How were Have Blue and Tacit Blue codenames chosen?

"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message


We had a guy come into the squadron, a former FAIP, newly qualified in
the F-4. He had name tags made up reading: "Jim Teak Fighter
Pilot". I told him that he wasn't a fighter pilot until other folks
told him he was. He couldn't unilaterally make the declaration. What
he really had was a misspelled name tag. It was supposed to read:
"Jim, Weak Fighter Pilot". From that day on, his nickname was
"Weak". He wasn't, but the name stuck and he bore it proudly.

Ed, I've got a question about fighter pilot callnames, nicknames or whatever
you want to call them...I used to work with a Navy pilot at the datacenter I
was employed at a few years back, and he and I had a lot of time to kill on
our shift as it was from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM (not a lot happening on the east
coast in terms of electronic finance at those hours). Anyway, he'd regale
me with tall tales about his various comings and goings (and seemed
pleasantly surprised that I, a mere civilian, had knowledge of garden spots
like Subic Bay, some rudimentary aircraft knowledge, etc.).

AT ANY RATE...one evening I asked him, jokingly, "So, did you have some
ultra-cool fighter pilot name like "Shark" or "Killer" or "Maverick" or
"Iceman"." and he just sort of frosted a bit and said, "No, my 'handle' was
Sparks."

Later that evening (morning) as the shift ended I was packing up* and bade
him goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow** "sparks". Anyway, he frosted again and
shook his head and said "Don't call me that. You don't get to." He never
mentioned it again, didn't act any different than the friendly guy he was
the next day, etc.

Now I realize you're not a Navy pilot nor do you know the circumstances but
is there a particular reason a pilot might get reeeeeeeealy sensitive about
a handle? (For the record I never brought it up again, nor did he, and life
was good.)

*A 12 hour night shift is about a decade long; you tend to bring books (as
in many in a night), CDs, newspaper, magazines, etc. so leaving at the end
of your shift is like moving out of town.

** as in 12 hours from 7:00AM, being 7:00pm that night

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On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 18:08:26 GMT, "Bill Silvey"
wrote:


Ed, I've got a question about fighter pilot callnames, nicknames or whatever
you want to call them...I used to work with a Navy pilot at the datacenter I
was employed at a few years back, and he and I had a lot of time to kill on
our shift as it was from 7:00 PM to 7:00 AM (not a lot happening on the east
coast in terms of electronic finance at those hours).

AT ANY RATE...one evening I asked him, jokingly, "So, did you have some
ultra-cool fighter pilot name like "Shark" or "Killer" or "Maverick" or
"Iceman"." and he just sort of frosted a bit and said, "No, my 'handle' was
Sparks."

Later that evening (morning) as the shift ended I was packing up* and bade
him goodbye, I'll see you tomorrow** "sparks". Anyway, he frosted again and
shook his head and said "Don't call me that. You don't get to." He never
mentioned it again, didn't act any different than the friendly guy he was
the next day, etc.

Quite often a call-sign is "earned" based on an embarrassing
situation. If so, some folks might tolerate it among those who know
the story but not wear it so proudly outside of the community. My best
guess might be that "Sparks" might have had a tail drag incident
somewhere or maybe an oversight leading to taxi, take-off or landing
with some component dragging and creating a pyrotechnic display.

We had a guy in Spain in the F-4 that made a significant switch error
during a night, low-level, nuclear (simulated) delivery during an ORI.
It resulted in dropping the nuke "shape" about eight miles short of
the target. From that day forward he was "Short Round" to everyone.

The worst one I ever heard was recently from an F-16 pilot. His name
tag declared him to be "OBOC". The explanation, when pried out of him,
was that during a cross-country excursion with a number of buddies,
he'd gotten quite lucky with a beautiful young lady, but he had to cut
the evening much shorter than it could have been, because he "Only
Brought One Condom"!!!

There's a female Viper pilot I know named "Shooter"--not because of
her marksmanship or aerial gunnery skills, but as a result of a
drinking misadventure.