Why do we need special forces callsigns? Who invented them? We will answer these and many other questions in the article. A call sign (PSO, call sign of identification) in radio communication is an identifier that identifies a radio transmitter. As a rule, this is a set of numbers, letters, a musical phrase or a meaningful word sent at the beginning of a communication session and necessary for the identification of the radio station by the receiving object.
PSO is attributed to the transmitter by the communication authorities of the state to which it belongs. Callsigns are nicknames (nicknames) for radio stations, and for radio amateurs - specific participants in the negotiations.
Military callsigns
Have you ever seen the Table of call signs of officials? This is a reference document containing a list of communication centers, stations for the interaction of ships and aircraft, units, commanders and other employees, as well as the call signs assigned to them (conditional combinations, numbers, letters) in order to hide their true names from the enemy when transmitting information on technicalmessaging.
Our military has long studied speech exchange over communication channels. They were able to find the words that are most convenient to use on the radio, taking into account the interference and phonetics of the Russian language.
Management didn't provide call signs for many guys. Therefore, either they have to invent them on their own, or the commanders give them middle names. Some fighters who received callsigns from the table say that they would love to compose them themselves.
Radiocommunication services
What are special forces callsigns? They are created on the principle of PSO radio communications. Radio transmitters related to the radio broadcast service, in the form of PSO, use the names of the media. If necessary, they sometimes indicate the ratings of radio frequencies.
In the amateur radio service, the PSO is more informative. It is a combination of numbers and letters of the Latin alphabet, which includes three to six characters. An amateur callsign is always exceptional. There are directories and databases containing additional information about the owner of the PSO. The operator of an amateur radio transmitter is obliged to report his PSO at the beginning of the session and systematically repeat it during long radio communications. At the same time, many seek to increase legibility with the help of a phonetic alphabet. What is it?
This is the standardized way to read the letters of the alphabet. It is used in radio communication when transmitting hard-to-hear words, call signs, abbreviations, e-mail addresses, and the like in order to reducenumber of errors.
Specific service
What do the call sign of a special forces soldier and the nickname of an agent have in common? Both the first and the second are aliases. Interestingly, it is under a fictitious name that the special forces hero very often achieves fame. These are the principles of service.
In general, very often any pseudonym or nickname depends on the person's last name. The second name can also correspond to the actions or occupation of the fighter. The call signs of the special forces in the radio exchange can be either nicknames or names invented in advance by the command. Many say that the choice of a middle name does not always depend on professions and surnames. A battalion may have a single call sign, and its squads and their commanders may have serial numbers. For example, the call sign "Agat" can be modified as "Agat-1" (company commander), "Agat-2" (company commander), "Agat-8" (battalion medical officer). Such a system, in principle, works great on a stationary object.
What do the call signs of the special forces look like when there is a battle? Here everyone is already called either by nicknames, or by their names (if there are no nicknames). Because of the habit, many people get confused in call signs: it is not known who is "Amethyst-1" and who is "Amethyst-2". Many call each other by specific nicknames. For example, "Mole", "Crucian", "Khmyr" and so on.
What other norms did the military come up with? Special Forces call signs are sometimes assigned according to the personal characteristics of a fighter or his speci alty, often from an abbreviation of the last name, first name and patronymic. There are different nuances…
Interception
Many fighters believe that in combat conditions, callsigns needtreat carefully. Maybe just a little personal in them should be a little. For example, by intercepting the "Czech" radio, the military even established routes using call signs. But what if the enemy is also familiar with a similar system?
And what is this method of identifying "travel routes" by call sign? But they simply knew, for example, that “Temuchin” was from Churek-Martan, and “Swimmer” was from Babai-Yurt. The fighter intercepts the message via radio communication: “First, let's go to the Swimmer and sit with him for a day. At night we go to Temuchin. At this crossing they are met.
"Swimmer" was the first guy in the village, and "Temuchin" was known as a music lover, played the disco of the 80s. For which he received his pseudonym.
In online mode, translators worked in real time only when interacting with artillery and aircraft. The Special Forces received transcripts of interceptions two days ago, but this was enough for analysts. The implementation of the operation took place in the form of an ambush.
There are no such analysts in the armies of a potential enemy (which is about 98 countries). They think that the call sign "Kuzya" came from the name Kuznetsov. The meanings of the words "seeds 7, 62", "castle", "hillock", "cucumbers" are indicated in foreign dictionaries of the army Russian jargon. In general, many soldiers are thinking about how to secure their broadcast.
