Something To Think About Bc I Need To Research More- - Blog Posts

So dumb question time again. I saw where you reblogged the callsign post. But you said y’all just call them nicknames.

When I did the barest do research, I know should’ve looked harder, the only place I really found that used the term callsign were pilots.

(Also I forgot the word pilot and almost just wrote flier but had enough sense to google what are people that fly planes called)

In the COD wikis I’ve read they use the word Alias(es) and not callsign.

Is callsign just a pilot term? Or is it also used throughout the military?

I know I could probably google it more but honestly your lived experiences and even opinions give an interesting perspective on it all.

Sorry your tags got me thinking about where the term that is used so heavily in the fanfic side of the fandom came from and why we use it.

You mean this post?

Ok. Here's where the fandom rage quits my blog:

The term "callsign" is used incorrectly in roughly 99% of military-themed fanfiction.

In the army, a callsign (or call sign) is specifically used in radio communications, not as a moniker or nickname to be used in in-person communications.

More precisely, a callsign is a combination of alpha and numeric characters, like Echo 3-1, Bravo-6, or Watcher-1. Callsigns are also used to ID listening posts, HQs, and permanent telecom installations, such as 620-Kilo in Cold War West Berlin. The radio operator on site would ID as 620-Kilo rather than an individual callsign, and when their shift is over, the next operator ID as 620-Kilo also.

Only field operators use individually designated callsigns, unless the callsign ID the vehicle (like a tank or armored-heavy), which means anyone using the radio for the vehicle ID as the vehicle callsign.

A callword (or call word) is the name of a receiver or station using letters/words but no numbers, like Actual, Cloud Castle, or Whiskey Foxtrot.

U.S. pilots (navy/air force/army air cavalry) are different from most of the military. Pilots get permanent callsigns (not always with numbers) during training and it follows them during their career. To be fair, they spend a lot of time on the radio, so having a permanent callsign makes sense.

The Call of Duty fandom fell in love with using the term callsign because it sounds more "military" to their ears than alias or nickname.

Names like Ghost, Soap, and Gaz are aliases or nicknames. They're not actually callsigns.

In my writing, I avoid using the term callsign because it's usually not the proper word to use in a given scene. To be fair, I have yet to write a pilot fic or one where there's extended training discussion about the proper use of radio-telephone operation in field ops.

My husband was an airborne RATELO (radio-telephone operator) and had a callsign for several years, but no one ever used his callsign unless literally talking over the SINCGARS system with him. I operated a radio for a week and I don't even remember what my callsign was. It was something forgettable from the NATO alphabet* with a number after it.

In the army, in person you're either your last name or your nickname.

SpecOps often call each other by their first names ("what's up, Dave?" LOL), their last name, or a nickname.

CIA & CID use aliases. They call those guys spooks for a reason. You never know who you're actually taking to since they never use their real name.

In the context of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, I still maintain that Alex Keller isn't Echo-1's government name. He's CIA. That was never his name. And he was never here. :)

*The NATO Phonetic Alphabet, for reference:

MASTERLIST