Ensign Steve Crowston thought getting his own call sign from his squadron mates would be a friendly induction into the tightly knit and testosterone-fueled culture of naval aviation.
But when the new admin officer walked into the ready room for Strike Fighter Squadron 136 in Virginia last year, he claims he found dozens of aviators — including the squadron’s commanding officer — openly mocking him as an alleged homosexual.
“Fagmeister” was one of the proposed call signs scrawled in the white erase board, he said.
“Gay boy” was another.
The squadron ultimately chose “Romo’s Bitch” — an apparent reference to his love for the Dallas Cowboys and their quarterback, Tony Romo.
“I was like, wait a minute? What the hell? You think I’m gay? What a way to tell me that,” said Crowston, a limited duty officer who was previously a chief.
Crowston declined to say whether he is a homosexual, noting only that he considered the call sign “workplace harassment.” He complained to the Naval Inspector General’s office, and his accusations of harassment and promoting a hostile work environment were unsubstantiated. He is still assigned to the squadron, but has been temporarily moved to the wing headquarters since filing his complaint.
His commanding officer could not be reached for comment.
Crowston’s complaint underscores concerns in the aviation community that call signs — a deeply entrenched but unofficial custom — are often inappropriate, bawdy or outright offensive.
The Naval Safety Center’s websites lists the “best all time call signs,” including Lt. Chuck “Dingle” Berry and Lt. Tom “Butts” Tench. The Navy recently posted a photo of Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Myers with his call sign “Taint” painted on his F/A-18E Super Hornet on the carrier George H.W. Bush.
Originally designed to avoid confusion during radio communications, call signs today are typically featured on aviators’ jackets, painted on aircraft and used in many formal written correspondences.
No clear standards
Navy leadership has provided no written rules or formal guidance regarding call signs, said Lt. Aaron Kakiel, a spokesman for Naval Air Forces in San Diego. An appropriate call sign is one that can be shared with an aviator’s mother or explained in a family setting, Kakiel said.
Yet concern about call signs dates back to 2002, when commanding officers were informally warned to keep call signs clean and professional, several aviators said.
Vice Adm. Tom “Killer” Kilcline, who recently turned over command of Naval Air Forces, has raised the issue in private and public talks with his senior officer corps, according to one former commanding officer of a helicopter squadron.
“There’s been a lot of sensitivity to call signs. It’s been a topic that had very high interest, right from the air boss personally. [Kilcline] charged the COs to make sure that the call signs were appropriate within your wardroom,” said the aviator, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak about the subject.
“Some of the call signs that were out in the fleet were, quite frankly, in poor taste. Most of them were not outright vulgar, but there was innuendo,” he said. Some officers may have quietly changed their call signs to conform with the unwritten rules, he said.
Call signs have become more sensitive as the fleet has grown more diverse.
“We have to be careful particularly with female aviator call signs. These can, and have, triggered alarms and get high-level attention fast,” said another former CO who remains on active duty and asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak about call signs.
Some call signs that skate along the edge of offensive can require tacit approval from the aviator or sailor receiving it. For example, Jason Graveen, a former operations specialist second class who worked as a tactical air controller, was given the call sign “Indian Outlaw” in 2001 after aviators learned he was a Native American who grew up on a reservation in Wisconsin.
“I didn’t mind it,” Graveen said. “I know when a comment or nickname is with bad intent. The air crew asked if it would offend me, and of course it did not.”
Call signs may not be as deeply entrenched in naval aviation culture as some other traditions.
Bob Rasmussen, a retired captain who serves as the director of the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Fla., said call signs were not widely used when he was a squadron commander back in the 1960s.
“They were certainly not widespread in the air wing where I had command,” said Rasmussen, who headed a squadron of F-8 Crusaders. “It was probably limited to six or seven pilots in the squadron. Not by any decree or mandate that we put out; I think it was a point in time that the [junior officers] didn’t feel that they’d achieved enough [to warrant a call sign].”
Crowston said his command was dismissive about his complaints. He said other officers believed it was “a joke and meant to funny.”
romo's bitch
