Hooah

Hooah (pronounced /ˈhuːɑː/) is a U.S. Army battle cry used by soldiers "Referring to or meaning anything and everything except no."

• Air Force: "Ahroo," among Security Forces, Combat Controllers or "Hooyah" among Pararescue

Usage

Other popular usages of hooah include:

• "Heard, understood and acknowledged" (backronym as "HUA")
• 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!"
• "Outstanding!"
• "That's cool" or "that's OK." As in, "That's hooah."
• To motivate another soldier.
• Did not hear what was said, but not going to ask to repeat.
• Anything and everything except "no."

Hooah can also:

• describe a hardcore soldier. As in, "He's hooah" or "She's hooah."
• be used a call and response cheer, with one soldier exclaiming, "hooah!," and other soldiers responding in like.
• be uttered at random and in a group in order to boost morale. One or a few soldiers will begin chanting "hooah!," and then others join in.
• describe Army Rangers. As in "The hooah-hooahs."
• be used as a sarcastic remark for something specific to the Army. Sometimes used sarcastically. As in, "This detail is about as hoo-ah as it gets."

In popular culture

File:Hooah.jpg

a [HOOAH! energy bar

• "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 United States Army Rangers at the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia and Lions for Lambs a film about the war in Afghanistan. In Basic, Samuel L. Jackson's character finishes each line of his training briefings with "Give me a 'Hooah', Sergeant!". In the 2004 American film The Manchurian Candidate, Denzel Washington's character responds an order with it during the brainwashing procedure.
• Used as the meaning of "Heard Understood Acknowledged" by private young soldiers in the movie Renaissance Man from 1994.
• 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.
• The GI unit in Red Alert 2 sometimes says "hooah" in response to an order by the player.
• It is also incorrectly used in Ghosts of Girlfriends Past by the Sarge, a member of the US Marines.
• The computer game America's Army makes frequent use of the phrase, and pressing the H key on the keyboard in version 2 or below would make the player's character shout "Hooah" over the radio to other members of the player's team, sometimes eliciting a series of "Hooahs" in reply.
• In the microtransaction, free to play game of Combat Arms, "Hooah" is featured as a voice-com taunt.
• "Hooah" can be heard in Crysis, yelled by a Marine on the USS Constitution and at least one other point in the game.
• In Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the NEST team replies "Hooah" when Major Lennox gives instructions before the battle with the Decepticons in Egypt.
• In the videogame Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the US Army Rangers are heard multiple times throughout the game using Hooah for anything and everything except "no."

See also

• Oorah - The United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard equivalent
• Hooyah - The United States Navy equivalent
• Ahroo - The United States Air Force equivalent
• Huzzah - an 18th century equivalent

External links

• About.com article with ideas about Hooah's etymology
• About.com article with some possible definitions
• Hooah uttered at the end of the re-enlistment oath, Baghdad, July 4th, 2008: at time 1:08 on the video clip

Hooah

http://www.amc.army.mil/amc/rda/rda-ap/hooah.html - AMC Acquisition Policy

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/jointservices/a/hooah.htm - "You can hear it shouted by Air Force Security Forces, Pararescue, and Combat Controllers. It is also known to be used by the Canadian Army."

http://web.archive.org/web/20060723095555/http://www.armyhooahrace.army.mil/about.htm - U.S. Army Hooah Race