Hooah

Hooah  is a battle cry used by soldiers in the U.S. Army and airmen in the U.S. Air Force. Originally spelled "Hough", the battle cry was first used by members of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment during the Second Seminole War in 1841, after Seminole chief Coacoochee toasted officers of the regiment with a loud "Hough!", apparently a corruption of "How d'ye do!" Since WWII, the word has been widely used throughout the US Army and gained a more general meaning of "anything and everything except 'no'. It is comparable to oorah which the United States Marine Corps and United States Coast Guard use. The United States Navy uses hooyah. The phrase originated with Ranger Battalions and in the late eighties was considered a trait of those units. Beginning in the early nineties it gradually spread across Fort Lewis, Washington and Fort Benning, Georgia, the home bases for the three Ranger battalions at the time. By the mid nineties the phrase was in common usage across the Army.

Possible meanings
Some popular usages of hooah include:

 HUA means: "Heard, understood, and acknowledged"

See also
 Cheering
 HOOAH! Bar – a US military energy bar
 Hooyah – the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard equivalent
 Huzzah – a 16th-century equivalent
 Oorah – the United States Marine Corps equivalent

References

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

Category:Battle cries
Category:Interjections
Category:Military slang and jargon
Category:United States Army traditions
Category:English words