Key Principles
Brevity Brevity is the art of saying a lot with a few words. One must always strive to be frugal on the number of words needed to convey a message — there’s a lot that needs to be said by many people in a fight, and it’s all important. Utilising brevity allows for all the important things to be communicated as rapidly as possible.
Clarity In addition to brevity, one must strive to be very clear in their language. This requires the usage of defined tactical language terms, brevity words, a clear and loud voice, and so forth. Enunciation and repetition of critical statements is helpful as well.
Confirmation and Read-back It’s important to confirm that you heard orders, so that leaders know that they are being understood. Additionally, it can be helpful to provide a ‘read back’ of an order to confirm that you fully understand what is being asked of you — this is done by restating what you were ordered to do, so that the person giving the orders can confirm that you heard them correctly.
Alerting and Identifying Alerting is the act of using keywords to get the attention of people before you start saying something important. For example, a Section Leader might say “Section, listen up!“. Identifying is the act of saying who you are and who you’re trying to contact when speaking over a radio. This helps reduce confusion and alerts people that someone is attempting to tell them something.
Usage of Standard Operating Procedures and Tactical Language Being familiar with the standard formats of SITREPs, CASREPs, contact reports, etc, as well as being familiar with the wide range of brevity words and tactical terms, helps to ensure that communication is easy to understand by all involved participants.
Phonetic Alphabet
| Letter | Word | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| A | ALPHA | AL FAH |
| B | BRAVO | BRAH VOH |
| C | CHARLIE | CHAR LEE |
| D | DELTA | DELL TAH |
| E | ECHO | ECH OH |
| F | FOXTROT | FOH KS TROT |
| G | GOLF | GOLF |
| H | HOTEL | HOH TELL |
| I | INDIA | IN DEE AH |
| J | JULIETT | JEW LEE ETT |
| K | KILO | KEY LOH |
| L | LIMA | LEE MAH |
| M | MIKE | MIKE |
| N | NOVEMBER | NO VEM BER |
| O | OSCAR | OSS CAH |
| P | PAPA | PAH PAH |
| Q | QUEBEC | KEH BECK |
| R | ROMEO | ROW ME OH |
| S | SIERRA | SEE AIR RAH |
| T | TANGO | TANG GO |
| U | UNIFORM | YOU NEE FORM |
| V | VICTOR | VIC TOR |
| W | WHISKEY | WISS KEY |
| X | XRAY | ECKS RAY |
| Y | YANKEE | YAN KEY |
| Z | ZULU | ZOO LOO |
How Callsigns Work
In the MDF, callsigns are assigned to platoons and assets. When a platoon is assigned a callsign, all subordinate elements of the platoon also adopt that callsign. A simple example:
| Role | Callsign |
|---|---|
| Platoon CO | Phantom 6 |
| Platoon Sergeant | Phantom 5 |
| Platoon RTO | Phantom 7 |
| Platoon Medic | Phantom 4 |
| 1st Section | Phantom x-1 |
| 2nd Section | Phantom x-2 |
| 3rd Section | Phantom x-3 |
Special Exceptions — “ACTUAL”
A callsign represents a military unit or its function in its entirety, and not any specific person in that callsign. The callsign ACTUAL is used when the transmitting station wishes to speak to the commander of that callsign. It is appended at the end (e.g. PHANTOM ACTUAL), but in the case where all callsigns on a frequency are of the same callsign, ACTUAL can be used independently.
Only the proper leader of the callsign will answer to ACTUAL, whereas a radio-telephone operator (or other designee) will answer to the callsign itself (without “Actual” appended) as a matter of routine.
Chain of command dictates that if an ACTUAL of a callsign goes down, the next senior rank takes their place. Handovers on the radio are typically:
“This is Phantom 2, ACTUAL is KIA, <Phonetic of Surname> taking command.”