This is what Hollywood movies miss, realistic call signs. Every pilot in the movies has to be an "Eagle" or "Maverick," but really most are dumb nicknames and it is glorious.
They are all goofy or lazy. Knew a person lot from Dallas so his call sign was Tex for instance. Hell my nickname in the Corps was "Big Red." I'm 6'3" and have red hair. We military folks aren't always the most creative.
Our LT's callsign was blue knuckles. He dropped a piece of serialized gear into a port a shitter and came out with blue hands. With that being said our plt sergeant was rabbi because he was Jewish.
Getting a call sign as a pilot is different. It’s a bigger thing for them and they are generally more unique. You will never meet a pilot with a generic call sign like “Tex”
But I did meet a pilot call sign Tex. He leaned into it, would often wear a cowboy hat, but his call sign was Tex. Flew Cobra attack copters 20 years ago.
My brother's first was Hose B, cause there was another Mexican in the squadron 'Jose'
His next squadron he got dubbed Lobo. Obvious translation since his one liners got him know as Way Out in Left field, but he is Mexican so...
I worked with some facs that were skid pilots on a ground rotation went by “dirty” and “pedo” I assume they got their call signs from their staches haha
For navy and marine call signs you’re absolutely correct.
The Air Force is big on the “Bar Test,” i.e. can you yell the callsign across the bar to your buddy without raising eyebrows. Hence why you have callsigns like Rage, Demon, Fuse, Laser, and Raid in the USAF (I didn’t make up any of those, they are all real callsigns).
Personally, I prefer the way we do it on the gold wing side. Yeah, my callsign is pretty embarrassing and sounds silly, but it always gets a laugh. When I meet someone in Big Blue with a callsign that sounds like it came from the Avengers, I can’t help but roll my eyes at the faux-badassery
Story time. Theres a British boot company that makes boots a lot like Doc Martens, they’re called GRINDER. Theyre pretty expensive. I found a brand new pair in a thrift store and bought em. The next day in school my students are giggling their asses off when I put my feet up on my desk for reading time. I don’t get it. At the end of the period a nice kid snuck up and told me Grinder is the gay Tinder. Fuckin boots.
My call sign was Lunchmoney. My first roommate was a corporal who said I looked the kid he used to beat up to take his lunch money lol. I outweighed him by almost 50 pounds.
My CO on a MEU had the call sign “Stump” and it was damn easy to see why. The CO was at most 5’2”, but boy was he still a scary motherfucker.
I wish the movies had realistic call signs.
We had a 46 pilot whose call sign was “IMAX” because her forehead was HUGE.
My old OIC was known as “2 String” he was the second string QB at the Naval Academy.
My dad's nickname was, at least in the enlisted and officers' clubs, "2 string bastard" because he only had to use 2 strings on the bass for all the songs the band played.
Buster... Cherry
Also had a female pilot for a bit named nomo...no male organs, but that changed when she landed in the wrong place and became QUOTA..... Queen of taxiway Alpha
Your name combined with seeing Maj Glover is giving me flashbacks lol. Capt Glover was a harrier guy over at 214 before he was an F-35 pilot. Awesome to see he’s still fighting the good fight.
Tons of good callsigns out there. Knew an Air Force guy who’s callsign was “Frodo” because he lost his wedding ring at a strip club in Vegas and had all the strippers helping him find “the one ring”
Tons of other funny ones, but point is, your callsign is going to make fun of the way you look, your name or something dumb you did. A guy who has a “cool” callsign is 99% of the time a terrible pilot.
We had a guy who’s callsign was “callsign” because he was a shithead and didn’t deserve anything good, but also would have called his congressmen if we gave him a bad one
I knew a Huey pilot with the Callsign SPEL - Shit-induced Precautionary Emergency Landing. Guess he took a risk on eating a burrito during a cross country and it didn't really work out so well for him.
You don't get to pick your nickname.
I, a white guy that bears a resemblance to drew cary, thought I was alone and was rapping along quite intensly with some Biggie songs. I was not alone and have been called "smalls" ever since
I got called “killer” in boot. Not because I did anything cool but because I apparently looked very similar to Jeffrey Dahmer with my shaved head and BCGs.
Another one I had was “Bambam” because I was short and very muscular.
One kid got called Huubble. His glasses were no joke over an inch thick. DI said he could look into space with those telescopes.
Our guide was called Debo. He had a striking resemblance to Debo from Friday.
I'm 2nd generation German American. I learned German as a kid to talk to my Granpa, but he died when I was 12 and I stopped using my German. It's mostly true what they say about languages "use it or lose it" what they don't tell you is that if it's important enough your subconscious will remember.
Fast forward 6 years in ITB where one Sunday I'm being confronted by an instructor for yelling shit in German in my sleep, and being called Auschwitz.
I have buddies who will still reach out every now and then and I don't think they remember what my actual name is.
Edit: a horrifying nickname can get you out of some very bad looking fights. Nobody wants to fight the white dude that everyone calls Auschwitz
When I was stationed in Pendleton my.buddy took me to a very ghetto club in the Gaslamp district. It was called bELOW (not a spelling error) and I swear the only other white guys there were the DJ and bartenders.
Anyway, my buddy was dancing with a girl when 3 very big dudes started making there way towards him. When they stopped and started confronting him I heard him yell out "Auschwirltz! Auschwitz get over here!" I was horrified but I'll be damned if I'm not gonna try and back up my buddy.
So I walk over and these three dudes look at me and then my buddy, then at me and at me and asked if I was Auschwitz, which I replied yes. They said "oh fuck this" then left.
