Hoo-yah!

First, a brief update on what's going on at dive school: We just started pierside dives, which involve going not too deep (maybe 25 feet at the most) along the pier, which is pretty cool ('cause we're doing simulated search/salvage/repair operations) but also a bit cold and murky (it's really muddy down there!). On a sad note, though, we lost yet another classmate: Brandon Flores, a really fun guy from San Diego, had a really bad migraine (part of his face went numb and all that), and unfortunately, migraines are an automatic "medical drop from training." So, with about one week left of easy stuff to go, the guy has to leave.

Anyhow, about this blog's title: "Hoo-yah" is the exclamation that all Navy Special Warfare (i.e. SEALs) and Special Operations (e.g. EOD) forces yell...and thus is our constant battle cry here at dive school. When we pass an instructor, we yell in greeting, "Hoo-yah, Instructor Chablinsky!" or whatever his name is. When given an order, we respond "Hoo-yah!" There was even a "Hoo-yah, America!" when they did a half-mast flag-raising ceremony for 9/11! "Hoo-yah" basically means pretty much anything--it's a greeting, affirmation, and indication of motivation. It even means "do you understand" and "I understand": "Now, I want you to do your in-water checks as soon as you reach the surface, hoo-yah?" "Hoo-yah!"

Now, I can't seem to track down where "hoo-yah" came from...there is one website that mentions several possible, but likely aprocryphal, origins, including that it is a transliteration of "yahoo" (before the Internet!). There was a very silly Military Times article about similar cheers in the other services (a second, shorter version is here). Apparently, there was a movement for the Air Force to start yelling "Air Power!" instead of their traditional "hoo-ah!", which they share with the Army. The Army has a tribute to "hooah" on their Infrantry page. You also might remember Al Pacino playing a blind retired Army guy in Scent of a Woman yelling the phrase.

The Marine Corps says "ooh-rah," which may sound similar at first, but I (and the bulk of the Corps) beg to differ: Being a dork, I was watching C-SPAN, where President Bush was giving yet another speech in front of a bizillion Army personnel (a popular photo op with this administration). The damn grunts kept interrupting him at every sentence with "hoo-ah!" Now, I don't mind making some noise to show one's motivation, but there can be too much of a good thing. And I also wouldn't necessarily call it a "good thing"--they were saying "hoo-ah" with a rising intonation, which made it sound almost like a question. "Hoo-ah?" It was about the same thing as the "hoo-rah, hoo-rah" at the end of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home/The Ants Go Marching One by One." Get it? Not very inspiring. When Marines say "ooh-rah," it's a meaty, gutteral war cry, with the emphasis on the (slightly higher toned) first syllable: OOH-rah! Moreover, not only the Military Times article but also Gunny "G" R.W. "Dick" Gaines' website (mirror is here) claim that "ooh-rah" originates from the Recon Marines, who used to spend a lot of time on submarines (yeah, submarines!), and that the exclamation is thus a corruption of the "a-RUU-gah!" of the diving klaxon. (You know what I'm talking about: in the old World War II movies, the captain yells, "Dive, dive!" and the klaxon goes off. Sadly, most modern subs have a much less cool electronic klaxon. Sounds courtesy of the DoD audio page.) Anyhow, unless you want to get beat on by a bunch of jarheads, don't suggest that "hooah" and "ooh-rah" are at all the same.

If anybody finds out where "hoo-yah" came from, let me know...it's sad that even the Military Times would neglect this great battle cry--one that Jesse Ventura used at the end of his gubanatorial inauguration speech!

Posted 10:46 PST