米軍の掛け声。

先日、動画でアメリカのとある学校で、海兵隊員らが小銃を使ったパフォーマンスを見たんですが、観客席の何人かが「フーアー」や「フーヤー」と応援してました。海兵隊を応援するなら「ウーラー」なのになぁ…とちょっとガッカリ。日本だったら仕方ないんですが、少なくともあのアメリカンスクールに元海兵隊員が何人かいたはずなのに…(-_-;

ここで米軍の掛け声についてプチ講座です。空手の選手が気合入れに「押忍！」と叫ぶように、各軍種はそれぞれの気合入れの掛け声があります。陸軍は「フーアー」（Hoo-ah）、海軍は「フーヤー」（Hoo-yah）、そして海兵隊は「ウーラー」（Oo-rah）です。空軍は…何だろうね？聞いたことがありません。ある説では、「エアパワー」（Air power）らしいんですが、もし私が空軍兵だったら、そんなの恥ずかしくて言えません。(^^;

海兵隊に戻りますが、「ウーラー」のほかにも、永遠に忠誠を誓うと言う意味の「センパーファイ」（Semper Fi）や、獣のような鳴き声の「えﾞー」（Err）、「あぅっ」（A-uht）または「やーっ」（Yut）などもあります。まー、ちょっとひらがなでは表現が難しいけどね。(T_T)

日本にいる海兵隊好きの方たちにはせめて正しい掛け声を言って欲しい今日この頃。
US military cheers.
The other day, I saw a video clip of a Marine rifle drill performance at an American school, and some of the people in the audience cheering "Hoo-ah" and "Hoo-yah". They should have been using the Marine cheer "Oo-rah"... so I was a bit disappointed. If it were at a Japanese school, then I wouldn't expect anyone to know that, but there ought to have been at least a handful of former Marines in that crowd that could've corrected them, but... (-_-;

Which leads me to the small lesson of the day regarding US military cheers. Just as someone doing karate would yell "Ossu!" to get motivated, each branch of the US military has their own version or motivational cheers. The Army says "Hoo-ah", the Navy says "Hoo-yah", and the Marines say "Oo-rah." The Air Force... I wonder what they say? I've never heard anything in particular. Some claim that it's "Air Power", but if I was an Airman, I'd be too ashamed to spout that phrase. (^^;

Going back to the Marines, other than the cheer "Oo-rah", you can also say "Semper Fi", which means 'always faithful', or say short beastly grunts like "Err", "A-uht", or "Yut." (It's really difficult to sound out those grunts with hiragana, though.) (T_T)

It'd be nice if those Japanese people who like Marines would use the proper Marine cheers and such.