Ensign Claims Aviator Call Signs Get Too Personal

[alright4u]

Originally Posted by wet dog

With the exception of one I know.

SFC/E7 SF Engineer type goes OCS, just one year after finishing his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering, he's 32 at the time. After IOBC, he works in the Bn S3 shop until he makes 02, (age 34), then to a Dive Team ODA as the interim XO. He then returns to Ft. Bragg to attend 18A Phase II & III, (age 35), followed by orders to attend SWCD course, Key West. In addition to receiving orders for promtion, 03, he has a birthday and turns 36 the same week while in dive training.

He returns and assumes command of ODA, truth be said, he was one of the finest Tm Leaders I ever served under, I, being a very young E5 at the time. Given also his age, his graduation from Key West was a real inspiration to us younger troopers. In the mid to late 80's, there was not a lot of money for training. The S3 shop had to consider the challenge of balancing monies for soldiers they thought who could graduate from those who needed courses for advancement. I attended Pre-scuba at Ft. Carson, and accompanying course POI and PT at 6,000 ft., while giving up on Op funds so another soldier could attend ANCOC/O&I.

I never attended dive school at Key West, served only 18 months on that team, but it was a great team, good memories, excellent training.

Years later, I ran into my old Tm Leader, he an 05, Bn Commander pins my E8 stripes.

It was kinda cool.

This man has orders for two promotions already?

[Mitch]

Found some good Air Force Call signs at this site: http://www.f-16.net/callsigns-R.html

Here are a few examples just from the letter R (to include Romo):

Rectum
Lt. in JROTC, just graduated this year. Known school wide as an egotistical, know-it-all @$$ho1e, hence "Rectum." He also wrecked his first car, a '98 Ford Explorer in a "ran a red light" incident; also killed a bird that flew into his car while going 80 on the highway (it's still there, by the way) and resulted in a large dent in his hood. He's also an all around speeder, hence "Rectum" = "Wrecked 'em."

Revlon
My fellow pilots in my ANG unit have little to no imagination. Wouldn't guess I was the only female aviator would you

Romo
Our instructor is from Texas and a big Cowboys fan. One of the students, being a Washington Redskins fan, told the instructor to take his Cowboys hat off and gave him crap the whole time. To get back at him we gave the student "Romo" after of course Tony Romo the Dallas quarterback

Rain Man
One night in a drunken stupor he urinated on his passed out buddy.


Here is one from the O list - a good example of be careful of what you ask for.

Omelet
Dutch pilot wanted to be called bouncer cause he used to be one at a club in Holland. Bouncer in dutch ("Uitsmijter") also means grilled egg. The squadron decided Bouncer sounded too cool so called him omelet. Lesson learned: NEVER ask for your own callsign!

[Richard]

...in dutch ("Uitsmijter") also means grilled egg...

It's really more of a kind of a meat sandwich with a fried egg - kinda like a Leberkäse mit Eier type of meal. Persoanlly - I preferred the Leberkäse mit Eier...but that's MOO.

But omelet does have a better 'ring' to it.

Now - re: CS Revlon - that one's an interesting story. http://www.amazon.com/Call-Sign-Revl.../dp/1557508097

Richard

[1stindoor]

Originally Posted by Richard

Now - re: CS Revlon - that one's an interesting story. http://www.amazon.com/Call-Sign-Revl.../dp/1557508097

Richard

I knew I knew that name. I remember when that all came out.

[Saoirse]

Originally Posted by Dozer523

Wow. did anyone else miss the traffic sign that mentioned this thread was about to go over the cliff? WTF does this have to do with RA vs Reserve/NG? I've served in both, overseas, and the training and operations were pretty real in both.My point is . . . Bullying is wrong and detrimental to good order and combat effectiveness. Tough, hard training and bullying have nothing in common except that bullies tell you its the same thing.
Physical, emotional, verbal stress in training is useful because it challenges, it is directed at all, in equal proportion, it builds comradere among the students. You can overcome to succeed in stressful training. It's goal is a skillset.
Bullying degrades. Bullying is directed at an individual and seperates them from the group usually because of some feature -- color, size, national origin; bullying fosters a "glad its you not me" dynamic. Bullies don't want the bullied to succeed, they thrive on the others failure. The Bully's goal is misery.
The case in point is not a training situation.

