What are some of the best nicknames you heard (or owned) while in the military?

PO3 Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 10:32:54 -0400

Nicknames. They can be great, like a badge of honor, or you can be saddled with one for a dumb mistake (to never forget). For about the last six-months of my Naval career, I was known as the 3PON (stood for Third Class Petty Officer of the Navy) because our ship's career counselor said my detailer told him I was the senior E-4 Torpedoman on Submarines on the entire East Coast (at that time). We had some other great names for some of the characters on my boat. What are some of the best nicknames you heard (or owned) while in the military?

Response by SPC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 12 at 2018 11:00 AM

SPC Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 11:00:12 -0400

Oh, how many there have been....

P
Petey
Petri
P-whoever-the-f***-you-are
PA
Tony
Antonio
Alphabet
Peter-Antonio (not technically wrong, just the wrong language)
Pri'ate

And then there's all the colorful Infantry ones that I will not repeat on this platform, as they are by far more vulgar than those listed above.

Response by LCpl Ferdinand Hughes made Jun 12 at 2018 11:08 AM

LCpl Ferdinand Hughes — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 11:08:50 -0400

My nickname in the Marine Corps is HUGGIES. I was given the nickname at Headquarters, Marine Corps before the move to Quantico (1998). The Colonel couldn't say my name if his life depended on it. It followed me to Camp Pendleton and it stuck. everyone called me Huggies as of today. I was getting my Good Cookie and they said my real last name, and everyone was confused and then wondered why I was front and center. Fun times.

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 12 at 2018 11:14 AM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 11:14:13 -0400

I've had several callsigns, none of which are funny without the stories behind them. I think the most obvious nickname has been Kool-Aid.

Response by SMSgt Lawrence McCarter made Jun 12 at 2018 11:15 AM

SMSgt Lawrence McCarter — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 11:15:21 -0400

One nickname I picked up in the Air Force was "Mad Dog" many years later on a Police Dept. the same nickname "Mad Dog" came up and they didn't even know it had been used on Me before. It wasn't I was out of control but in the same taken My reactions were quick and decisive and I wasn't one to be walked all over. It seems My seniors didn't have any problem with that although the nickname didn't come from them. I always beleived imediate action was the key, indecision and beating around the bush doesn't work well and only makes things worse.

Response by TSgt David Holman made Jun 12 at 2018 11:19 AM

TSgt David Holman — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 11:19:45 -0400

I got saddled with "Slim-Fast" when I deployed to Turkey as a young airman. I had a couple in my bag for the flight since I knew they didn't give you near enough to eat on flights (hey, they were calories) and when I was going through the line in country, apparently one of them had burst, and was leaking all over the floor (through my bag, all over my stuff)...

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 12 at 2018 11:20 AM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 11:20:43 -0400

I had a couple over the years.

While still a Mid, I got called "Pappy" for a while. No, it wasn't because I was older or looked older...in fact, I was one of the youngest in my class and looked even younger. It all had to do with a pre-commissioning test and some confusion regarding various "tests"...won't go into further detail than that, but the "wise" will get the somewhat "dirty" connotation.

The second, longest lasting one was "Dizzy". It started in Annapolis during Plebe year (our first year, which is as close to "basic training" as we get). My training company was handed one of those "uniform races"; you know...go from utility uniform to dress uniform and back again in three minutes or some such nonsense. After that, we were heading to a field event. Well, Your's Truly ended up taking four minutes to get back to "Red Beach", and Charlie Company had already took off without me. Trying to be "smart", I just fell in to march with Delta, which was always a few mics behind us to any event. Naturally, the Detailer caught me anyway, and I paid for it by "loosing my @$$" for a few days...meaning I couldn't go anywhere or do anything without reporting myself to a Detailer, and inevitably getting "smoked" as a result.

Well-that got me the name "Dizzy" for "being so lost".

It was later supported by a serious head injury I got during training...then later, it "fit" with Gillespie pretty good, and went from being an "insult" to a cherished nick-name.

It stayed with me through the Fleet and the ETTs, and most of my friends still call me "Dizzy" today.

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 12 at 2018 12:05 PM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 12:05:14 -0400

Gator when I was the Ship's Navigator on USS Gunston Hall

Response by SGT Joseph Gunderson made Jun 12 at 2018 12:08 PM

SGT Joseph Gunderson — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 12:08:23 -0400

I always loved my nickname; I originally started getting called "Gunney" by my cadets during high school (I was originally enlisted in the DEP for the USMC) and, when I ended up enlisting in the U.S. Army, my NCOs asked me if I went by anything besides my last name because it was too long or something. I wasn't about to tell them my first name so I told them my nickname and it just stuck. I've been going by "Gunney" ever since. Before anyone mentions the misspelling of the title, I spell it different so that it doesn't get mistaken for the rank; I obviously was not an E-7 in the Corps... Nevertheless, it was a pretty awesome nickname.

Response by CSM Richard StCyr made Jun 12 at 2018 2:30 PM

CSM Richard StCyr — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 14:30:51 -0400

I had several over my 30 years: "Saint" , "Wild Man", "Happy", "Bulldog", and "The Hammer". The default was and still is "Saint".

Response by Jerry Rivas made Jun 12 at 2018 2:35 PM

Jerry Rivas — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 14:35:32 -0400

Eightball, Spanky

Response by SPC John Parmenter made Jun 12 at 2018 7:26 PM

SPC John Parmenter — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 19:26:56 -0400

"Snack Bar Six" was the nickname of Brigadier General Charles "Monk" Meyers, Assistant Division Commander, 1st Infantry Division in the early 1960s, for his habit of catching Ft. Riley personnel hanging out in post snack bars during duty hours.

Response by MSgt Dale Johnson made Jun 13 at 2018 10:16 AM

MSgt Dale Johnson — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 10:16:31 -0400

When I was in Maintenance "TDY" because I was a volunteer to go anywhere at any time. I kept a bag in the trunk of my car with a spare set of fatigues, a spare set of civvies and some cash. If we got a call from McGuire to go fix a bird (at the time C-141s) due to a breakdown I was ready in five minutes or less if there was a ride for me to get there. I got to go all over the US and northern Europe, usually only for a night or two, but it was fun. Once I got to go to Germany for 30 days, that was a blast.

Then in SE Asia "Butterfly." I don't need to go into detail on that one, again it was fun.

Finally I was dubbed "The JayOh," by my crew at my last duty station. Operating Initials of Juliet Oscar were what I used in communications but in all else my crew and superiors, even the Wing Commander called me JayOh unless at a formal setting. As Assistant Tower Chief I spoke to a lot of brass, several times for special events (Airshows, Presidential Visit, Russian Forces visit, and Space Shuttle on the 737 are a few that come to mind). I was able to coordinate ops between the different operational units and the crews on duty to ensure things went without a hitch, so had a really good a relationship with brass. The Tower Chief said if I kept making promises of how things would work someday it would bite me in the ass, but things always worked out

Even my wife was called "Mrs JayOh." She worked for a time at the alert facility and part of the briefing for new crew members there was "Don't piss off Mrs Jayoh." I never figured out what I did to warrant them saying that but it made us both laugh.