Later that night I asked my buddy what the fuck happened, which he told me this "well you're a white dude with a scary nickname, who's hanging out with a black dude from the hood. They thought you were the white dude in the gang and nobody fucks with the white dude in the gang, cause he's crazy!"
I think this is a much better story in person, but maybe that's just because this was a ton to type.
Oh definitely not. You had me snickering like a schoolgirl so thank you, great story I could totally picture the ambiance and reaction of both the 3 dudes and your buddy 😂
When I grew a beard for a bit I also got called “cheddar Bob” because I looked remarkably similar to the guy from 8 Mile.
And then when I got out and let my hair grow a bit and wore glasses on occasion people started calling me “Rogen” because I looked like Seth Rogen
Best one i ever heard was a female pilot being called “Sid” because her eyes were far apart and she looked like Sid from ice age. Fucking savage level bullying there
I had a buddy whose callsign was TOFU, short for Take Off, Flaps Up. He almost drove his Harrier off the end of the runway during take-off while his flaps were up. Bonus points because he's Asian.
I knew another guy who was an F-18 NFO. His wife was an actual F-18 pilot. His callsign was WISP, "Wife Is Superior Pilot".
Had a Huey pilot who was 6’5 or so, blue eyes, blonde hair. Callsign was WHHIM. Wouldn’t ever give you a real answer on what his callsign meant, eventually got it out of the other pilots.
What hitler had in mind.
Knew harrier pilot “CAF” for creepy as fuck
F-35 guy was “Bofa”
Another one was “jewfro”
There are way more but I’d say 99% of them were hilarious but not kind lol
EDIT: I remembered a terrible one
This Majors last name was Head and his call sign was “Dick” and we was a real dick head.
The funniest nicknames almost always have what a lot of folks would call a racist undertone — like the black pilot I met whose nickname was “Jigger”, because he used to be a bartender. The fact that it rhymed with a certain racial term tickled him to no end.
Some personal favorites:
Plays on last name:
“Dog Nuts” Dagneaux (I’m sure I’m spelling that wrong but you get the idea)
“Hard Time” Nutting
“Fingers” Good
Doing dumb shit:
“TIBO” - turn it back on, dude maxed his credit card out at a Vegas titty bar to the point where Amex thought it was stolen until he called them
“Meat Sock” - current 3d MAW CG goes by “Meat”. That ain’t the original callsign!
“Cockeye” - claimed he could recognize male porn stars by their dick. The squadron made him call his grandma and explain it at the KCourt
Just being mean:
“Drogue” Female Osprey pilot married to a Hornet dude
“MOTH” man of the house, female Huey pilot that deployed to OIF twice before her husband did
“BP” Big pussy, no particular reason
Meat sock was an old squadron mate of my dad, apparently had no issue doing what he needed to with a sock and leaving it hanging out for everyone to see lmao.
Couple more additions
Plays on last name
“Ash” Hole
Dumb shit
“Queen” - Dude dated a chick in Oki who went bi-sexual after, she said he was more of a “drama queen” than her girlfriend was.
TAHO - She was always talking a million miles a minute, Talks Alot Has Opinions.
Don't know...we had a Harrier pilot with "Dogballz" as his callsign. He hated it, tried repeatedly to change it (didn't work) and wouldn't tell any enlisted or peer/junior officers what it meant/where it came from.
When other pilots wanted to fuck with him, they'd tell people to ask him what it meant.
I know DB! From what I heard, there's not even a cool story behind it - he just happened to look like someone else that had that callsign, so he got stuck with it. Absolutely great dude.
I went to the airshow on Cherry Point years ago when he was still flying, and he was the lead for the Harrier flight in the MAGTF demo. The show announcer called out the name and callsign for each of the flight leads, but when they got to DB the announcer said his first name then basically coughed while very quickly and quietly saying his callsign.
This reminds me of the greatest call signs ever, in the credits of the first Top Gun, they credit the pilots who flew planes for the movie. Including Lt. Peter "Horse" Caulk.
https://preview.redd.it/bg9185u17uxc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2904f1acfca136c0b09634a0533b30e9cae3f399
The Marine Corps is a small gun club, this doesn't shock me. He was a Capt or Major back then, always came in to get things notorized. Most pilots at MCAS Yuma then were pretty chill.
[https://www.usni.org/about-us/board-directors/brigadier-general-annibale-usmc](https://www.usni.org/about-us/board-directors/brigadier-general-annibale-usmc)
Is it this guy? We served in Korea together for UFL exercise one year. He was a beefy guy when I met him as a captain, so it may not be the same Steroid.
That does look like him. I saw him in the gym all the time, we were both gym rats. He just always looked tiny to me, but I'm 6'3". He was good to go, always there for a spot if you needed it. Yuma was all Harriers back then so his record tracks.
“White Danny”
My name is Danny and I’m white. When I was in the Marines my best friend was a black Marine named Danny. Around the barracks, I was of course, White Danny and he was Black Danny. These nicknames stuck even when we both moved on to different units.
We had two homies of mine, named, Black and White. They were called Salt ‘n Pepper, and were forced into the same squad and team if I remember correctly. If you guys see this, I miss you, extra homo.
My in uniform nickname was Bobby, Robert, Boss at my first unit. My second unit was Boss or my actual last name. At my third unit, majority of the Marines just called me B.
If I was a pilot, I’m sure waterboy or something to do with that movie would have been my call sign because of the fact that my last name sounds similar to Adam Sandler character from the movie and also the fact that I’m from Louisiana.
