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Ten-Hutt
Vulcan20
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Posted: Monday, June 26, 2006 - 12:09 AM UTC
I was watching “Band of Brothers” episode 8 “The Last Patrol”. When Captain Winters entering the room, Lieutenant Jones said “Ten-Hutt” to the soldiers. What does “Ten-Hutt” mean? What’s the history behind this term or why it is called “Ten-Hutt”? Is this a WWII term or it’s still alive in the U.S. Army. Is this an Army only term or USMC used it as well? What about the British military equivalent term? Thanks in advance.

Steven Lu
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Posted: Monday, June 26, 2006 - 01:29 AM UTC
Steven, "Ten Hut" is actually attention. When shouted (usually) those present 'snap to attention'.
Sabot
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Posted: Monday, June 26, 2006 - 03:29 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I was watching “Band of Brothers” episode 8 “The Last Patrol”. When Captain Winters entering the room, Lieutenant Jones said “Ten-Hutt” to the soldiers. What does “Ten-Hutt” mean? What’s the history behind this term or why it is called “Ten-Hutt”? Is this a WWII term or it’s still alive in the U.S. Army. Is this an Army only term or USMC used it as well? What about the British military equivalent term? Thanks in advance.

Steven Lu

Ten Hutt was frowned upon when I entered in 1983.
Vulcan20
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Posted: Monday, June 26, 2006 - 07:11 PM UTC
Thanks for the information. I guess that the "Ten" may relate to the number of fingers to form 2 "hut" (with palms) or the word "atTENtion".
spooky6
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Posted: Monday, June 26, 2006 - 07:25 PM UTC
:-) Try screaming 'ATTENTION!' at the top of your lungs a few times and it'll sound like 'TEN-HUT' or 'TEN-SHUN!' etc. That's all it is. Haven't you heard DIs going 'lep' po, lep' po, lep' po three po, right turn, companaaaaaaaAAAAAAAy, RIGH'TAAAAAAAR!'? It's not supposed to sound like English, but it is.
erichvon
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Posted: Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 10:37 AM UTC
From what I remember from when I took drill it was "parade...shun!".
"Attention" was usually when the officer on parade wanted to play, as Ruperts had no idea how to take drill or a parade. You always keep drill commands short for maximium impact. This stops people getting confused.
spooky6
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Posted: Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 01:18 PM UTC
The command varies widely from army to army, Karl, and even among regiments. Back home in Sri Lanka, the commands are in Sinhalese, and while the most common is a direct translation of the English 'attention', my regiment never used it on parade. The command we used can be translated as 'dress front'. I believe there are many such regimental idiosyncracies.
Grumpyoldman
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Posted: Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 03:18 PM UTC
Ours was "Attention on Deck"
I believe the Marines also used it.(with our permission---- now that should get the feathers flying!! :-) :-) )

That was back in the old Navy, God only knows what they are saying now.
Murdo
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Posted: Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 01:10 AM UTC

Quoted Text

From what I remember from when I took drill it was "parade...shun!".




Yup! Remember it well.
white4doc
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Posted: Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 01:50 AM UTC
Still is Attention on Deck, Grumpy. Hopefully that won't ever change.
Grumpyoldman
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Posted: Saturday, July 29, 2006 - 05:12 AM UTC
Good to see you back John....
USArmy2534
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Posted: Sunday, July 30, 2006 - 05:24 AM UTC

Quoted Text

In the British Army at any rate, words of command should consist of two parts the warning word e.g. Parade which should be drawn out to gain the troops attention and the executive word e.g. Attention which should be delivered in a short, sharp manner so that the troops will act in a similar way.

Thus, the above becomes Paaaaraaade Shun.

That was how it was explained to me.



Same thing in the US military. In fact your discription is exactly how it is taught in our ROTC classes. Only we call it a Prepatory command and then the execution . So same thing . Of course some Sergeants I know follow with the execution command so fast that there really isn't much time to prepare!

