Reply To: Radio Callsigns

[Just Jack]

John,

“Now that’s interesting! Did you have a suffic for empty APCs/IFVs?”
We did not, but you have to remember, I was with regular infantry battalions, not mech infantry, so we weren’t set up for organic vehicles.  So, AAVs from a track battalion, LAVs from LAR battalion, and trucks for a Motor-T battalion had their own callsigns, but they also had their own crews, they were not our men.  And when the Marine Corps decided (on the fly) to push a ton of HMMWVs down to each rifle company, those became organic and crewed by us, but we didn’t have formal callsigns for them.  I guess the closest thing for us would be Weapons Company, which has HMMWV mounted M2s, Mk19s, and TOWs, all of which can be dismounted, but I really don’t know how they did it (CEOI), I was always with Rifle Companies.

“I think our signals people would go potty if anyone tried to talk to a named individual, instead of an appointment title.”
It’s certainly non-standard, and didn’t happen a lot, but it did happen, almost always for personal stuff.  I.e., ‘there’s a Red Cross message, your son was just born,’ ‘hey, you’re pay is all screwed up but we’re working on it,’ or ‘hey, congratulations, you’re on the list, you got selected for promotion.’

V/R,
Jack