Why do military orders, etc. use all CAPS lock if it's so hard to read?

CPT Aaron Kletzing — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:25:45 -0400

When did this start, and whose idea was it? Who looked at this standard and said, "Yes -- this is brilliant"?

Does anyone know the first time this became a standard?

Response by Capt Brandon Charters made Sep 17 at 2013 4:37 PM

Capt Brandon Charters — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 16:37:03 -0400

I think it's because most people are in disbelief. All caps helps it sink in faster.

Response by SFC James Baber made Dec 22 at 2013 4:46 PM

SFC James Baber — Sun, 22 Dec 2013 16:46:46 -0500

I have to agree with CPT Charters on the humor end of it.

I think that if it was not in all CAPS, it would be even more difficult to read in some instances or even unrecognizable as well.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 23 at 2013 6:14 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 18:14:16 -0500

I know that from having worked as the CJTF-HoA CA LNO to US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya that all of their message traffic goes out in ALL CAPS.  I asked why is this in ALL CAPS? The reasoning is that by having it in ALL CAPS - the emails see it as 'one' and the message is seen as being smaller in text size, compared to using Upper Case to start sentences, and then reverting to lower case.  Go figure.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 23 at 2013 10:33 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 22:33:55 -0500

VERY GOOD QUESTION, BEING SOMEONE WHO HATES ALL CAPS, I PERSONALLY DON'T LIKE IT. OUR BASIC EDUCATION SYSTEM TEACHES US THAT IT IS WRONG. IS THIS SOMETHING THAT STARTED WHEN TYPEWRITERS WERE A NEW TECH, AND HAS BEEN PASSED ON FOR THE NEXT 60-70S YEARS? KNOWING THE MILITARY AND TRADITIONS, THIS IS LIKELY WHAT HAPPENED.

Response by SGM Matthew Quick made Dec 23 at 2013 10:46 PM

SGM Matthew Quick — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 22:46:11 -0500

After spending a few years in the Pentagon years ago, I remember the reason is because of the system capability...having all capital letters (26 characters) used less letters than upper and lower case (52 characters).

Interestingly enough, in April 2013 the U.S. Navy began a change away from an allcaps-based messaging system, which was begun with 1850s-era teletypes that had only uppercase letters. The switch to mixed-case communications was estimated to save the Navy $20 million a year and get it caught up with current Internet protocol.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/13/us/navy-all-caps/index.html

U.S. Navy adjusts to the times; ditches its ALL CAPS message format

Well, it seems the U.S. Navy finally got the memo: DON'T USE ALL CAPS! IT'S RUDE!

Response by PO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 23 at 2013 10:51 PM

PO3 Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 22:51:14 -0500

Regarding watch logs, I thought it was because you can't always rely on everyone's penmanship being legible. At least when you force members to write in all caps, it IS easier to read and usually more legible since they have to stop and think about it rather than "writing normal."

Response by SFC Michael Hasbun made Dec 25 at 2013 2:46 AM

SFC Michael Hasbun — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 02:46:48 -0500

Interesting theory on the matter...

http://alternatewars.com/BBOW/Computing/Capital_Letters.htm

Why are military messages in all capitals?

The English language contains 26 letters and 10 numbers, plus
about 5 special characters (space, period, comma, end of line). This
is a total of 42 characters needed.

Response by MAJ Bryan Zeski made Dec 26 at 2013 2:08 AM

MAJ Bryan Zeski — Thu, 26 Dec 2013 02:08:43 -0500

I just figured it was a bunch of Drill Instructors who were writing them and yelling at everyone.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 28 at 2014 10:17 AM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 10:17:48 -0500

Back in the 1850s, the teletype machines that the military used were made up of three rows of keys -- none of them lowercase letters.

"All caps" may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase), though without emphasis they have been traditional in military.

From my research sir, it is tradition but the Navy is getting with the times.

MESSAGES SENT WITHIN THE U.S. NAVY NO LONGER HAVE TO BE WRITTEN OUT IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS.

Since the 19th century, all official Navy communications have been written that way, a legacy of primitive technology combined with the service's love of tradition.

But in the modern age, young sailors more accustomed to texting on their phones consider TYPING IN ALL CAPS akin to shouting. Typographers, meanwhile, have long maintained that all-caps text is hard on the eyes.

So the Navy, amid a modernization of its communications system, decided it would make its official messages more readable—and potentially less rude.

In an April order delivered in all capital letters, U.S. Fleet Cyber Command announced sailors were "AUTHORIZED TO USE STANDARD, MIXED-CASE CHARACTERS IN THE BODY OF NAVY ORGANIZATIONAL MESSAGES."

It noted, however, that sailors shouldn't go crazy. Standard mixed-case sentences were only appropriate for the body of the text.

"RECOMMEND CONTINUE TO USE UPPER CASE IN LINES BEFORE REMARKS," the order said.

