Saturday, March 31, 2007

To Hooah or not to Hooah...

Salutations! I come to you today with a bit of a dilemma. It’s nothing major, nor is it anything over which I lose sleep. However, this issue occupies a goodly amount of my precious cranial resource whilst I am walking about the FOB. See, the Army has a way of greeting officers that is a bit different than the Navy. Yes, the right hand still reaches the brim of the cap in order to render proper military honors, but the difference is the additional step the soldier will add.

Every unit in the Army, I am told, has something for which it is known. These defining traits have been recorded throughout history and adopted by the individual unit as something of which to be proud. When saluting or greeting an officer, a soldier will reach back into his history files and pull out a catchy little phrase that reminds the soldier of that instant of glory and also defines said soldier as a proud member of said unit. Yes, even the Air Force has been known to participate in this tradition, possibly due to their former association with the Army in days of old. Marines…well, they just kind of grunt some unintelligible murmur that sounds like a cross between “hoorah” and “yut.”

The following are phrases I have heard just recently while walking around the base from our proud members of the non-naval services:
“All the way!” – My guys at Brigade like this one a lot…82nd Airborne
“Air Assault!” – I know this one from my father, who was, himself a member of the proud 101st Airborne.
“First to fight!” – Some National Guard unit from South Carolina, who, by the way, was NOT the first to fight, but is fighting now, making it worthy of this motto.
“Rock of the Marne!” – 3rd Infantry Division, remembering a time when they were surrounded and managed to pull out a victory none the less.
“Victory through Support!” – Yes, this one seemed gay to me too, but someone is proud of it.
“Air Power!” – from the guys and gals in (non-navy) blue, when they're not at the pool.
“Hooah!” – I take it that this is the generic greeting from a soldier, meaning he either has no proud motto, or wishes not to share it with a Naval Officer.

I understand completely. Pride and tradition certainly have their place within the rank and file of the armed forces of the United States. Here’s the problem, though. I have nothing to say in return. Do I repeat their saying back to them? Is there some sort of other saying that completes the original, signifying that I know the secret code for this particular band of brothers, marking me as a member of the club? But, I'm not really a member of the club! Or do I reply with a saying of my own? I could say, “Go Navy!” or “Electronic Warfare Power!” or “Peace through strategic nuclear deterrence brought about by the ever-lurking presence of a ballistic missile submarine!” or something of the sort, but all of my sayings seem forced or not authentic.

For now, I stick with the general “Good morning” or “Good Afternoon,” and sometimes the “How are you today?” types of response. Anyone who has something better, I am open to new ideas.

That’s all I have time for right now…Thanks for letting me get that off of my chest.
A, E, L, I love you!

6 comments:

spanks. said...

you could go with "beat army," but that seems mildly inappropriate... perhaps "save army?" if you want to be flamboyant, "atomic lightning swords!" could work.

i myself have gotten comfortable with "f*** yeah!" as in "america... f*** yeah!" if i'm feeling punchy, it might come out "stay army" or "bark. bark." i find a repetoire is nice--prevents further monotony on each and every groundhog day out here.

Roger said...

I still think a good, "Scuttlebutt!" would be more than appropriate in those situations.

OR....perhaps if you sang your response back like we had to in boot camp (singing cadence...how unique, eh?) perhaps they would chime in and it would become a USO tour!

Be safe bro...praying for you and enjoying the blogs!

Brad said...

Or you could reach into pop culture. This would offer you the comfort of sharing instant rapport with the other soldier/airman/marine due to your shared experience of American pop culture.

By way of example, consider the old favorite "Wuz aaaaahp!" with your tongue hanging out like in the beer commercials. If you want something a bit more subdued, consider the response from the same comercial, "True. True."

Basketball or wrestling fan? How about, "Let's get ready to ruuuuuumbuuuuhl!"

Saluting some soldier from another one of the "Coalition of the Willing" nations? "Gooooaaaaal! Goooooaaaaal!" will be greeted with an appreciative smile.

If these fall on glazed eyes, go with that whole submarine thing. I'm going to start using that instead of "Good morning" when I greet my coworkers.

Angela said...

You should say "Duuuuuuuuude!" At least that is what I would say! It is copyrighted though, so you need to ask permission from me...:) Hope you find a cool catch phrase soon...I would hate for you to be the oddball...

Angela said...

Maybe you should adopt "Superstar!" That sounds pretty good to me! And so fitting for you! Or, you could always use DUUUUUUUDE! To hell with "conventional" things to say. You could say "I'm f-ing better than you," too. I'll leave it up to you! Love you!

Anonymous said...

You have given me something to think about. I leave for the pipleline in four weeks.
Being a fellow Bubble Head, how about "Dive, Dive" or "Ogaaa, ogaaa," "Clear the bridge?"
Soon to be EWO
JR