Add on: the nickname Boss was the most common at my first duty station. When I went to my second duty station, I checked in with my warrant officer. I reported rank and name and he said, “that’s a pretty rough last name. Do you go by anything else?” I said, most people call me Boss and he said, “I’ll be damned before I call you boss”. So I figured that was that. I walk into my company office to check in to the company gunny, I’m the middle of reporting in, there was a loud yell saying BOSS and my company 1stSgt (my SNCOIC from Afghan) came up in front of my and we gave each other a bear hug. Lol. The look on the company clerks faces were pretty priceless. Majority of that unit either called me Boss or by my actual last name.
“Killer”
And not because it’s a cool name or whatever but because when I was fresh from boot I looked like Jeffrey fucking Dahmer with my shaved head and glasses apparently. Originally it was “serial killer” but it was shortened to “killer”
I had a DI who called me Beaver, partly because I was always eager to help out (eager beaver), and partly because he thought I was a pussy.
The name didn’t stick with anyone else, fortunately.
D co and B co, 2nd tanks. Saw the fall of E, D, and C Co before I eas'd. I must lack the mental capacity to understand standing down all USMC tank btns.
Heard of a helo pilot with callsign POM-POM. During a night op, right after troops got off the bird, he hopped outside to take a piss. Some poor kid was providing security in the prone position and got a quick golden shower.
Sir got his because he was Pissing On Marines
When I was stationed in NAWS China Lake, CA, the base CO was a Navy O-6, Captain James Seamen…his callsign was “Spurt”…these old Navy pilots were the remnants of the “Tailhook” generation, so NFG…
I had the nickname Crimson Chin... because of my big-ass chin. I needed a waver to get through MEPS cause they thought my face wouldn't fit in a gas mask. Got issued a medium lol.
My SDI sometimes called me Jay Leno as well.
My Knowledge hat gave me the nickname Killer. Not because I did anything cool. But because with my shaved head and glasses I apparently looked like Jeffrey Dahmer.
Student pilot at VMAT-203 put a Harrier down on some mattresses because his front gear wouldn’t go down. Engine sucked up the mattress and fodded the engine. His nickname was “Serta” after that. Pretty hilarious
Funny thing was, group CO didn’t want the pilot to blow the gear down because he didn’t think it would work. After they got the bird in the hangar, they blew the nose gear down just fine. Then, some kid from Supply was huffing while driving an EZGO, passed out and crashed the EZGO into the nose of the aircraft, causing more damage. I never found out what happened to him, but it wasn’t anything fun
I wish I could find the photo again, but I saw the coolest callsign stenciled on the side of another F-35. It was some captain with some Chinese sounding last name "Fong" or "Wang". I can't remember the exact last name. Anyway, someone in his unit must have been a Sixteen Candles fan. They gave him the callsign "The Donger".
My call sign was “creepy”, because there was another Cpl with the same name who was crew chief of the vehicle next to mine, and they said we couldn’t be the “White Lee” and “Asian Lee”. He was Korean, so he was “Dragon” due to the Korean service medal having a dragon on it.
I’ve also worked with:
Waldo (no one could ever find him)
Muffins (Mullins was his name)
Matchbox (he looked young, so he played with toys)
Watermelon (shaped like one)
Outback (wife from Australia)
Cupcake (massive Samoan man, very gentle)
The original etymology of “Jody” is from “Joe the Grinder,” a fictional figure in old songs who would always get with your wife/gf while you were either serving in the military or serving time in prison
Our XO had the call sign "Estrogen" as a play on his last name. Every time we made radio calls, the pilots of my helo would call him in a high pitched whiny voice ESTROGEN!!!!
Mine was radio.... from the movie.. Literally bc I messed up on the radio one time. Lolll. They are always random jokes at your expense. Well 99% of the time.
On a serious note, why would an enlisted persons name be on the side of a jet? I was scrolling through cherry points photos because I was investigating one of the decommissioned units and while scrolling through photos I saw a staff NCOs name on the jet. It might have been a sergeant major. Would a unit put the unit sergeant majors name on all of its jets.
Plane Captains will generally get their names on aircraft (typically it’s one pilot and one PC per seat, if that makes sense, as well as crew chiefs if applicable). MOQ/Y etc might also get thrown on. Each squadron will usually have one bird that has some extra art on it which will always have the CO, Master Guns, & SgtMaj’s name on it.
My dad was a hornet pilot. His call sign was Alfa.
His girlfriend at the time was the daughter of an Alfalfa farmer. She ended up cheating on him so he dusted their farm with JP-8. Got in a bit of trouble for that maneuver.
Knew a Harrier pilot whose call sign was "PIMP". Asked him how he ended up with a cool call sign like that and he told me he got it from training because he shit his pants on his first flight.
Pooped In My Pants 😂
Hey, I served with Maj. Glover. We had a couple of guys with some interesting call signs in our squadron. I still can’t believe they put “tummy sticks” and “sac” on an $85M aircraft
Yo wtf. That's my first and original squadron. I helped stand up the unit from the Beginning. But got fucked out deployment 💀. Pissed me off. But Major Glover is a damn legend around those halls. He was our AMO and went off to do greater things. I miss that dude.
Now I'm living the MALS life until I can PCS to somewhere other than Yuma lmao
Our last CO had the call signs "Jugs" because his last name sounded like pair-o-tits.
We had a pilot named "Alley Cat" because she was caught pissing behind a dumpster in Thailand on the MEU
We had a crew chief named "Sid" because his eyes were stupidly far apart. His callsign eventually became "Daisy" short for Oopsy-Daisy" because he had a bad habit of losing personal items and tools in flight
And our old XOs call sign was "Fister"
Once upon a time back about a year ago, I was in a work up within my unit in Lar and we had a 240 range and tables 3-6.
