Hooah

Hooah ("hü-ä" or "who-ah") is a U.S. Army battle cry. It is used [ [http://www.cavhooah.com/hooah.htm Hooah ] ] by US Army soldiers "Referring to or meaning anything and everything except "no". [http://www.amc.army.mil/amc/rda/rda-ap/hooah.html - AMC Acquisition Policy] The word's etymology is unclear, but one possible origin is that it is based on the acronym HUA, meaning "heard, understood, acknowledged".http://www.armyhooahrace.army.mil/about.htm - U.S. Army Hooah Race] Another possible source of the term is as a vernacular corruption of the term "Huzzah" a Battle Cry in use by United States soldiers during the early to middle 19th century and documented by personal and offical memoirs of the American Civil War.

Usage

"Hooah" is ubiquitous in the life of a U.S. Army soldier.Fact|date=July 2008 In informal situations, a soldier can reply with "hooah" in place of "Yes/Affirmative, ("military rank")" such as "Yes, Sergeant." This can be useful when the rank of the superior officer is unknown, similar to using simply "Yes, Sir/Ma'am" without the honorific. "Hooah" can also be used as a question, usually as a tag question, as in "We're going to win this war, hooah?" The most appropriate response to the question, "Hooah?" is the exclamation, "Hooah!"Fact|date=July 2008

Other services use other words:
*Marine Corps: "Oorah!"
*Navy: "Hooyah!"Fact|date=July 2008
*Air Force: "Hooah," or "Hooyah" amongst PJ'sFact|date=July 2008

Other popular usages of "hooah" include:
*Heard, Understood, and Acknowledged
*What to say when at a loss for words
*Good copy
*Roger, solid copy, good, great, message received, understood, acknowledged
*Glad to meet you, welcome
*All right!
*Thank you
*Go to the next slide
*You've taken the correct action
*Amen!
*A substitute for "that's cool". "That's hooah".
*To describe a hardcore soldier. "He's hooah".
*Uttered out loud at random and being continued by others. Like a pack of wolves howling, in order to boost morale.
*To describe Army Rangers. "The hooah-hooahs".
*Anything and everything except "no"

In popular culture

*"Hooah" can be found in the scripts of several military-related movies. One well-known example is Al Pacino's character, a former U.S. Army officer, in the movie "Scent of a Woman" (which may have popularized the longer "Hoo-Ah" version). "Hooah" also features prominently in "Black Hawk Down", which depicts Army Rangers at the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia and Lions for Lambs a film about the war in Afghanistan.
*In the episode "Semper Fidelis" of the TV series "Jericho", former US Army Ranger Johnston Green realizes that a detachment of "US Marines" are imposters because they use the word "hooah". Genuine Marines would have said "Oorah" instead.

References

See also

* Oorah - The United States Marine Corps equivalent
* Hooyah - The United States Navy equivalent
* HOOAH! Bar - a US military energy bar

External links

* [http://usmilitary.about.com/od/jointservices/a/hooah.htm About.com article with ideas about Hooah's etymology]
* [http://usmilitary.about.com/library/miljokes/blhooahdef.htm About.com article with some possible definitions]