In the military, in Brazil, we have a word called “acionamento” which means that out of the blue you are called by the sound of a siren... let’s say... it might happen in the middle of the night. When soldiers hear that, they must get up and go to a common area. They receive orders there. Is there a specific term to express that action? In Brazilian Portuguese is only one word. In English, I have to describe the whole scenario. So, I was wondering if you guys have a term for that. Thank you in advance.

Question

CraigW · Accepted Answer

There is no single word other than for the noise itself such as siren or alarm.  An alert like that might also be done as a bugle call and 'bugle call' would describe the whole situation fairly well.