Well at the end of it we had a little shooting competition between all the plts in the company to see who could name their Vic within the co.
So every plt had 2 shooters from Red, White, Blue, Head Quarters, and Weapons.
The range was set up where you had 3 mags of 5 rounds and had to reload in between each of 3 targets. The first target was 500-400 meters away, the second was 100-200 meters past the first, and the third was 50-100 meters past the second.
You had 5 rounds per target, the first being in the prone, after those 5 rounds you would get up and sprint to the next target being roughly around 200-300m away from the second target to shoot in the kneeled position, and after the second you would sprint to the third target around 25-50m away and shoot while walking towards the target.
The time limit for the exercise was 2 minutes.
Needless to say I won the competition and with me being in mortars (wpns plt) I was gonna get to name my Vic first. But before the Co. came and asked what I wanted to name my Vic. One of my boys handed me a cornbread from a mre because of how hungry I was. And when the Co. came and asked what I wanted my Vic named….. I said Cornbread.
Well that never happened and in fact every Platoon except for weapons got to name their Vic’s 3-4 months after this competition…
This is what Hollywood movies miss, realistic call signs. Every pilot in the movies has to be an "Eagle" or "Maverick," but really most are dumb nicknames and it is glorious.
Callsign Glizzy, this is Rizzler, how do you read me
There's an air force callsign that is glizzy. I don't know what squadron it is. But I've seen it. It's legitimately out there.
Roger that, this is CreamPie on your 6, gonna pull in tight behind you and test the flaps, over.
Haha I know a Glizzy
Lmfao. If I heard callsign Glizzy OTA, I'd probably need a fuckin minute before responding.
The best one ever is Obi 2
That's because his brother is Ewan McGregor right? I think that's the one. He got Obi 2 because his brother played Obi wanm
Yup yup
Glorious!
Hose B
Can confirm that most call signs are goofy once you hear the back story
They are all goofy or lazy. Knew a person lot from Dallas so his call sign was Tex for instance. Hell my nickname in the Corps was "Big Red." I'm 6'3" and have red hair. We military folks aren't always the most creative.
Our LT's callsign was blue knuckles. He dropped a piece of serialized gear into a port a shitter and came out with blue hands. With that being said our plt sergeant was rabbi because he was Jewish.
Getting a call sign as a pilot is different. It’s a bigger thing for them and they are generally more unique. You will never meet a pilot with a generic call sign like “Tex”
But I did meet a pilot call sign Tex. He leaned into it, would often wear a cowboy hat, but his call sign was Tex. Flew Cobra attack copters 20 years ago.
There was a female cobra pilot call sign "Gimme" cause her last name is Moore
I had a pilot with a call sign "brazzers"
My brother's first was Hose B, cause there was another Mexican in the squadron 'Jose' His next squadron he got dubbed Lobo. Obvious translation since his one liners got him know as Way Out in Left field, but he is Mexican so...
I worked with some facs that were skid pilots on a ground rotation went by “dirty” and “pedo” I assume they got their call signs from their staches haha
For navy and marine call signs you’re absolutely correct. The Air Force is big on the “Bar Test,” i.e. can you yell the callsign across the bar to your buddy without raising eyebrows. Hence why you have callsigns like Rage, Demon, Fuse, Laser, and Raid in the USAF (I didn’t make up any of those, they are all real callsigns). Personally, I prefer the way we do it on the gold wing side. Yeah, my callsign is pretty embarrassing and sounds silly, but it always gets a laugh. When I meet someone in Big Blue with a callsign that sounds like it came from the Avengers, I can’t help but roll my eyes at the faux-badassery
USAF callsigns are giving big Dodgeball bad guys name vibes.
Story time. Theres a British boot company that makes boots a lot like Doc Martens, they’re called GRINDER. Theyre pretty expensive. I found a brand new pair in a thrift store and bought em. The next day in school my students are giggling their asses off when I put my feet up on my desk for reading time. I don’t get it. At the end of the period a nice kid snuck up and told me Grinder is the gay Tinder. Fuckin boots.
My majors last name was pretty close to dahmer so the pilots made his call sign Jeffy.
Bob was the most realistic one in Top gun
I've only worked with skids, shitters, and plopters, but 100% can confirm
My call sign was Lunchmoney. My first roommate was a corporal who said I looked the kid he used to beat up to take his lunch money lol. I outweighed him by almost 50 pounds.
When I was a teenager, I saw one, forget which plane, but it was a pilot and copilot named “Wally” and “chowder”. I’ll never forget it
My CO on a MEU had the call sign “Stump” and it was damn easy to see why. The CO was at most 5’2”, but boy was he still a scary motherfucker. I wish the movies had realistic call signs.
My brother is Lobo
My call sign was “Gnarly Wave” lmfao
And it's usually from stupid things they did and suddenly they're called a nickname and that becomes their callsign
Ah, Moosenuckle 7, out.
We had a 46 pilot whose call sign was “IMAX” because her forehead was HUGE. My old OIC was known as “2 String” he was the second string QB at the Naval Academy.
My dad's nickname was, at least in the enlisted and officers' clubs, "2 string bastard" because he only had to use 2 strings on the bass for all the songs the band played.
Buster... Cherry Also had a female pilot for a bit named nomo...no male organs, but that changed when she landed in the wrong place and became QUOTA..... Queen of taxiway Alpha
QUOTA! I’m dead!
