Posted on Dec 3, 2013
What's your favorite military "nickname" or "call sign"?
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It's no secret, we're big on nicknames in the military, and there's some really great ones out there... so, what's your favorite? It could be a nickname that you had, or someone you know, from a move or tv show; it could be a nickname for a rank, base/location, career field, position/title, weapon system, piece of gear, personnel, or just about anything else under the sun. Perhaps it was a nickname for a mascot, civilian personnel, military family member, or something altogether different that has to do w/ the military, military life, or life from the military perspective. Well, this should be an absolute blast folks; so, feel free to share any related info, facts, photos, links, historical context, or just plain entertaining sea stories. The idea here is simple, to share fun and interesting info and to learn a thing or two in the process; now let's get this thing started, so pull up a keyboard, and... see you all in the discussion threads!
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Edited 12 y ago
Posted 12 y ago
Responses: 325
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Sir,
Another good question. My favorite nickname, although not unique at all, was LT. This nickname gave me so much detail about how my men felt about me in two seconds. If anyone called me Lieutenant or Sir I knew they were pissed off about something but when they were calling me LT I knew they were in good spirits. Those 15 months as a PL, 6 of them downrange, where some of the best in my career working with the best Soldiers I have ever had the pleasure of serving with. Oldest and Finest!!!
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Col (Join to see)
CPT(P) Telesco, great story, and very true how your troops approach you can tell volumes... excellent story, thanks for sharing!
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COL Vincent Stoneking
I listed my two favorite call signs, but LT was a close third. It is absolutely amazing the amount of nuance that can be put into two little letters. "LT" or "the LT" can carry infinite meanings, and you can even tell if the spoken words are capitalized. I knew exactly where I stood with my platoon.
It puts hooah and roger to shame as a multipurpose word.
It puts hooah and roger to shame as a multipurpose word.
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Being a Native American in the Army for some reason I was given the nick of "Chief."
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Major Burns, I am a cabledawg. It is not my nickname alone it is what we call ourselves in my field. We run wire and cable for the army. A lot of soldiers in the signal world sit behind a desk providing Internet to the troops. My MOS gets up early and works late every night running cable. We work like dogs. We are Army CableDawgs.
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CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025
Do Y'all have any recall of Spiral 4 Cable, 4 wires, which could carry 16 conversations or teletype when 'multiplexed'? Those fed into ANGRY 26, Comm vans on a 2 1/2 Hydromatic truck? They were about 12 mm in diameter, rubber coated, 1/4 mile long, heavy duty connectors and seldom failed. "We" were the Signal Support for the 7th ID in Korea in 1954/55.
Most of the division's communication was via wire!
We used and re-cycled miles of WD1/TT, a lite wire comprised of 3 strands of copper wire and 4? strands of steel wire.
A proper splice of WD1/TT was comprised of the steel wires being tied into a square knot and being overlaid by twisting the copper wires over that square knot.
Most of the division's communication was via wire!
We used and re-cycled miles of WD1/TT, a lite wire comprised of 3 strands of copper wire and 4? strands of steel wire.
A proper splice of WD1/TT was comprised of the steel wires being tied into a square knot and being overlaid by twisting the copper wires over that square knot.
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Suspended Profile
CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025 WD1 is still in inventory but much less prevalent. I’m trying to get my hands on some to keep for field expedient HF antenna voodoo...
Suspended Profile
CSM Charles Hayden Passed 7/29/2025 also I’ve not heard of Spiral 4 but in my private/specialist days in an MSE unit we ran thousands of feet of WF-16 which was a 2 pair twisted copper configuration. One of the worst ad hoc details of my life was crawling a culvert in Hohendehls with a 1/4 mile coax and four runs of WF tied to my belt.
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That's some fun nicknames! After OSUT I was stationed in Camp Page Korea as my first assignment. I was always having to get taped for BF% after PT tests because of my size. The guys would call me "Lunchbox" (after Silent Bob's nickname Jay would call him in the movies). Although I ended up dropping more than 40lbs, almost 12 years later to this day, my buddies who know me best still call me Lunchbox. I hated it at first, but it became who I was and drove me to becoming a more fit soldier. I love it now. HAHA!
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In OSUT they called me Norman, PVT Einstein and Quaker. Since, I've been called Rock by anyone from buddies to BC, Rainman by people at DLI, Crazy Mexican/Costa Rican. Rock is my favorite, but I like them all for the meaning and those using them.
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When I was in Basic the cadre called me Shrek (because they said I looked like the human Shrek without the hair) and J.I. Joe because I went to basic right after have the best off season of training to be a MLB with a power lifter as a strength coach. Weighed 230lbs. with less than 15% body fat going in.
The rest of the platoon called me Shrek because of the DFAC food and constant MREs my farts would smell like rotten eggs.
The rest of the platoon called me Shrek because of the DFAC food and constant MREs my farts would smell like rotten eggs.
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Col (Join to see)
Hahaha Great story SPC Arelt, perhaps just a bit TMI (rotten eggs), but great story!! Thanks for sharing! lol
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I have no idea where it came from but during my first deployment they started calling me "GibRAWR".
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Col (Join to see)
SGT Gibler, thanks for sharing, this one is certainly a mystery to me, it seems to me that someone out there is gonna have to help us explain this one! lol
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Col (Join to see)
SSG P, I can't imagine where they got that nickname from? lol One thing is for certain, this one has sure has had some staying power!
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SGT (Join to see)
I'm glad you are okay with that... It would tick me off that they weren't willing to try to say my name correctly...
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SGT (Join to see)
I'm guessing it's something like Pavel PerZhezLovSki??? I worked with a Dudkowski, and they just called him SGT Dude...
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Col (Join to see)
In tech school my bunk mate's name was Deuquenne (pro-nouced Dook-Kayne) ...we called him "Duke!" lol
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SrA (Join to see)
Ah yes, I remember those days using that term. Our Air Boss on the USS Carl Vinson used to say that.
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My favorite I've had was "White Lightning" due to my Kentucky heritage and pasty white skin tone...
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