From the article: Origins of Hooah
Are you proud of your service with the U.S. Military? Would you like to send out a BIG HOORAH? Do so here! Send out your HOORAH!
NEVER HEARD IT
- I served in the Army and Army Reserve in the 1960's and never heard the HOOAH expression. My daughter served as an Army doctor in Iraq in 2004 and it was common usage, so it's something fairly new.
- —Guest Robert Rihl
Huh?
- I served in the Army from 1970 to 1973. I never heard anybody say that.
- —Guest Ex G.I.
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- We really hope that you can help us supoprt Beyond Tribute with our HOOAH Military t-shirt. 10% of the entire order goes directly to this wonderful organization.share
- —Guest UytbnWTityZO
Just talking about this @danny Johnson
- I being prior navy and army say hoorah and today friends and I were talking about where it originated so had to look it up.
- —Guest glenglish
try HU AW
- we used to get dropped for responding with hu aw in the early 90's. it was only said after we got some great speech about the wonderful things we were going to do that day. it stood for hurry up and wait.
- —Guest cpt
Wrong wrong wrong
- I will give you a couple of things. Some are partially right. Like Guest Old Soldier, he's right...the Navy/Marines did develop this "Hooah" prior to Army's actual Hooahh!! However, it wasn't Hooah to the Navy/Marines. The use of the term was "Oorah"...the sounding of their battleship blow horn. I do not know why it was adopted from the sound of the horn but it was the signal of most confirmation at the time. For the Army, Guest Tom8 is correct. Hooahh originated from HUA (Heard Understood Acknowledge) was to reply back to among some Company during training school. HUA then became an inside joke among NCOs only when asshole COs came around to harass Enlisted for not acknowledging their so called "command-sense". HUA for NCOs was termed as "Sir, your HEAD is UP your ASS" (Head Up Ass). Thus it spread to become a common term lingo and adopted by NCO "the backbone of the Army" into official use.
- —Guest Bleed Delta
Idiots
- Its an old celt battle cry based on huzzah, thats a fact. How could none of you people realize this? Idiots.
- —Guest Kevin
Hoo-ahh
- Try 'ajua' - hoorah in Spanish... I works just fine.
- —Guest J D
Hoorah = HORAW
- This is a response to Orders Given. It meens Heard Orders Ready and Waiting.
- —Guest Sgt Shep
My memory
- I served from 1969-1972 and remember that you had to wear a Ranger tab in order to say "Oorah!". It was an honor reserved for them.
- —Guest Guest Artilleryman
HUA = Hooah
- I'm told by some of my current Army Special Ops friends that Hooah is the phonetic spelling of the military acronym HUA, which stands for "Heard Understood Acknowledged." Originally used by the British in the late 1800's in Afghanistan. More reciently adopted by the United States Army to indicate an affirmative or a pleased response. Review indicates its used by Marines and Air Force Special Ops as well, so who knows.
- —Guest TomCat8
Stand, Hook Up.
- 1999 AA Week, 82nd. One WW2 vet commented on this hoorah. The 1999/82nd soldiers pronounced it Who'ah deep in the gut. To them it meant anything positive - Never no. One WW2 82nd vet during the week, other vets present, he told his story of when during an earlier AA Week he first re heard what he thought was his Uuu gha(from the gut) but it was Who ah. During jump training-combat the load is tremendous making walking difficult. On the chalk flight the Order 'Stand' was given usually by the jump master- or the 2nd Lt. This standing would push out of a few mouths the grunt strain and his word (my phonetics) Uuu-gHa. This Uuu gHa would be repeated behind the Lt's back. No acronym but as a pok'in fun-joke. A young AA grunt in 1999 said that the Who Ah was sop. Relating the vets story, this grunt said that at plane departure there was a specific outward leg push strain- and the sound would sometimes be Uuu gHa- from the gut. No one but the speaker heard these words -air slip stream..
- —Guest REMF
Old School
- Good perspectives, Soldier. Like the adoption of the Black Beret...stolen honor, if you will...these (what I call) artificial moral enhancers are, as you point out, nonesense. A few years after my first hitch, I, once again, re-uped into Spec Ops where "Hooah", and the more forceful gutorial version, "Arh!!" (coming, not from the "song box", but from deep within) was a common display of pride, esprit, and unit cohesion. An almost-barked "ARH!!" was always met with another equally audible "ARH!!". The hooahs I hear from young Soldiers reminds me of limp-wristed hand shakes; utterances they were required, by their training NCOs in Basic, to blurt out on command. The Corps' HOORAH, like Spec Ops' ARH!!, is emitted from deep within..."OOORAH!!", the "OOO..." being emphasized by a tightening of the gut, as if in preparation for action. A lot has changed within MY Army...some things are minimally acceptable, while most is just a bunch of crap. Today's youth seems to require too much "tummy rubbing", but that's another story at the bar!
- —Guest Sarge
Complete Nonsense
- The use of Hooah was started in the late 1980's by the US Army. In fact it started AFTER I got out in 1987. Before that it certainly was not wide spread. If anything this term was stolen from the USMC, who invented there's up most likely in the 1970's. I have never meet a Vietnam Vet that heard either of these terms on a basis as they are used today. There was no use, there is no history before that time. Repeating urban legends simply adds fuel to the nonsense.
- —Guest Old Soldier