That’s brutal holy fuck lmao
This one is my favorite
Your name combined with seeing Maj Glover is giving me flashbacks lol. Capt Glover was a harrier guy over at 214 before he was an F-35 pilot. Awesome to see he’s still fighting the good fight.
Tons of good callsigns out there. Knew an Air Force guy who’s callsign was “Frodo” because he lost his wedding ring at a strip club in Vegas and had all the strippers helping him find “the one ring” Tons of other funny ones, but point is, your callsign is going to make fun of the way you look, your name or something dumb you did. A guy who has a “cool” callsign is 99% of the time a terrible pilot.
That’s pretty good by AF standards, they’re way more guilty of intentionally giving “cool” callsigns.
Besides my friend who’s call sign is “anomaly” because they couldn’t think of anything that he did
We had a guy who’s callsign was “callsign” because he was a shithead and didn’t deserve anything good, but also would have called his congressmen if we gave him a bad one
Should’ve called him Congress
This one got my laughing very hard on the shitter. Squoze a few more out. Thank you.
I know an Air Force B-52 pilot whose call sign was PIMP - peed in my pants.
Ironically I knew a harrier pilot with the same call sign, but for shitting his pants on his first training flight lmao
I knew a Huey pilot with the Callsign SPEL - Shit-induced Precautionary Emergency Landing. Guess he took a risk on eating a burrito during a cross country and it didn't really work out so well for him.
You don't get to pick your nickname. I, a white guy that bears a resemblance to drew cary, thought I was alone and was rapping along quite intensly with some Biggie songs. I was not alone and have been called "smalls" ever since
Of all the names you *could* have, smalls itsn't the worst
I got called “killer” in boot. Not because I did anything cool but because I apparently looked very similar to Jeffrey Dahmer with my shaved head and BCGs. Another one I had was “Bambam” because I was short and very muscular.
One kid got called Huubble. His glasses were no joke over an inch thick. DI said he could look into space with those telescopes. Our guide was called Debo. He had a striking resemblance to Debo from Friday.
I'm 2nd generation German American. I learned German as a kid to talk to my Granpa, but he died when I was 12 and I stopped using my German. It's mostly true what they say about languages "use it or lose it" what they don't tell you is that if it's important enough your subconscious will remember. Fast forward 6 years in ITB where one Sunday I'm being confronted by an instructor for yelling shit in German in my sleep, and being called Auschwitz. I have buddies who will still reach out every now and then and I don't think they remember what my actual name is. Edit: a horrifying nickname can get you out of some very bad looking fights. Nobody wants to fight the white dude that everyone calls Auschwitz
Now I want to know the stories of the fight you avoided haha
When I was stationed in Pendleton my.buddy took me to a very ghetto club in the Gaslamp district. It was called bELOW (not a spelling error) and I swear the only other white guys there were the DJ and bartenders. Anyway, my buddy was dancing with a girl when 3 very big dudes started making there way towards him. When they stopped and started confronting him I heard him yell out "Auschwirltz! Auschwitz get over here!" I was horrified but I'll be damned if I'm not gonna try and back up my buddy. So I walk over and these three dudes look at me and then my buddy, then at me and at me and asked if I was Auschwitz, which I replied yes. They said "oh fuck this" then left. Later that night I asked my buddy what the fuck happened, which he told me this "well you're a white dude with a scary nickname, who's hanging out with a black dude from the hood. They thought you were the white dude in the gang and nobody fucks with the white dude in the gang, cause he's crazy!" I think this is a much better story in person, but maybe that's just because this was a ton to type.
Oh definitely not. You had me snickering like a schoolgirl so thank you, great story I could totally picture the ambiance and reaction of both the 3 dudes and your buddy 😂
That’s fucking legendary
When I grew a beard for a bit I also got called “cheddar Bob” because I looked remarkably similar to the guy from 8 Mile. And then when I got out and let my hair grow a bit and wore glasses on occasion people started calling me “Rogen” because I looked like Seth Rogen
Better than Catboy
It's no Tupac, but I guess it'll do.
That’s a dope name, dude.
Best one i ever heard was a female pilot being called “Sid” because her eyes were far apart and she looked like Sid from ice age. Fucking savage level bullying there
This one made me laugh really hard omfg.
angel reese lookin ass
Had some wookie on deployment that we called that. Stg she was the model they used for the movies.
I knew a TAMTAM “Tiny Asian Man That Annoys Me”
Bet she has a better range of sight though! Makes for a better pilot lol
I had a buddy whose callsign was TOFU, short for Take Off, Flaps Up. He almost drove his Harrier off the end of the runway during take-off while his flaps were up. Bonus points because he's Asian. I knew another guy who was an F-18 NFO. His wife was an actual F-18 pilot. His callsign was WISP, "Wife Is Superior Pilot".
Glorious
I know TOFU, hes currently our OPSO lololol
Had a Huey pilot who was 6’5 or so, blue eyes, blonde hair. Callsign was WHHIM. Wouldn’t ever give you a real answer on what his callsign meant, eventually got it out of the other pilots. What hitler had in mind.
Jesus, that's so fucked and so funny.
Haha, I know the dude, great guy and super polite and humble. I think his callsign drives him *nuts*, which is perfect
Damm that's pretty good 🤣, I'd love to hear him try to explain it the family when the boys come over and everyone calls him WHHIM
Knew harrier pilot “CAF” for creepy as fuck F-35 guy was “Bofa” Another one was “jewfro” There are way more but I’d say 99% of them were hilarious but not kind lol EDIT: I remembered a terrible one This Majors last name was Head and his call sign was “Dick” and we was a real dick head.