Because of legacy systems that use the old all-caps Teletype language, the Navy could only make the shift after adopting a new messaging system it is moving to this year. The system has the added benefit of using fewer computer servers and costing $15 million less a year to operate.

The Navy was not unconcerned about the tender feelings of young sailors.

"If an ancillary benefit is that sailors reading message traffic no longer feel they're being screamed at…that is a good thing too," said a Navy official. The official insisted the move was not an example of the service going soft.

Vice Adm. Herbert F. Leary wrote in June 1942 to Adm. Chester Nimitz after the latter's victory at the Battle of Midway: "ALL HANDS HERE WATCH GRAND SHOW NEAR MIDWAY AND SEND ADMIRING BEST WISHES AND CONGRATULATIONS X KEEP EM SINKING." It might not have looked as jubilant if Adm. Leary had written instead, "keep em sinking."

Enlarge Image

Teletype machine

The Navy acknowledges not everyone is happy with the change. "Some of the fleets were stuck in their ways and really wanted to keep the all-caps," said James McCarty, the Naval messaging program manager at Fleet Cyber command. "But it was inevitable. It had to happen."

Some senior officers believe once the ALL CAPS disappear, any number of strange characters might enter Navy orders, such as @, % or even—gasp—emoticons.

Mr. McCarty says he doesn't think emoticons will appear in official Navy communications. "Someone could put a smiley face or a heart in there. It may very well happen," he said. "But it would be the last thing that person ever does."

Early Teletypes of all kinds had limited numbers of characters and as a result did not use lowercase letters. Into the early 1990s, Dow Jones Newswires, the news service of the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, was still sending some dispatches in all capital letters. Today, the Associated Press style guide sternly admonishes news writers to avoid writing in all capital letters. So, too, do editors on Wikipedia, who are commanded to render all-caps headlines from past issues of newspapers, such as "WAR BEGINS TODAY," in standard sentence case.

A number of Army officers say they hope their service will take a cue from the Navy and abandon all caps orders.

"There is nothing worse than trying to read crap in all caps," said an Army officer. "I don't know why after we stopped using Teletype machines someone didn't say we should stop writing in all caps."

All Pentagon official communications used all-caps until 1998, officials said. Indeed any memo, order or directive from before 1998 screams out in all caps. Other services and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization still use capital letters for military orders and fragmentary orders.

Some officers say keeping official communications in all caps conveyed a sense of urgency important in military orders. But typographical experts say that writing in all caps is not actually the best way to get your point across.

"Having long stretches of text in all caps is hard on the eye," said Alexander Tochilovsky, an adjunct professor specializing in the history of typography at Cooper Union in New York. "Our brains are trained to recognize a mix of caps and lowercase."

Mixed-case letters, Mr. Tochilovsky said, offer easy "anchors" for readers. Street signs, he noted, are gradually moving from all capital letters to a mix of upper and lowercase.

The Navy's change was first reported in the Navy Times newspaper.

Some retired officers think changing messages to adapt to the tastes of a younger generation is a slippery slope that could lead to disaster. Or Twitter.

"My initial reaction was OMG, what are we doing?" said retired Rear Adm. John Hutson. "I am sure it would benefit the younger sailors if all the orders were issued at 140 characters in length."

Still, Adm. Hutson said on reflection he thinks the change makes sense, because sometimes whether something is or is not capitalized is important, and if you have to write in all caps, you lose that nuance.

The Navy League of the United States, a Navy lobby group, thinks the change to mixed-case lettering is a "CAPITAL" idea, wrote Kevin Traver, vice president and a former Marine.

LCDR (that is still the Navy style, ALL-CAPS, for Lieutenant Commander) John Salvato, a pediatrician at Portsmouth Naval Base, welcomed the Navy's decision to join the ranks of the lowercased.

"It has always been hard to decipher what was important information from what was just extra protocol jargon," he said. "It will certainly make interpreting and reviewing my orders easier to understand."

But not everywhere in the Navy, just yet: A handful of old Navy messaging terminals can't handle messages written in both cases. These old machines use a protocol called RIXT, or Remote Information Exchange Terminal and the Navy will begin replacing the last of these machines this year.

That means—at least in some messages—the Navy will continue shouting through 2015.

—Andrew Aylward contributed to this article.

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 26 at 2014 10:39 AM

MSG Private RallyPoint Member — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 10:39:35 -0500

Im betting in the days of typewriters...it was just easier to set the cap lock and capitalize EVERYTHING.....instead of having to worry about capitalizing the first letter of the sentence...or...by using all caps it IS easier to read..and not make any mistakes with some of the lower case letters that look alike....

Response by Jonathan Belew made May 16 at 2018 12:39 PM

Jonathan Belew — Wed, 16 May 2018 12:39:16 -0400

6 bit teletypes were faster. Efficiency won out 150 years ago.