For those who want the short version - Habu stands for "hook a brother up" a non gender specific term that is used by members of the HABU World Tour family. Now for those who want the full story - It is a loosely organized group of individuals who come together across the globe to facilitate training to other emergency responders.  When they get together they find unique ways to HABU.  The group is comprised of emergency response professionals who share emergency response ideas, experiences, and equipment with other emergency response professionals.  The group is made up of folks who have a military, fire service or law enforcement background, and many times specialize in many other emergency response areas.  The one common thread is hazardous materials and WMD response. The group has taught classes and shared experiences throughout the United States and across the globe. HABU is not a company and is not set up to sell or provide services.

Nelson and Chris HABU a bear in Kazakhstan

   HABU is set up to provide a mechanism to communicate and share our experiences. HABU in reality is not an official group but simply consists of a network of friends from across the globe. The first use of HABU was in Tashkent Uzbekistan in the summer of 2000. It was one of the early travels of the HABU World Tour group, and occurred during a dinner discussion with a responder from the Uzbekistan Emergency Situations group.  The group was exchanging lessons learned from various incidents around the world.  The Uzbekistan group had a need for some specific emergency response equipment, and asked their new American friends about how they could obtain the much needed items.  The American group got their heads together and figured out a way to get them the needed equipment.  The American's reply back to the Uzbek responders was that they could indeed hook a brother up with the items they needed.  In order to make the exchange complete the Americans had to teach the Uzbeks the Phrase "hook a brother up" which was as much fun as the American's learning how to say it in Uzbek.  (which BTW is "akasidan erdam berishni iltimos qilish") To make the translation easier we coined the term HABU-- hook a brother up, which is a non gender specific term and can be applied to both male and female.  The term "brother" is common in the emergency services field and we are all brothers in the protection of life and property.

HABU has now been used in 15 countries and will continue to provide assistance where it can.  Emergency response folks HABU on a regular basis and we are lucky enough to be able to HABU to other responders worldwide, a concept we want to spread. For more information on the HABU World Tour contact habu@habutour.com