there not being a company J is that no self-respecting man wants to be in “Juliett” company. Apparently serving in a company with a woman’s name would be too emasculating.
While on its face, this might seem like a plausible and entirely reasonable explanation to a young inquiring private, it doesn’t pass the sniff test. Is “India” any less effeminate? By recent birth naming statistics, India is a more popular name for baby girls than Juliet (or Juliett). For that matter a “Foxtrot” is a ballroom dance similar to a waltz, not exactly the manliest of names either.
Next up is another theory based on the phonetic alphabet. Prior to the NATO alphabet we all are intimately familiar with the US Army used its own, with a distinctly more American flavor. In that version, which was in use from at least 1916 until 1956, the letter J was said aloud as “Jig.”
Now Jig, like the foxtrot, is a word that can refer to a dance. It was also used as a racial pejorative at the time and was a derogatory term for black person.
The Army was segregated until after World War II. The disdain some whites in the service had for black soldiers is well documented, despite there being numerous instances of heroics among black soldiers despite the discrimination.
As an example of the anti-black discrimination at the time, General John J Pershing had, early in his career, been an officer in the 10th Cavalry Regiment, one of the original “Buffalo Soldiers” regiments composed of African-American soldiers under white officers. After the 10th, he taught at West Point, where he was not popular with cadets. They took to calling him “Nigger Jack”, which eventually softened to “Black Jack” because of his service with a colored regiment.
So again, it’s entirely reasonable to believe it when told that white soldiers and white officers wouldn’t want to serve in a “Jig” company. However, the lack of a J company predates these phonetic alphabets, by several more decades. So we must look further back.
Another seemingly plausible explanation has it that famously treacherous Benedict Arnold at one time commanded a company J, thus tainting all company Js through perpetuity. This falls apart when I can find no record of Arnold commanding a company J. In fact, companies at that time in the Continental Army weren’t organized like that. Arnold’s first command was the Governor’s Second Company of Connecticut Guards.
Perhaps the best explanation is that the letters I and J look very much alike, particularly when handwritten, leading to the potential for confusion. As one looks into the 19th century to try and find the reason for the omission of J, this becomes perhaps the most acceptable explanation. In old-timey writing, I and J were often written the same. Old paintings and drawings of Christ on the cross show “INRI”, which is for “Jesus [of] Nazareth, Rex (king) [of the] Jews.”
Even reputable historical sources list this as the reason for there being no companies J. Again though, does this fully explain it? Depending on whose terrible handwriting you’re looking at, the letters B and D bear more than a passing resemblance. The same can be said for E and F. So while this is the closest rationale to the truth we’ve discussed so far, in fact, it’s very, very close, the real reason is even more simple than that. As some might say, it’s “Army simple.”
How simple you may ask? Well, it’s as basic as the letter J didn’t exist in the English language at the founding of the country. Well, it did, it just wasn’t in wide use until the latter half of the 19th century. The more common use throughout the colonial period and leading up to the Civil War in the US was that there was no letter J in the English alphabet. The alphabet jumped straight from I to K.
Historically speaking, the letters I and J were used to describe the same sound for many centuries, dating back to the Phoenicians. In the 16th century, the letter J as different than I found its way into French from High German and then into English. It wasn’t until 1801 that the first English dictionary (William Perry’s Royal Standard) alphabetized words separately under “I” and “J”.
Period documentation of this abounds. This first link (http://madelena.com/media2/sampler17058.JPG) shows some needlework, dated 1830, that has the alphabet, sans letter J. While this book (http://books.google.com/books?id=Uj7SlPfSIR0C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false) from 1860 shows many historical alphabets from the 11th century onwards. You can see most of these are without the letter J, though you can see the similarity between I and J in some.
So there you have it. Occam’s Razor strikes again. The simplest answer, that the letter didn’t exist, is the explanation. Of course, by the time the letter J is widely included in the English alphabet, traditions had been established. And the same people who are a slave to traditions such as the alphabetical naming of companies within a regiment (while omitting J) ironically are the same who demand a change in field and/or dress uniforms every five years or so.
First come the popular, modern theories. These are the ones brought up by scuttlebutt, rumor, and theories passed down from generation to generation as gospel. Most of these have to do with the phonetic alphabet used.
Most people if you ask now would say the reason for there not being a company J is that no self-respecting man wants to be in “Juliett” company. Apparently serving in a company with a woman’s name would be too emasculating.
