MISAWA AIR BASE, Japan — Troops here have until Tuesday to come up with a battle cry for Misawa’s 35th Fighter Wing.
“We’re looking for something we can use to rally our airmen during organization forums, like college football teams do,” the wing’s command chief master sergeant, Franklin Smith, said Friday.
Calling the battle cry a military tradition, Smith said, “Misawa has the best esprit de corps in the Pacific, [so] we need something to reflect that.”
Ideally, the call should be no more than six words, be “morally fit” and reflect Misawa’s mission of being home to two squadrons of F-16 Wild Weasels. It must be eligible for use at all base functions as well as at occasions such as graduations at the base Airman Leadership School.
“Yokota Air Base has ‘Samurai Banzai,’ and when it’s said by large groups, it sounds pretty neat,” Smith said. “Unfortunately, Misawa doesn’t have one to call their own.”
That shortcoming was recognized by Smith’s boss, 35th wing commander Brig. Gen. Dana Atkins, whom Smith credits for giving him direction for the hunt for a battle cry.
Smith said he did some research and learned that a call borrowed from the “Ghostbusters” motion picture — “Who you gonna call? Wild Weasels” — once might have enjoyed some popularity here when that movie was popular in the 1980s.
“That hasn’t been used here for quite some time,” Smith said.
Submissions should have rhythm to the words, Smith said, and should “flow well and be easily adaptable.”
Submissions can be sent to franklin.smith@misawa.af.mil by close of business Tuesday, he said.
The winning entry earns one of Smith’s command chief master sergeant coins, a free pizza, movie passes and Taco Bell coupons.
Smith said several weeks after entries are received, six of the best battle cries will be aired on Misawa’s American Forces Network radio outlet so troops and their families can vote for the best one.