One of the reasons I joined Special Forces was that I hate bullies.
SF has confronted and destroyed a lot of bullies. There is little difference among the Soviet Unions, Sandinistas. Saddams, Noregas and Milosevecs and the "I-got-mine-now-you-get-yours types we're discussing here.

As for where have all the REAL men gone,(cue band: I Need A Hero), I don't know. I think I'll just drink my warm cocoa, put on my 'jamies, climb into my nice warm bed and try to dream about when I was a REAL man -- doing macho manly man things with my macho manly men - - a few days ago.

As for the "headpatting, asskissing, cowtowing, whining, lil girlie girls" those guys are called bullies.

Dozer,
Maybe I am misunderstanding you here but I wasn't directing my comments at you regarding this thread or what you said.

It is my opinion, as well as experiences growing up, that boys will razz one another, especially when they know they are getting somebody's back up! Why? Cuz that is just how it rolls. Honestly, there are some days where you are the bully and some days where you are the bullied. I guess it depends on whether the individual is strong enough to take the BS, roll with it or do something about it. My brother taught me a long time ago..."put up or shut up". If that guy had not whined about his nickname, it would have quickly become a non-issue. Hey, even as a girl I had nicknames I didn't care for BUT...if I had opened my mouth and whined about...I'd still be walking around with one or two of them.

It's not like they were taping his buttcheeks together with ducttape in the locker room.

[Dozer523]

Originally Posted by Saoirse

Dozer,
My brother taught me a long time ago..."put up or shut up".

So all he needed to do was put up his dukes . . . Did you miss this part of the article?

"The commanding officer and executive officer" — the unit's top two officers — "were voting members, and they allowed the whole room to vote on my call sign. They went line by line, word by word, and they voted, and the one that got the most votes was 'Romo's Bitch.' "

That would have been fun.

[Saoirse]

Originally Posted by Dozer523

So all he needed to do was put up his dukes . . . Did you miss this part of the article?

"The commanding officer and executive officer" — the unit's top two officers — "were voting members, and they allowed the whole room to vote on my call sign. They went line by line, word by word, and they voted, and the one that got the most votes was 'Romo's Bitch.' "

That would have been fun.

No I didn't miss that part at all. But like I said, if he had rolled with it eventually it would have been shortened to Romo or maybe even dropped. I wonder how many of the other guys have been stuck with nicknames they didnt' want but they sucked it up.
But not for nothing, I think its been blown out of proportion. Maybe they SHOULD HAVE taped his butt cheeks together..NOW that would have been worth whining over!

[alright4u]

Originally Posted by Dozer523

This is not an "oh, man up" issue. It's bullying.

Bullying, v. "A person is bullied when he or she is exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons, and he or she has difficulty defending himself or herself."

This definition includes three important components:

1. Bullying is aggressive behavior that involves unwanted, negative actions.
2. Bullying involves a pattern of behavior repeated over time.
3. Bullying involves an imbalance of power or strength.

When does teasing become taunting? When the victim can do nothing about it, the on-lookers join in or don't do anything about it. The bully has no reason to stop and every reason to continue or increase the meanness.

It's wrong.

Power was damn sure owned by my TAC officer in Infantry OCS. He was short, and, he damn sure got in my face almost daily. It was part of his game. I damn sure was not goling to let him beat me. I wanted that commission. I had banged on doors at Ft Dix for three weeks before I got an INF Maj so pissed he sent me to INF OCS in Jan 67.That damn 2LT was not going to ruin my plans.

He went to OCS and made 2LT the year he turned 32, then CPT at 36. He was one of only a few I knew who after making E7 went officer, most I knew went Warrant.

PM me, I'll give his name.

Originally Posted by alright4u

This man has orders for two promotions already?

[Dozer523]

Originally Posted by Saoirse

No I didn't miss that part at all. But like I said, if he had rolled with it eventually it would have been shortened to Romo or maybe even dropped. I wonder how many of the other guys have been stuck with nicknames they didnt' want but they sucked it up.
But not for nothing, I think its been blown out of proportion. Maybe they SHOULD HAVE taped his butt cheeks together..NOW that would have been worth whining over!

