Repost from one of my myriad posts on this subject:
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Theres a long story behind this, and that makes it a valid call sign.
The first thing you need to remember is that there are three types of call signs:
Ones you give yourself
Ones given to you by your friends (hehehe)
Ones that you earn by nigh unto legendary acts.
The first are the kind that you see in the movies. Maverick, Iceman, etc. Cute, but really only says what the person wishes
were true about himself }:> (sounds of flame throwers cranking up in the background.)(duck, dodge, weave)
The second is for just being you. It usually is a play on words dealing with the pilots name or characteristics about him. ie
"Duke" for someone named Ellington, "Rabbit" for someone who likes carrots or has big ears, "Beans" for someone whom
you don't want to sit next to in a movie :-> etc.
The last is the "Best" in the eyes of the fighter pilots I know. It is given for a single spectacular incident.
Case in point: Squadron CO is doing a flyby in his F-14 across the beam of his carrier for the movie people on board. As he
starts to pass the ship, he kicks in the burners. Engine explodes and F-14 goes toward the horizen trailing flames and pieces of
airframe. After a little swim, the CO learned he had a new Callsign.
Comet.
Mines not that good, but I like it anyway.
It all starts at Texas A&M University back in the Fall of 84. On campus there was a group of students who formed a student
organization to play wargames. It was known by many names, Gamers, GRAMETS, and finally NOVA. For those of us
involved, it was a time we will never forget (though we often wish everyone else would forget parts of it :->
One night I'm gaming, minding my own business, sitting on the back of a chair, when out of nowhere the thing decided it
didn't like it. Pieces go everywhere and I end up bleeding on the floor. Now you have to understand, I only weighed about
130lbs at this point, and there was no real reason for it to go. But no problem, I stayed all night and quietly bled while playing
SFB and Squad Leader. Now the only thing of note here is that this was the first meeting that Tim "Chuckie" Gray (aka Noid
in ck) ever attended.
The next week, were doing something involving dice again, and someone knocks a handful off on the floor. Several of us get
down to collect them and, almost immediately, the table takes a severe dislike to my being under it. Once again the blood
starts to flow. Tim was also there. His second meeting.
The next week, (and no, I am not toejamting you) Tim shows up and makes some smart comment about whether or not I'm going
to bleed. I laugh it off (silly me). We game for a while and all begin to get hungry. Being a poor college student, I had just
enough money to pay for the burger and drink from the snak bar downstairs.
I, in a typically witless fasion, begin a headlong rush up the stairs to get back before they change the position of any of my
squad. On the final flight of stairs, I, of course, slipped.
Now literally, on the way down to the floor I had time to consider the following facts:
No matter what I do, this is going to hurt
I have no money left
I'm still very hungry
I'm also very thirsty and need the caffine
I'm going to lose either the hamburger or coke if I stop myself from falling
So, I thought as I went down:
Coke or Hamburger
Coke or Hamburger
Coke or Hamburger
FACE (SMACK)
Needless to say, Chuckie was highly amused when I got back to the room, bleeding again. Still have the scar over my right
eye from that one, BUT I saved my DINNER.
I was then awarded the nickname of Ouch, which has unfortunately stuck with me through my entire life.
Ask me sometime about:
How I tore my rotator cuff in my shoulder turning off a light switch
How I broke my toe on a blade of grass
How I broke my thumb falling UP a flight of stairs.
And the list goes on.
Mail me at mtoler@cris.com if you really feel the need.
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Ouch out
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For Bug reporting. System:
Celeron 300a oc to 450mhz
Viper 770 (TNT2)
64 meg ram
Sound Blaser 16
gigs and gigs of mp3's... I mean hd space
Logitech cordless Mouseman+ (4 buttons & wheel)
