Although Brent Carey grew up around lots of military families in Leavenworth, KS, he was not an army brat himself. His father, a meteorologist and computer systems administrator, worked for the National Weather Service in Kansas City. Although he had a favorable regard for most of the military folks that he knew through school and church, Carey had no plans to join the military himself. In fact, his father who served on the local school board was instrumental in discontinuing mandatory ROTC for all high school sophomores – the only high school in the entire country that had such a requirement at the time. Mr. Carey wasn't an anti-military activist - he just didn't think that ROTC should be a core class. The evening that the school board finally voted on the issue, hundreds of high-ranking officers from Ft Leavenworth, all in their full dress uniforms, flooded the meeting room. They were clearly sending a message and tensions were running high. Despite the pressure, the school board voted to overturn the policy. That was in 1976.
So it was somewhat ironic when in 1984 Brent unexpectedly joined the Army ROTC program at Brigham Young University. His plan was to become an officer and just be a “weekend warrior” with the National Guard. But while he was at basic training that summer he discovered something that he had somehow missed growing up around the military: being in the military was kind of fun, even at basic training. It generated a certain pride that you were doing things that you knew a lot of other people either couldn't or were too afraid to do. From day one, the drill sergeants instilled a certain attitude that was a cross between fearlessness and cool, kind of like, “Look Mom, no hands!”
Everything they did seemed to promote this mindset, what the army calls today, the Warrior Ethos. The thing that stood out most was the army's signature expression, “Hooah!” The drill sergeants used it for everything, and before long we were all saying it. There's not really a definition for the word, because it is used so universally. You have to look at the context in which it is used to get what it means, Carey observed.
In the 2003 movie “Basic,” while introducing himself to a new group of recruits, actor Samuel Jackson familiarizes them with the expression at the end of each point he makes by demanding “Can I get a HOOAH!?” to which the new troops let out a resounding HOOAH! in return. And Al Pacino uses it repeatedly throughout the 1992 movie, “Scent of a Woman.” An episode of the Saturday morning cartoon program Total Drama Action has the teen character Duncan saying: “When I get out of High School I'm going to join the Marines, because then I'll get to say Hooah all the time. I don't know what it means, but it sure sounds cool!.” (Actually, the Marines use their own unique expression, OORAH!).
“I don't think Webster could pin it down to just a hand-full of meanings,” Carey said. What makes the term even more perplexing is its obscure origin - there is considerable debate as to where the term came from. “But regardless of how it is used or where exactly it came from, it always projected that unique attitude they were trying to build in us at basic.”
Years later, Hooah is still in wide usage in the army's unique culture and is even spreading to the civilian world. Talk show host Dr. Laura uses the expression regularly on her show to drive home a point or recognize a caller's accomplishment. The former ESPN syndicated sports talk show host the “Fabulous Sports Babe” (Nanci Donnellan) rewarded favored callers with her own pre-recorded version of HOOAH!
Within their own family, Teresa Carey said that Brent often told their children about his military experiences, and introduced them to certain military customs, such as saluting, standing at attention or doing pushups (“Give me twenty!”). She said that it was kind of like the Von Trapp family (Sound of Music), but it wasn't for practical reasons; it was just for fun. “He even gave them all military ranks and names, like Corporal Star, Private Sarge, Major Nuisance, and so on. He especially enjoyed teaching them how to sound off with “HOOAH!!” Besides being entertaining, she said, he figured all these things would help their kids develop a positive outlook about the military, which would be important in case he ever got deployed.
After returning home in 2007 from a one-year deployment to Iraq, Carey thought that the general public might also enjoy getting a taste of the military, like his own children had. So the family decided to go into business creating military-themed novelties and entertainment products, starting with the HOOAH! Audio Button. The idea was to capture the military's unique culture, package it and make it available to the military community and general public in ways that had not been done before. Mrs. Carey, owner and President of the company “Crootz,” emphasized that “All the products will be completely non-violent, family-friendly while sharing the exciting and unique lifestyle of service-members and their families.”
The HOOAH! Audio Button has only been on the market for a few months, and has already picked up over 13,000 fans on its Facebook fan page. The button is available on-line and will soon be available in the general retail marketplace. Not only will this introduce the public to the culture of HOOAH! it will give the public a great way to express their support for the troops.
The Carey family will also be supporting the troops financially by sharing proceeds with certain non-profit organizations that assist service-members and their families, something the family is already used to doing. After Brent joined ROTC, both his brother Paul (Air Force) and Mark (Army) also joined ROTC at BYU. However, Paul's military career ended in tragedy in 1995 when the C-21 he was piloting crashed due to mechanical malfunction. In Paul's memory, Brent's parents and all of his siblings together established and funded a full-ride, permanent scholarship just for Air Force ROTC cadets at BYU.
Carey emphasizes that their company is not about recruiting for the army. “If it has that effect, then that's fine, but it's not the intent. I'm just trying to share a slice of Americana that is pretty much unknown to the general public and which I know that the public will find to be as engaging and entertaining as I did when I first discovered it years ago at basic training.”
HOOAH! You’ve probably heard it before. This “word” is shouted by US military men and women from formations, at award ceremonies, and before, during, and after training missions. With just five letters, you can express affirmation, unity, motivation, approval, excitement, and camaraderie.
Perhaps there is someone you're proud of - for their service, then and now.