I guess we're going to have to "agree to disagree" here. But if I may, I think you miss the point of who blew what out of proportion. This guy did nothing wrong (unless reporting the bullying is wrong). The Commander and XO are in a position of power and used that position to demean an individual simply because they could.
Would you be so "oh man up!" if the call-sign was "Sambo"? Yeah, it is, the same thing.

As for the taping butt-cheeks together how about this. During our NG trainup for Afghanistan a Squad Leader in another Platoon decided a certain 18YO Private (of slight build, quiet demeanor and light brown complexion) needed his personal training. This consisted of frequent whispered slurs as to his manliness and repeated "Teabagging" sessions by the squad Leadership. The squad leader took pictures and there were pictures of the SL. The young Soldier took it for the 3 months at Ft Lewis because he thought if he did he would earn the SL's respect. Down range it morphed into pushing and shoving and gang beatings until one day there was a negligent discharge of the young Soldiers SAW in formation. Seems the SL and the boys decided to get the Young Soldier in trouble by rigging his weapon (left secured while he was in the messhall). Luckily no one in formation was injured. "One thing led to another including a turn-everything-upside-down barracks inspection. And all the pictures surfaced. Field Grade Articles all around. I was disappointed that the former SL former E-6 didn't get to spend time in the confinment facility.
BTW this dumb ass tried to pull his I'm-an-E6-and-you're-not-you're-different-from-me-and-I-don't-like-it-nor-you shit with me (about how I wore my LCE and my Long Tab) before I got my promotion to E-6. Once. That actually WAS fun. (What he lacked in professionalism he tried to make up for with stupidity)

I contend it is not the degree of bullying that makes it bad, but that it's bullying at all.

As for me I'll stand up to a bully for the weakling, every time.
No matter how tough you, are toughness alone can't beat mean.

(Maybe we ought to tape your . . . nah

Originally Posted by alright4u

Power was damn sure owned by my TAC officer in Infantry OCS. He was short, and, he damn sure got in my face almost daily. It was part of his game. I damn sure was not goling to let him beat me. I wanted that commission. That damn 2LT was not going to ruin my plans.

If it was directed at you only it was bullying if he was an equal opportunity jerk it was motivation. If he was pissed you were commissioned it was bullying if he was happy it was motivation. Of course he might have just been as a@@hole.
Harry Calahan was not a bully, "he hates everybody". Worked for the SFPD.

[Dozer523]

From the original article,
"Crowston, an administrative officer in the squadron and not an aviator, calls his sexual orientation "irrelevant" and wouldn't say whether he is gay. But he did complain, first within his unit and then to the office of the local Navy inspector general (IG), about workplace harassment. While the independent Navy Times newspaper reported last week that the IG found his complaint to be "unsubstantiated," Navy officers at the Pentagon later said the investigation has been reopened and that an additional inquiry into the squadron's command climate — and how the first investigation was handled — has been launched by Navy IG headquarters.

There's two kinds of officers in the Navy, Aviators and fags. There's two kinds of Aviators in the Navy, fighter pilots and fags. There's two kinds of fighter pilots in the Navy, . . . blah blah blah.
Don't ask, Don't tell
Command Climate . . . Somebody is gonna be toast.

[HMass18Z]

I was bullied as a kid .... and one day, I got tired of bieng bullied and I "manned up" and beat the sh*t out of the kid that bullied me ...... as Dr Phil would say .... he had a changing day in his life.

Then.... a few years later..... I got bullied and name called in AIT over my last name .... again, I "manned up", had one of those "Christman Story" moments, ie the scene of Ralphie vs. Scott Fargus..... and didn't get bullied anymore.

Bullies pick on those that show weakness. If you don't want to be bullied, show strength, dare to defend yourself and fight back.

[Richard]

If you don't want to be bullied, show strength, dare to defend yourself and fight back.

So, now we'll be adding a "Revenge of the Nerds" seminar to the IET POI and giving everyone a Tri-Lambs (ΛΛΛ) challenge coin for completion of the program?

Richard

[1stindoor]

Originally Posted by Richard

So, now we'll be adding a "Revenge of the Nerds" seminar to the IET POI and giving everyone a Tri-Lambs (ΛΛΛ) challenge coin for completion of the program?

Richard

Yeah, but afterwards they get to sleep with Betty.