Ensign Steve Crowston. Steve CrowstonNavy Man Claims Aviator Call Signs Get Too Personal -- Time Magazine
In the testosterone-laden world of military aviation, call signs for pilots and other squadron personnel can be really sticky — the more an aviator complains about the moniker his colleagues bestow upon him, the tighter its grip will be.
Over the years, that has led to lots of embarrassing call signs beyond the famous one brandished by Tom Cruise — Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell — in the movie Top Gun. A rookie Navy aviator can end up being called "Torch" if he sports red hair — or if he's too quick to turn on his afterburner. A pilot who struggles to fit into his flight suit can be dubbed "Shamu." But as barriers to the once insular, made-up-of-white-men world have fallen — first to minorities, then women and, maybe soon, openly gay personnel — what's an edgy call sign to one person could be seen as an offensive epithet by another.
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My Comment: I can understand why this can be important to some people .... but c'mon .... let's try to be grown ups.
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