In the Navy, they say (or at least, used to say), “belay that,” meaning, “Don’t do what I just told you to do.” Is there any equivalent in the Army, or in any of the other branches? (And don’t try to tell me that the need to countermand is unique to the Navy.)
[nitpick]A more general meaning would be “Stop doing what you are now doing”[/nitpick]
In the British Army ‘As you were’ was the expression used to countermand an order or direction.
In The Army the countermand was, “What? Oh wait. Yeah, never mind about that.” or something similar. 'course this was an MI unit, we were pretty relaxed militarily.
I’m not sure I agree with your nitpick, but maybe someone saltier can weigh in.
Xema might mean that “belay that” can also be used to order a sailor to stop doing what he is doing.
For example, an officer steps into a compartment and sees a sailor punching another in the face.
“Belay that %$% right now, sailor!”
My same experience in the US Army – with a tendency for it to be an immediate rectification type of thing, as in: “Column lef–As you were!–Column Right, March!”
“Disregard” is another commonly used term - as in “disregard that last order.”
mlees has it right.
I agree that the most common use is to countermand recent orders (though not solely those issued by he who cries “belay”).
I’ve heard and used “as you were”, “wait, stop. don’t do that.”, “cancel that last order”, and “stop/cease X”, as well as some much choicer orders that were completely situation specific. There is no particular standard that I recall. Radio counterorders tend to be more brief and specific; counterorders given in person can be much more colorful.
During my Army days, it was disregard. In my Navy days, belay my last.
BTW, some orders you just can’t countermand. One that comes to mind is Drill & Ceremonies. Once you issue the actual command, it’s carried out without delay.
I’ve also heard (and used) the phrase “belay my last,” which is a shortened form of “belay my last order.”
In my army unit (artillery), it was “Check that.” As in “Go to the motor pool and…Check that, go to the orderly room…” Probably came from the phrase “Check Fire!” meaning for the battery to stop firing immediately.
I was going to mention the same thing, but in relation to helm orders.
For example:
Officer of the Deck (OOD): “Helm, right ten degrees rudder!”
Helmsman: “Right ten degrees rudder, aye, sir.”
[Helmsman puts rudder over right ten degrees.]
Helmsman: “Sir, my rudder is right ten degrees.”
OOD: Very well.
Quartermaster (to OOD): “Sir, I think you wanted to come left to stay on our track.”
OOD: :smack: “Helm, left ten degrees rudder!”
Once an order has been carried out, you can’t belay it. You have to give a new order.
Officially, I heard “Disregard” and “As you were” used most often. In certain situations “Aw Fuck” also worked.
My favorite incident of hearing “Belay my last!” was one day aboard the USS CARL VINSON (CVN 70). When the bell is rung to indicate the time on the half-hour, it’s done once for the first 1/2 hour, twice for the second, etc. The key is that when striking for 3 bells or 4 bells all the way up to 8 bells, the bell is struck in groups of two: “ding-ding {pause} ding-ding” for four bells. Well, one brilliant watchstander decided that for eight bells, he’d just ring the bell “ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding.” While I, along with the rest of the Inport Emergency Party were rushing to the Hangar Deck, we heard “Belay my last” and then the correct way of announcing the time.
To be precise, even in D&C you can countermand the preparatory command and the supplementary command, but not the command of execution.