How U.S. Navy Pilots Really Get Their Callsigns
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How U.S. Navy Pilots Really Get Their Callsigns
A Super Hornet pilot gives us an inside look at how Naval Aviators get their often colorful but unflattering callsigns.
By Ben Kohlmann
Published
Aug 23, 2023 1:26 PM EDT
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U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Felix Garza Jr.
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Let’s reminisce about fighter pilot callsigns and how they come about.
I’ll start with mine: ‘The Professor,’ eventually shortened to ‘Prof.’
How I got it: First port call as a new guy in the squadron, we pull into Hong Kong. Everybody always chipped into buying the fanciest penthouse in a big name hotel – think 30 guys and gals crashing on the floor.
(Courtesy of the author)
Someone was always tagged as the ‘admin queen.’ This individual was required to stay sober and be the adult in the room in case anything went awry and had to talk to the hotel staff.
I pulled Admin Queen duty the second night.
2am, all my compatriots are out on the town. Looking around, I noticed everybody was gone.
So, like anyone would, I change the music from rap to Beethoven and pull out my American History of Law book to pass the time.
Bad move.
An older squadronmate bursts in, tipsy, and sees me.
"What do we have here? It’s the Professor at work!"
It was the leading contender at the callsign review board the next week that took place aboard ship.
Let’s pause a bit and talk about the ‘rules’ for callsigns.
It’s rumored that Air Force fighter jocks get to pick their own callsigns… which is where you get things like ‘Ripper’ and ‘Ace’ and ‘Thor.’
Not in the Navy.
"Professor" and his wife Jamie in front of an F/A-18. (Courtesy of the author)
Callsigns are bequeathed for doing something stupid or memorable. The more you fight the more it sticks.
Usually a new guy in a squadron is given something like ‘FNG’ (Fucking New Guy) or ‘New Jack’ or ‘Don’t Speak.’
Eventually, someone does something noteworthy, and the King (or Queen) of the JOPA [Junior Officer Protection Agency] calls a kangaroo court known as a ‘callsign review board.’
Everybody can propose a name. There are lots of nominations. Many are absurd and vile.
Eventually, a few finalists are named. They’re voted on and by acclimation a callsign is bestowed.
The commanding officer then gets veto authority – and sometimes exercises it. In which case you go back to the white board.
I also had another callsign before my ‘official’ one.
Before going to the carrier for the first time before we qualify for our wings of gold, we’d all get a temporary callsign through a similar, abridged process.
Mine was ‘Stink.’ Let’s just say I wouldn’t always wash my flight suits after a flight in the middle of a Meridian Mississippi summer.
They were pungent.
That one stuck until I got to my first fleet squadron, which is when I got Professor.
(Courtesy of the author)
Now the fun part… other call signs that were part of the 2008-2013 era of Naval Aviation.
‘LOTHAR’ – Loser Of The American Revolution
I’m pretty sure the guy is still in the Royal Navy and probably a squadron commander by now.
When he was a new pilot, he was the first Brit to get assigned to a front line, American F/A-18 squadron.
He took it well as only a Brit would.
‘Chaser’
This was my first fleet commanding officer. He was a grizzled old dude who originally started his aviation days as an F-14 backseater.
But before that, he was an enlisted sailor with the ‘HT’ rate… Hull Tech. He was one of the guys who would make sure the plumbing worked.
They were known as "shit chasers" aboard ship.
It stuck when he became an officer.
‘SLUGZ’
Short Little Ugly Guy.
He actually wasn’t all that short. SLUGZ was one of my first mentors in the squadron who saw me through tough first days trying to figure out carrier landings.
But the name fit the personality.
‘PETA’
He was department head when I joined my first squadron.
Rumor was that on one of his first flights in the F-14, on the landing rollout he hit a deer!
Deer died.
Plane was fine.
Callsign was obvious.
Mouth, Tiny, Powder and Probes adorn VFA-102 Super Hornets on deck. (U.S. Navy...