How drunken shenanigans earn fighter pilots their callsigns

Mandatory Fun

In this episode of the Mandatory Fun podcast, Blake, Shannon, Tim, and O.V. discuss the interesting process of how Air Force officers receive their callsigns.

In the military, callsigns are considered much more than just a name, rather a perfect representation of the airmen's personality.

The Air Force holds "naming nights" for young pilots where their fellow service members put potential callsigns on a wall that relate to a specific story. Then on the night of the naming ceremony, the pilot being "named" sits in front of everyone as they come up one-by-one and explain the story behind their purposed callsign.

"It's kind of like a roasting," Air Force veteran Shannon Corbeil humorously explains. "This is where you get to make fun of your friends."

Although the other branches use callsigns, they don't typically go as far as having a roasting ceremony to narrow down the potential names.