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HIMARS O'clock meme depicting cheems next to a himars rocket launcher truck.

HIMARS O'clock

Part of a series on 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine. [View Related Entries]

Updated Aug 03, 2022 at 05:17PM EDT by Zach.

Added Aug 03, 2022 at 11:15AM EDT by Phillip Hamilton.

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About

HIMARS O'clock or HIMARS Time is a catchphrase used to celebrate High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) strikes by Ukraine on Russian forces during the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine. The phrase first appeared on Twitter in July 2022 following reports that Ukrainian soldiers destroyed a Russian ammunition depot outside of Snizhne, Ukraine using HIMARS launchers supplied by the United States. The meme is also associated with the NAFO group.

Origin

On June 1st, 2022, The Guardian[1] reported that the U.S. agreed to send four HIMARS rocket launchers to Ukraine to aid them in the war with Russia. On July 3rd, Twitter[2] user @yupivo posted a video allegedly showing a Russian ammunition depot outside of Snizhne, Ukraine exploding. The post was retweeted[3] by Twitter[3] user @IntelCrab that day, inspiring Twitter[4] user @goblin__soup to retweet it and write, "It’s HIMARS o’clock lads," gaining over 100 likes in a month (shown below).


Spread

Over the following days, several memes referencing "HIMARS o'clock" were posted to Twitter. On July 4th, 2022, Twitter[5] user @LilythGeist posted a drawing of a HIMARS on a truck showing a clock pointing to "HIMARS," gaining over 100 likes in a month (shown below, left). On the same day, Twitter[6] user @v_stus posted a doge meme using the phrase, gaining over 400 likes in a month (shown below, right).



On the same day, July 4th, 2022, Twitter[7] user @iAmTheWarax posted a version of the I Wish All Lesbians A Very Pleasant Evening meme with a video of a Russian ammo depot exploding, writing, "honey, it's himars o'clock -- time for your daily structural flattening," gaining over 1,300 likes and 150 retweets in a month (shown below).


On July 9th, the official Twitter[8] account for the Georgian Legion, a Ukrainian military unit, retweeted a tweet[9] by U.S. Secretary of Defense minister Lloyd J. Austin announcing that the government would send four more HIMARS units to Ukrain, writing, "It's HIMARS o'clock," gaining over 1,000 likes in a month. On July 10th, Daily KOS[10] used the term in a headline, where they also report that there were at least 11 HIMARS strikes on Russian military targets by Ukraine that night.

On July 21st, the Twitter[11] account @HIMARStime, a gimmick account dedicated to posting and retweeting videos of HIMARS strikes and memes surrounding the "HIMARS o'clock" meme, made its first post. The account gained over 4,000 followers by August 3rd. On July 24th, @HIMARStime tweeted[12] a montage music video heavily featuring footage of HIMARS units, gaining over 2,200 likes in a week (shown below).


On July 28th, Twitter[13] user and Ukraine war reporter @walter_report tagged @HIMARStime in a tweet showing footage of a HIMARS explosion. On July 30th, the Georgian Legion Twitter[14] account used the phrase again in a post mocking the Russians, gaining over 11,000 likes and 1,000 retweets in four days (shown below).



On August 2nd, the official Twitter[15] account of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, @DefenceU, posted a video montage set to Metallica's "Enter Sandman" using the phrase over a compilation of HIMARS footage, gaining over 9,200 likes and 1.900 retweets in a day (shown below). On that day, Twitter[16] user @IAPonomarenko reposted the video, writing, "Oh dear lord, Lars is going to sue our Ukrainian asses," gaining over 11,000 likes in a day.


Various Examples


Is it HIMARS o'clock? Yes Yes but in Yellow @HIMARStime @walter_report

Search Interest

External References

[1] The Guardian – what are the advanced rockets US is sending Ukraine

[2] Twitter – yupivo

[3] Twitter – IntelCrab

[4] Twitter – goblin__soup

[5] Twitter – LilythGeist

[6] Twitter – v_stus

[7] Twitter – iAmTheWarax

[8] Twitter – It's HIMARS o'clock

[9] Twitter – SecDef

[10] Daily KOS – HIMARS rules the night, aka 'it's HIMARS'o'clock'

[11] Twitter – HIMARS Time

[12] Twitter – HIMARStime

[13] Twitter – walter_report

[14] Twitter – georgian_legion

[15] Twitter – DefenceU

[16] Twitter – IAPonomarenko

Related Entries 40 total


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Recent Videos 2 total

   

Recent Images 13 total


Top Comments

wisehowl_the_2nd
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wisehowl_the_2nd

in reply to wisehowl_the_2nd

The HIMARS offers something that other artillery systems can't compete with: it's fast and it's REALLY GOOD. When these 4 HIMARS touched Ukraine soil we had reports of like 10-12 ammo dumps destroyed in a single fucking night. The high speed and accuracy of HIMARS has rendered Russian air defense utterly worthless against them, and the mobility of it has allowed them to strike many targets and avoid retaliation (despite Russia's claims otherwise). The Russian propaganda sphere has made extensive effort to discredit these systems by claiming them destroyed, but this is a very hard claim to justify when things keep exploding and when the HIMARS is based on a very common NATO truck that's also been sent to the Ukraine in large numbers.

Right now Russia and Ukraine are funneling more forces towards the Kherson front, and if you look at a map it's across the Dnipro river. This river is WIDE and has few bridges that can support heavy equipment, a lot of attention has been focused on efforts to damage or disable these. The more Russia funnels in here, the more they stand to lose. Ukraine has already mitigated the Russian advantage in artillery by striking warehouses to damage local supply of stored rockets/shells. Now Ukraine has the potential to draw in a large number of Russian BTGs and then slam the door behind them using HIMARS.

It's HIMARS o'clock baby.

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wisehowl_the_2nd
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wisehowl_the_2nd

It's worth stating why the HIMARS is seen by many as a game-changing system at this stage.

In the early stage when Ukraine was caught off-guard and tanks and trucks were cruising down highways unsupported by air & artillery the Javelin was the star because they were easily-ambushed. These weapons were easy to train and were not seen as escalatory due to Ukraine having similar weapons in service (The STUGNA-P and old Soviet shit). These weapons along with the Bayraktar were seen as having a very positive impact due to the strain they put on Russian logistics to support the very overstretched lines. It was hard to completely take on the Russians in areas they conquered, but in the areas they moved between they were sitting ducks, which combined with previous military corruption draining early fuel/ammo supplies led to the offensive being unsustainable.

After the Russian retreat from Kyiv/Sumy/etc the focus was on the Donbass where artillery was being massed in HEAVY numbers. Largest Russian given estimates were around 11,000 rounds fired a day from the Russkis. The Russians used their advantage in sheer quantity of artillery to grind the battlefield into a crater-filled hellscape ala WW1 tactics. The casualties on both sides as a result of this is highly arguable, but the Russian advantage in quantity of artillery was not.

(cont)

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