[Music/Jets flying]
>>Well pilot call signs are kind of the nickname that you end up getting with your squadron
or the group of flyers that you fly with.
>>You can have a lot of different ranks flying together; instead of having to call someone
sir or lieutenant colonel so-and-so, they can call them their call sign.
>>How you can get a call sign is one of two ways- it can either be a natural fit to your
last name or your first name, or a combination thereof, or the other way you can get a call
sign is by doing something really dumb.
[Music]
>>Mine have never necessarily stuck; I've had several throughout the years; one of the reasons
I don't really have a call sign that sticks is because I go by my middle name and it is
relatively unique, unless you're in Sweden or Norway, so because of that everybody thinks
it's a call sign but it's really my name.
>>My call sign is Ringo.
It's just basically a play on my last name of Ringelberg.
It's easier than saying Ringelberg, so it's kind of one that sort of stuck with me- and
it wasn't because I screwed anything up.
>>I showed up to lead-in fighter training in the Air Force at Holloman Air Force Base,
and I walked up to the duty desk to report in and one of the instructors there took a
look at my last name, got on the PA and said 'all available pilots report to the duty desk'.
They came up with Clue, making me Clue Less.
[Music]
>>My call sign is Trasher.
When I was a kid, that was a nickname.
I got into the military and became and Air Force pilot, that nickname came back as a
nickname, but it was never really earned and I had a couple of other call signs along the
way.
But one particular incident, I was flying B-1 bombers up in South Dakota; now a B-1
bomber has four great big engines that put out a lot of thrust, it's not something you
want to stand behind.
As we were taxiing out for a flight one day, I had a problem with the aircraft and had
to stop.
And while I had stopped, the young airman who had been marshaling me out of my parking
spot thought he was finished and so he began to walk off.
He errantly walked behind the airplane, which was ok at the time as I was stopped with the
power in idle, but as I got my problem fixed and started to roll forward again, I pushed
up the power; literally picked him up off his feet and blew him down the concrete ramp
about one hundred yards.
Fortunately, he was ok and just had some road rash and cuts and bruises and tore up his
uniform, so I had to buy him a case of beer and a new uniform and after that my call sign
was cemented in as Trasher, and remains that to this day.
[Music]
>>My call sign is Gucci, it's not the coolest or the most macho call sign that a guy would
look for, so, I had no choice in it, and I haven't been able to get rid of it.
I was flying KC-10 tankers; then I applied for the high-altitude U-2 program, when I
arrived there, the first question that everybody had for me was why would you leave a nice
comfortable job like that, nice big airplane that has perfect air conditioning, it's 72
degrees, coffee makers, ovens, refrigerators, nice comfortable seat, to come put a spacesuit
on and live in a cramped little capsule?
So the KC-10 guys were nicknamed the Gucci Boys by the rest of the Air Force, because
they only went to big airports around the world, five-star hotels, things like that,
because you couldn't put that big airplane just anywhere.
And so they said hey why would a Gucci Boy want to come to this kind of lifestyle, and
that's when it kind of stuck.
There is, you know, rumors out there that have run around historically that maybe I
pay too much attention to my clothes or my hair or the Maserati or stuff like that, but
that really has nothing to do with the call sign and the way it was awarded.
So unfortunately you get stuck with it, I'd like to have something more cool like Maverick
or Sharpshooter or something but it doesn't work that way, I got Gucci, so it's all about
leather shoes and handbags and I can't change that.
[Music]
>>I'm a brand new combat wingman in the F-15 in Japan, it's my first war exercise, so it's
like day 1 as a brand new wingman.
We're gonna take off and go fly a night mission, and right before take-off, we have to get
our orders from a secure radio to headquarters.
And my flight lead checks me in on the secure radio, and I can't figure out how to make
it work, because I've never seen it before, I'm looking down at this panel that has XYZ,
ABC, and I don't now what to do.
There's no on/off button so I do my best and am not on the radio frequency.
He gets the orders for us, we take-off together, fly our flight, come back in and land, once
again I have a few moments to look down at this radio; I still can't get it to work,
so once again I'm not on the radio with him, with headquarters.
My flight lead saved that story until it was my naming night and because that radio is
called a KY-58, they said KY, Jelly, Jelly is your call sign.
So I earned it that day for being dumb.