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What do we really mean when we refer to a person or a group as being “Gung Ho”?  For some, the word means that one is excessively “Energetic” or “Zealous”.

The expression “Gung Ho” has its origins in the Chinese. Col. Evans Carlson observed the cooperative working spirit of a Chinese Communist organization called The Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society, with a shortened Mandarin name of KUNG HO. Col. Evans applied the shortened form when he was given command of a new group within the Marines, the Raider Battalion. He applied the meaning “Working Together”, which was a corruption of the true meaning: “Strive for Harmony”. The more literal meaning of the words Kung Ho are: Work and Peace, Harmony.

His intent is made clearer when one understands that he sought to have a fighting unit that went beyond the structure and form of the typical military unit of his day. The Raider Battalion went ahead to do its job, but failed to catch on in the minds of the military leaders of that day.

The Raider Battalion was an idea ahead of its time, and is best exemplified today by the Special Forces warfare groups of any armed forces organization. Col. Carlson’s battalion ceased to exist before the great war was over, but the expression he coined lives to this day not only in the US Marines, but in many other military units.

sourced by JMJF