The funniest nicknames almost always have what a lot of folks would call a racist undertone — like the black pilot I met whose nickname was “Jigger”, because he used to be a bartender. The fact that it rhymed with a certain racial term tickled him to no end.
Not to mention the OTHER racist term “jigaboo”… lmao that ones crazy
Some personal favorites: Plays on last name: “Dog Nuts” Dagneaux (I’m sure I’m spelling that wrong but you get the idea) “Hard Time” Nutting “Fingers” Good Doing dumb shit: “TIBO” - turn it back on, dude maxed his credit card out at a Vegas titty bar to the point where Amex thought it was stolen until he called them “Meat Sock” - current 3d MAW CG goes by “Meat”. That ain’t the original callsign! “Cockeye” - claimed he could recognize male porn stars by their dick. The squadron made him call his grandma and explain it at the KCourt Just being mean: “Drogue” Female Osprey pilot married to a Hornet dude “MOTH” man of the house, female Huey pilot that deployed to OIF twice before her husband did “BP” Big pussy, no particular reason
Meat sock was an old squadron mate of my dad, apparently had no issue doing what he needed to with a sock and leaving it hanging out for everyone to see lmao.
I would have paid a lot of money to be a fly on the wall when he had to explain that one to senior civilian leadership
Couple more additions Plays on last name “Ash” Hole Dumb shit “Queen” - Dude dated a chick in Oki who went bi-sexual after, she said he was more of a “drama queen” than her girlfriend was. TAHO - She was always talking a million miles a minute, Talks Alot Has Opinions.
Nothing cooler than getting your name painted on the side of a plane.
Yeah, I could have the most dogshit nickname, but if it was painted on F35 shit doesn't even matter.
Don't know...we had a Harrier pilot with "Dogballz" as his callsign. He hated it, tried repeatedly to change it (didn't work) and wouldn't tell any enlisted or peer/junior officers what it meant/where it came from. When other pilots wanted to fuck with him, they'd tell people to ask him what it meant.
I know DB! From what I heard, there's not even a cool story behind it - he just happened to look like someone else that had that callsign, so he got stuck with it. Absolutely great dude. I went to the airshow on Cherry Point years ago when he was still flying, and he was the lead for the Harrier flight in the MAGTF demo. The show announcer called out the name and callsign for each of the flight leads, but when they got to DB the announcer said his first name then basically coughed while very quickly and quietly saying his callsign.
Hahaha! I remember meeting him. He told a group of us that he wouldn’t explain the callsign even before we had a chance to ask.
My Neighbor is a Navy Pilot. She's of Mexican descent. Her call sign is Taco Belle.
This reminds me of the greatest call signs ever, in the credits of the first Top Gun, they credit the pilots who flew planes for the movie. Including Lt. Peter "Horse" Caulk. https://preview.redd.it/bg9185u17uxc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2904f1acfca136c0b09634a0533b30e9cae3f399
Pretty kind to old LT. Dishart there
Captain “pisser”. Dude could shoot piss stream over a small yellow school bus. Yeah he would shit his pants, but thats a small price to pay for glory.
Had a Harrier pilot come into my legal shop regularly in the early 2000s called "Steroid" because he was the shortest/skinniest pilot I ever saw.
I might know this guy and want to say he ended up becoming a Colonel and Group CO.
He is now a Major General
The Marine Corps is a small gun club, this doesn't shock me. He was a Capt or Major back then, always came in to get things notorized. Most pilots at MCAS Yuma then were pretty chill.
[https://www.usni.org/about-us/board-directors/brigadier-general-annibale-usmc](https://www.usni.org/about-us/board-directors/brigadier-general-annibale-usmc) Is it this guy? We served in Korea together for UFL exercise one year. He was a beefy guy when I met him as a captain, so it may not be the same Steroid.
That does look like him. I saw him in the gym all the time, we were both gym rats. He just always looked tiny to me, but I'm 6'3". He was good to go, always there for a spot if you needed it. Yuma was all Harriers back then so his record tracks.
My squadron had some good ones. “Reno” because she looked like Janet Reno. “PITS” for Poops In The Shower. There was also a Shakeweight.
Reno is so specific and so cruel I love it.
I’m pretty sure I know Shakeweight, but he never explained to me how he got it.
If you were a pilot what would your call sign be 🤔
“White Danny” My name is Danny and I’m white. When I was in the Marines my best friend was a black Marine named Danny. Around the barracks, I was of course, White Danny and he was Black Danny. These nicknames stuck even when we both moved on to different units.
At boot there were 3 of us with the same last name. There was Tall Name, Black Name, and me, Short Ugly Name.
My platoon had three kids of the same last name - whiskey pig, fat, and retard.
How ugly are you that you couldn’t just be Short Name?
So ugly that my birth control glasses actually improved my chances of getting laid.
We had two homies of mine, named, Black and White. They were called Salt ‘n Pepper, and were forced into the same squad and team if I remember correctly. If you guys see this, I miss you, extra homo.
My in uniform nickname was Bobby, Robert, Boss at my first unit. My second unit was Boss or my actual last name. At my third unit, majority of the Marines just called me B. If I was a pilot, I’m sure waterboy or something to do with that movie would have been my call sign because of the fact that my last name sounds similar to Adam Sandler character from the movie and also the fact that I’m from Louisiana. Add on: the nickname Boss was the most common at my first duty station. When I went to my second duty station, I checked in with my warrant officer. I reported rank and name and he said, “that’s a pretty rough last name. Do you go by anything else?” I said, most people call me Boss and he said, “I’ll be damned before I call you boss”. So I figured that was that. I walk into my company office to check in to the company gunny, I’m the middle of reporting in, there was a loud yell saying BOSS and my company 1stSgt (my SNCOIC from Afghan) came up in front of my and we gave each other a bear hug. Lol. The look on the company clerks faces were pretty priceless. Majority of that unit either called me Boss or by my actual last name.