While on its face, this might seem like a plausible and entirely reasonable explanation to a young inquiring private, it doesn’t pass the sniff test. Is “India” any less effeminate? By recent birth naming statistics, India is a more popular name for baby girls than Juliet (or Juliett). For that matter a “Foxtrot” is a ballroom dance similar to a waltz, not exactly the manliest of names either.
Next up is another theory based on the phonetic alphabet. Prior to the NATO alphabet we all are intimately familiar with the US Army used its own, with a distinctly more American flavor. In that version, which was in use from at least 1916 until 1956, the letter J was said aloud as “Jig.”
Now Jig, like the foxtrot, is a word that can refer to a dance. It was also used as a racial pejorative at the time and was a derogatory term for black person.
The Army was segregated until after World War II. The disdain some whites in the service had for black soldiers is well documented, despite there being numerous instances of heroics among black soldiers despite the discrimination.
As an example of the anti-black discrimination at the time, General John J Pershing had, early in his career, been an officer in the 10th Cavalry Regiment, one of the original “Buffalo Soldiers” regiments composed of African-American soldiers under white officers. After the 10th, he taught at West Point, where he was not popular with cadets. They took to calling him “Nigger Jack”, which eventually softened to “Black Jack” because of his service with a colored regiment.
So again, it’s entirely reasonable to believe it when told that white soldiers and white officers wouldn’t want to serve in a “Jig” company. However, the lack of a J company predates these phonetic alphabets, by several more decades. So we must look further back.
Another seemingly plausible explanation has it that famously treacherous Benedict Arnold at one time commanded a company J, thus tainting all company Js through perpetuity. This falls apart when I can find no record of Arnold commanding a company J. In fact, companies at that time in the Continental Army weren’t organized like that. Arnold’s first command was the Governor’s Second Company of Connecticut Guards.
Perhaps the best explanation is that the letters I and J look very much alike, particularly when handwritten, leading to the potential for confusion. As one looks into the 19th century to try and find the reason for the omission of J, this becomes perhaps the most acceptable explanation. In old-timey writing, I and J were often written the same. Old paintings and drawings of Christ on the cross show “INRI”, which is for “Jesus [of] Nazareth, Rex (king) [of the] Jews.”
Even reputable historical sources list this as the reason for there being no companies J. Again though, does this fully explain it? Depending on whose terrible handwriting you’re looking at, the letters B and D bear more than a passing resemblance. The same can be said for E and F. So while this is the closest rationale to the truth we’ve discussed so far, in fact, it’s very, very close, the real reason is even more simple than that. As some might say, it’s “Army simple.”
How simple you may ask? Well, it’s as basic as the letter J didn’t exist in the English language at the founding of the country. Well, it did, it just wasn’t in wide use until the latter half of the 19th century. The more common use throughout the colonial period and leading up to the Civil War in the US was that there was no letter J in the English alphabet. The alphabet jumped straight from I to K.
Historically speaking, the letters I and J were used to describe the same sound for many centuries, dating back to the Phoenicians. In the 16th century, the letter J as different than I found its way into French from High German and then into English. It wasn’t until 1801 that the first English dictionary (William Perry’s Royal Standard) alphabetized words separately under “I” and “J”.
Period documentation of this abounds. This first link (http://madelena.com/media2/sampler17058.JPG) shows some needlework, dated 1830, that has the alphabet, sans letter J. While this book (http://books.google.com/books?id=Uj7SlPfSIR0C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false) from 1860 shows many historical alphabets from the 11th century onwards. You can see most of these are without the letter J, though you can see the similarity between I and J in some.
So there you have it. Occam’s Razor strikes again. The simplest answer, that the letter didn’t exist, is the explanation. Of course, by the time the letter J is widely included in the English alphabet, traditions had been established. And the same people who are a slave to traditions such as the alphabetical naming of companies within a regiment (while omitting J) ironically are the same who demand a change in field and/or dress uniforms every five years or so.
I realize this is over two years after this explanation was posted but I am recreating the muster rolls of the WV 7th during the Civil War at the moment and was trying to find why there was a K Company but no J... All I can say is Bravo Sierra. The letter "J' didn't exist? Tell that to the Jones and the Johnsons. I think the more plausible answer is that records were hand written and the cursive I and J were too similar.
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