Thursday, January 28, 2016

Call Signs

Call signs are things that just happen. Some have tried to give themselves a call sign but that usually does not work. How do you receive a call sign? Do something stupid or have it fit with your last name. Obvious examples, 'Crash' or LT 'Cheese' Kraft. Sometimes it's based on a physical appearance thing like 'Carrot'. After you've earned the respect of your buddies, you'll get a more 'heroic' callsign.
Here are some funny ones.
"Fisher" Price
"Curtains" - First female B-1 crewmember, required reinstallation of toliet privacy curtains
Easter "Bunny"
"Cuddles" Caudell
"Huggy" Huggans
"CJ" - Continuous Jam on the radio (bad comm discipline)
Causai "Moto"
"D-Day"
"DD" - Dead Dave - Was actually clinically dead during water training accident...recovered of course
"Crash"
"Thor"
"Slo Mo"
"Random" - Under stress tended to mix up call sign numbers on radio
"Kitten"
"Thorton" melon
"Baja" - Went 'off roading' in an F-15 at the end of the runway
"Robo"
"Chemo" - yep, looks like a chemo therapy patient
Cinamon "Toast"
These are the three rules of Callsigns
1. If you don't already have one, you will be assigned one by your "buddies".
2. You probably won't like it.
3. If you complain and moan too much about 1. and 2., you'll get a new nickname you'll like even less!
My call sign is Burning Bush. I don’t mind it actually. Would you want to be called a manifestation of God? It had nothing to do with me being like God. I was in LDS Seminary growing up and the year we were studying the Old Testament I had frizzy, red hair. A red afro. Someone looked at me and said “Burning Bush!” It stuck through the rest of the year. I was actually asked in jump school for a call sign. They had given us a choice. I noticed that even when someone chose a call sign they were “over ruled” by others who thought they should be called something else. In the military I did not have a big afro anymore, but my short military haircut still looked like a small burning bush. It seemed to stick. So that is what I go by when I need an “alias”.
What would your Call Sign be?
Semper Paratus
Check 6
Burn

No comments:

Post a Comment