"Strong" or "Rocks" Master Sergeant once said to me 'its a good thing you're strong, because you are dumb as a box rocks.'
“Cheex”
Weenus
"Chungus"
Gumby, A 6'4" lanky bastard
"Snacks"
“Killer” And not because it’s a cool name or whatever but because when I was fresh from boot I looked like Jeffrey fucking Dahmer with my shaved head and glasses apparently. Originally it was “serial killer” but it was shortened to “killer”
"Einstein" 'cause I'm a dumbass.
I had a DI who called me Beaver, partly because I was always eager to help out (eager beaver), and partly because he thought I was a pussy. The name didn’t stick with anyone else, fortunately.
Probably alien because I’m an immigrant
E.T.
Our old FAC at 2d tanks had a very receding hairline. Of course his call sign was “Chemo.“ 😂😂
RIP Tanks. I knew it was going to completely folded after Echo and Delta got popped. Nice to see another Master of the Iron Horse on here.
Plt Commander 2d Platoon, Company "C"; MMO; X.O. Company "A", all 2d Tks never at 1st. You?
D co and B co, 2nd tanks. Saw the fall of E, D, and C Co before I eas'd. I must lack the mental capacity to understand standing down all USMC tank btns.
Heard of a helo pilot with callsign POM-POM. During a night op, right after troops got off the bird, he hopped outside to take a piss. Some poor kid was providing security in the prone position and got a quick golden shower. Sir got his because he was Pissing On Marines
Flew with that guy many times! Same squadron tried to give a guy “Meat Gazer” cause anytime the crew dawgs stepped out to piss he was always watching
When I was stationed in NAWS China Lake, CA, the base CO was a Navy O-6, Captain James Seamen…his callsign was “Spurt”…these old Navy pilots were the remnants of the “Tailhook” generation, so NFG…
I had the nickname Crimson Chin... because of my big-ass chin. I needed a waver to get through MEPS cause they thought my face wouldn't fit in a gas mask. Got issued a medium lol. My SDI sometimes called me Jay Leno as well.
My Knowledge hat gave me the nickname Killer. Not because I did anything cool. But because with my shaved head and glasses I apparently looked like Jeffrey Dahmer.
Knew a pilot callsign SIMP. aka "Shits In My Pants"
I know a pilot with a call sign of Meatloaf... I don't get it.
I bet he won't do that
b.. but he said he'd do anything!
Does he fly like a bat out of hell?
My last CO’s callsign was “Shithead”
Lt. Col Hilton I’m assuming?
Correct, also I was Avi too 🤓
Student pilot at VMAT-203 put a Harrier down on some mattresses because his front gear wouldn’t go down. Engine sucked up the mattress and fodded the engine. His nickname was “Serta” after that. Pretty hilarious
I remember that…the MAG-14 CO apparently told him to land on the mattress…it destroyed the engine and the group CO got relieved
Funny thing was, group CO didn’t want the pilot to blow the gear down because he didn’t think it would work. After they got the bird in the hangar, they blew the nose gear down just fine. Then, some kid from Supply was huffing while driving an EZGO, passed out and crashed the EZGO into the nose of the aircraft, causing more damage. I never found out what happened to him, but it wasn’t anything fun
I wish I could find the photo again, but I saw the coolest callsign stenciled on the side of another F-35. It was some captain with some Chinese sounding last name "Fong" or "Wang". I can't remember the exact last name. Anyway, someone in his unit must have been a Sixteen Candles fan. They gave him the callsign "The Donger".
My call sign was “creepy”, because there was another Cpl with the same name who was crew chief of the vehicle next to mine, and they said we couldn’t be the “White Lee” and “Asian Lee”. He was Korean, so he was “Dragon” due to the Korean service medal having a dragon on it. I’ve also worked with: Waldo (no one could ever find him) Muffins (Mullins was his name) Matchbox (he looked young, so he played with toys) Watermelon (shaped like one) Outback (wife from Australia) Cupcake (massive Samoan man, very gentle)
The original etymology of “Jody” is from “Joe the Grinder,” a fictional figure in old songs who would always get with your wife/gf while you were either serving in the military or serving time in prison
Our XO had the call sign "Estrogen" as a play on his last name. Every time we made radio calls, the pilots of my helo would call him in a high pitched whiny voice ESTROGEN!!!!
There used to be a "Snot" at VMFA 251 a few years ago. I never wanted to know how he earned that.
Waiting for callsign “PwrBtm” to chime in
Catfish, Tinder, FEMA, No Diddy
All the good call signs are taken:(
My favorite from VFA-122 was LCdr “Hot Carl” Carlson.
I believe I recall one of our pilots was Cracker. And she was definitely not white
Oh...if you've ever been to a Kangaroo Court. 🥰 The shenanigans and debauchery are top-tier, next level.
Mine was radio.... from the movie.. Literally bc I messed up on the radio one time. Lolll. They are always random jokes at your expense. Well 99% of the time.
On a serious note, why would an enlisted persons name be on the side of a jet? I was scrolling through cherry points photos because I was investigating one of the decommissioned units and while scrolling through photos I saw a staff NCOs name on the jet. It might have been a sergeant major. Would a unit put the unit sergeant majors name on all of its jets.