Jeff
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Posted: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 - 09:06 AM UTC
Hehe...you're absolutely right Derek. I remember doing my PJNCO's course and the RSM explaining the mentality of drill to us and then drilled us for two hours non stop..the full business with incline turns etc at speed (Iwas confused to say the least. I thought I'd been transferred to the Guards overnight) . At the end of it there was four of us left on the parade ground out of about 40.He'd gaoled the rest. Terrifying bloke! Typical RSM! Gave me a b****cking for wearing a boonie hat on exercise when I was on the GPMG! I thought it looked pretty goddamned groovy! Plus it was comfy :-) . I was never a bona fide drill pig even though I did a year training recruits. Being a Sgt was far too responsible for me :-) . I was infantry so I'd have to talk to the PC more and to be honest he got on my t*ts as he was about as useful as a fart in a spacesuit. I preferred it with my section as some of them made good tea..
The irony of it was when I joined the police they told us to forget all our military drill (which as you know is impossible) and all the ex-squaddies stuck out a mile at passing out, without ribbons, as we swung our arms properly rather than the "wandering about" drill they taught. The right dress..Horrific! It was a ripple from right to left.Looked like a mental delay. Fortunately I was middle rank so didn't have to do anything really. Shambolic is the only way I can describe it. Awful, truly awful!
bydand
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Posted: Wednesday, August 02, 2006 - 03:02 PM UTC
Spot on Karl, When I was at Dishforth the drill was the same as that, then when I joined the RHKP the CDMI was ex-RSM Scots Guards (Charles and Diana's wedding, Trooping the Colour etc etc) so we did transfer into the Guards :-) it was just like Purbrite :-) CLAP (Clearly, Loudly, As an order, with Pauses). If anybody remembers some rubbish film about Hong Kong with David Soul as the main character (the title has left an indelible blank) You can hear big Bill in the opening sequence.

Bit OT but if we'd tried Ten-hut it would have led to a short sharp clip across the back of the skull with a pace stick LOL.

Cheers

Craig
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Posted: Monday, February 28, 2011 - 03:40 AM UTC
This is definitely a command still used in at least the United States Air Force. It is exactly what everyone else has said. It means attention and is called whenever an officer enters an area. I am in a job working with mostly officers and I hear that fairly often. It just means you snap to the position of attention (heels together feet at a 45 degree angle hands cupped along your pants seams eyes straight ahead).
exer
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Posted: Monday, February 28, 2011 - 04:24 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Thanks for the information. I guess that the "Ten" may relate to the number of fingers to form 2 "hut" (with palms) or the word "atTENtion".


Nothing at all to do with that.
You're reading too deeply into it. When I was an NCO in the Irish Army we used to have a competition as to who could make the weirdest sounds and still get the platoon to understand our commands
Whitey
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Posted: Monday, February 28, 2011 - 05:12 AM UTC
As Sabot already said, 'Ten-hut' was not something that was actually said in the US Army when I was in ('92-'06). Saying it would earn you many push-ups. I was used to hearing something more along the lines of: hA-tensh-HUN. If it was said quickly it was more like: tensh-HUN.
md72
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Posted: Monday, February 28, 2011 - 05:12 AM UTC
I was going to jump in with the Prep and Execute parts of drill commands, looks like it's already covered. Attention being one word, the two part thing gets a bit tricky. I have the weirdest suspicion that some movie maker "heard" something like Ten -Hut, thought it was cool, worked it into a script. And it became a way to make Army movies 'authentic'.
Vulcan20
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Posted: Monday, February 28, 2011 - 06:03 AM UTC
Seems Hollywood fool me again with their invention of new army terms. They fooled me before when I was a kid to show me how cool looking German weapons are in WWII movies. I didn't realize until I get into scale model and rewatch those movies to find out German's quad AA is in 20mm not .50Cal and they used Sdkfz 251 not M3 half tracks.
Vulcan20
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Posted: Monday, February 28, 2011 - 06:04 AM UTC
Thanks for the new info in recent posts!

Best Regards,
Steven Lu