The Call Sign Culture

I caught this TIME magazine article about Navy aviator who was protesting his call sign, and didn't know what to think.

A rookie Navy aviator can end up being called "Torch" if he sports red hair — or if he's too quick to turn on his afterburner. A pilot who struggles to fit into his flight suit can be dubbed "Shamu." But as barriers to the once insular, made-up-of-white-men world have fallen — first to minorities, then women and, maybe soon, openly gay personnel — what's an edgy call sign to one person could be seen as an offensive epithet by another.

That's what led Ensign Steve Crowston to complain, he says, after Navy aviators in Strike Fighter Squadron 136 in Oceana, Va., considered many humiliating call signs for him before settling on "Romo's Bitch," a reference to their suspicion that the fan of Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was gay.

I shot a few emails with a link to this story to a few friends of mine and asked if anyone had an opinion. A friend of mine responded and explained that the call sign her squadron came up with for her was a play on "Bitch" - and she seemed quite proud of that fact. I see it all as inside baseball culture stuff of the naval aviation community - and it is not much different than any other professional community where nicknames are used.

"Galrahn" was a nickname given to me by some guy I never actually met in person, but he was setting me up an account when I began working as an IRCop in the early 90s. I later asked about the name because people kept asking what the name was in reference to, and I didn't know the answer. I eventually called and asked, and the guy told me it was because on the phone he thought I was a girl (I was 15 years old when I started and probably did sound like a girl, and that explained why he always called me "Gal" for short).

In beta testing for an MMO in the late 90s I was given the nickname "JoeCool" because prior to the interview, I was so nervous I was outside smoking - and before it started I had ended up giving a camel cigarette to the guy who eventually conducted the interview. They revoked that name before it ever went public though as to not infringe on a trademark.

Check out what Lex says about the article.