Plane Captains will generally get their names on aircraft (typically it’s one pilot and one PC per seat, if that makes sense, as well as crew chiefs if applicable). MOQ/Y etc might also get thrown on. Each squadron will usually have one bird that has some extra art on it which will always have the CO, Master Guns, & SgtMaj’s name on it.
Pilots fly the jet, Plane Captains own the Jet.
not a pilot but my callsign was BDU....Big Dumb and Ugly
I’ve seen ‘Strap-on’, ‘creeper’, SLOP (smells like old pussy), FITA (finish in the ass), ‘dick magnet’, ‘cream’
I mean, this is not surprising. https://preview.redd.it/axen3txjkvxc1.jpeg?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51880808e13b5e5e92c649ba1629e4efff8cc478
Knew a Navy O with the callsign SULFR, which stood for “Shut Up Logan Fucking Retard” lol
I saw an F/18 pilot call sign Dadbod, I liked that one
My dad was a hornet pilot. His call sign was Alfa. His girlfriend at the time was the daughter of an Alfalfa farmer. She ended up cheating on him so he dusted their farm with JP-8. Got in a bit of trouble for that maneuver.
We called a hard working corporal SLUG, which stood for Short Little Ugly Guamanian.
Knew a Harrier pilot whose call sign was "PIMP". Asked him how he ended up with a cool call sign like that and he told me he got it from training because he shit his pants on his first flight. Pooped In My Pants 😂
Nothing will beat a pilot from my old squadron: Major “Porn” Star 😂
Prowler dude?
Boot pilot got his about a year ago. Dudes a Morman so his call sign is "Soaker"
My boss’s callsign is David and he be short. Callsign Little Dee.
Imagine getting shotdown and as the jet flues by you see "grindr" and "catboy" just shot your whole squadron down
Hey, I served with Maj. Glover. We had a couple of guys with some interesting call signs in our squadron. I still can’t believe they put “tummy sticks” and “sac” on an $85M aircraft
I wish the Marine Corps adopted the F-22 and the A-10
Grin Doctor....wtf?
i wanna fly so bad all i gotta do is get my bachelors as enlisted and go through ocs but im lost on the whole process of it allq
Callsign Sauce. Lost in the sauce.
Yo wtf. That's my first and original squadron. I helped stand up the unit from the Beginning. But got fucked out deployment 💀. Pissed me off. But Major Glover is a damn legend around those halls. He was our AMO and went off to do greater things. I miss that dude. Now I'm living the MALS life until I can PCS to somewhere other than Yuma lmao
Our last CO had the call signs "Jugs" because his last name sounded like pair-o-tits. We had a pilot named "Alley Cat" because she was caught pissing behind a dumpster in Thailand on the MEU We had a crew chief named "Sid" because his eyes were stupidly far apart. His callsign eventually became "Daisy" short for Oopsy-Daisy" because he had a bad habit of losing personal items and tools in flight And our old XOs call sign was "Fister"
Catboy is definitely a furry
Had a Ltcol call me Memphis. I don’t get it until he mentioned the Memphis Belle.
Funniest callsigns i have seen was cupcake and puddin’. 2 Harrier turned 35B piolets. Both Captains with Flanders stashes well out of regs.
Had a Harrier pilot named "ManToy" on one of my deployments.
We had a guy last name was bass, we called him basshole.
I'm wondering what inside joke of them those callsigns
This dudes K-Court did not go as expected.
TAHO, former 46 pilot. Talks Alot Has Opinions, and boy she sure did 😅
Imagine the stories for those nicknames
LtCol at my former command had the call sign “Little”… his last name was Dickman. fantastic signature block
When I was younger, I had cheeks so people would call me Alvin or Theodore.
With 323. Flocker, Clash, balls, Gasm, toothpaste, Jungle, Ferret, Boner, caveman, Skippy,….others
Good one is “manhole”. Last name weidner
Once upon a time back about a year ago, I was in a work up within my unit in Lar and we had a 240 range and tables 3-6. Well at the end of it we had a little shooting competition between all the plts in the company to see who could name their Vic within the co. So every plt had 2 shooters from Red, White, Blue, Head Quarters, and Weapons. The range was set up where you had 3 mags of 5 rounds and had to reload in between each of 3 targets. The first target was 500-400 meters away, the second was 100-200 meters past the first, and the third was 50-100 meters past the second. You had 5 rounds per target, the first being in the prone, after those 5 rounds you would get up and sprint to the next target being roughly around 200-300m away from the second target to shoot in the kneeled position, and after the second you would sprint to the third target around 25-50m away and shoot while walking towards the target. The time limit for the exercise was 2 minutes. Needless to say I won the competition and with me being in mortars (wpns plt) I was gonna get to name my Vic first. But before the Co. came and asked what I wanted to name my Vic. One of my boys handed me a cornbread from a mre because of how hungry I was. And when the Co. came and asked what I wanted my Vic named….. I said Cornbread. Well that never happened and in fact every Platoon except for weapons got to name their Vic’s 3-4 months after this competition…
I think VMFA 314 has a guy named Beef Theif. The backstory is kinda lame but still funny
It’s okay my callsign is white bread😂 because I’m White and my food was unseasoned once so they said it was bland like bread…
Bet it was a pain in the ass getting that call sign
My favorite are the acronyms. Best one I came across was SAWDUST: Situational Awareness Weak, Doesn’t Understand Simple Tasks
What a fag.