RTOs: What was your weirdest call sign? (Do we still have RTOs?)

SP5 Michael Rathbun — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 23:44:49 -0500

I trust nobody recently has had to hump around with a Prick-25, and I imagine that tactical network identifiers may be different nowadays, when commo is theoretically encrypted. But, in the military, one never knows.

We had IDs that were, supposedly, difficult for opposing forces to pronounce, therefore making hostile intrusion into the net more difficult. They came up with some interesting ones.

In Germany, I once found myself identifying as "Heavy Disk Delta One Alpha Yankee".

In Viet-Nam, as the FNG and therefore automatically the new RTO for this particular Reaction Force squad, I gained 25 pounds and became "Reeling Spores Hotel Hotel Niner". Some of the Americans had trouble with that one.

Over and above this, what is the modern state of small unit tactical communication? Us antique specimens want to know, without asking anybody to Give Anything Away.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Feb 20 at 2015 12:18 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 00:18:39 -0500

Back in the day, I was dubbed "Slippery Chicken 6-Delta".
A long embarrassing story goes along with that moniker, but I still use it for online HALO and COD brawls.