It is known that Richard Sorge (Soviet intelligence officer from 1929 to 1944) had the call sign "Ramsay", Lev Borisovich (German communist, GRU officer, agent of the Comintern, shot) - "Alex", Richard Vennikas (GRU resident in Finland, Estonian) – Bergman.
Of course, when there are heavy shelling,many people forget about nicknames and shout in plain text. It must be added that these second names are different. The same fighter may have a nickname, for example, "Bespectacled Man", but the call sign is completely different.
Description
Many people are interested in knowing what the elite troops are, how the fighters who serve in them select call signs, where they use them, selection rules, specifics … Many say that the letter “R” should be present in the PSO, so how well it is heard with interference. Callsigns of officials consist of three-digit numbers. They are all described in the reference document (TPDL).
The second names of commanders, their deputies and heads of subdivisions, headquarters and units are created from a noun and a number (1-3 digits). They are indicated in the radio data of the division. For example, Verba-163, El-4.
The call sign of the control center communication node is a noun. For example, "Focus", "Ash". Two sets of callsigns are always created - the main and the reserve. The entire procedure for their appointment, as well as guiding documents, are described in the "Manual on the formation of communications in the NE".
Battalion units do not have their own means of communication, and even call signs are not allocated to squads. Therefore, they are appointed only by platoon commanders.
Specialists tend to use primitive schemes. For example, the main one has the call sign "Wing", and the main group - "Falcon". It is precisely one-two-syllable words that are used, since it is difficult to pronounce long nicknames in battle.
Some elite troops use US call signsstandard. In this case, the first letter of the surname in the phonetic Latin alphabet is used: B - bravo, H - Charlie, and so on. A digit is then added when the first letters of the last name match. For example, Foxtrot 1, Sierra 2.
In the Russian troops, the callsigns of unit group commanders are very often selected according to the personal qualities of a person - "Leshy-1", "Bychok-1", "Condor-1". If there are few groups, proper names are used. It is very common to use the unit's callsign with any additional digit other than one.
Tips
Many fighters say that callsigns should not be created by changing the last name and should be easy to remember, and also should not reflect the external personal characteristics of a person. They argue that most often the second name is the nickname (nickname) of a fighter in everyday life.
Numeric and digital callsigns are commonly seen in drills when there are many superiors and observers present. It is known that there was an officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who fought in Chechnya with the call sign "200" (two hundredth).
Many fighters say that their PSOs were invented by the command and changed every three months, and they created nicknames on their own in accordance with personal qualities or surnames.
The fighters also testify that call signs and nicknames are different things. After all, the TPDL (table of call signs of officials) that communication provided them was completely digital.
In general, callsigns and nicknames are operational aliases. They form in completely different ways. But foreach such sign is worth a real person, whose fate may be of interest not only to historians or specialists, but also to anyone who cares.
Gyurza
It is known that the callsign "Gyurza" at one time had Alexey Viktorovich Efentiev. Who is he? This is a Russian and Soviet officer who performed combat missions in Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kosovo and Chechnya. He successfully did his job and for personal courage this lieutenant colonel of the reserve was nominated for the title of Hero of the Russian Federation, but he was never awarded.
His callsign "Gyurza" during the First Chechen War was known to every inhabitant of the republic. Efentiev made dozens of raids on the rear of the Dudayevites, stormed Bamut and unblocked the Coordination Center surrounded in Grozny. During the last operation, Russian journalists and many senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the army were rescued.
SpN units
What are Special Forces Units (SpN)? These are battalions of aviation, ground forces and navy trained according to a specific program, as well as police, internal troops, gendarmerie, necessary to perform special tasks using special means and tactics. It is known that the call signs for special forces girls are chosen in the same way as for boys - there are no differences.
Cobra
The call sign "Cobra" was Lieutenant Colonel Erkebek Abdulaev (special intelligence officer of the "Vympel" group of the KGB of the USSR). He published his own autobiography. In the special forces of the KGB of the USSR, soldiers like him were called"stuntmen".
His biography is similar to the life of most Vympel officers, among whom were Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Uzbeks, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijanis and Georgians, Koreans and Karelians. They all defended the interests of their homeland - they performed one task. Each of them was faithful to his duty to the end, although they all had doubts, worries, and resentments.
Yakut
Volodya-Yakut is a fictional Russian sniper, the hero of the urban myth of the same name about the First Chechen War, who became popular due to his high performance. It is believed that this sniper's name was Kolotov Vladimir Maksimovich, although in the legend his name is Volodya. It is known that he was a hunter-fisherman from Yakutia and had the call sign "Yakut".
US Special Forces
The American logical army control system is fundamentally different from the Russian one. Not only are the digital call signs inconsistent (the fighters only call the commander among themselves conditionally 01), but the verbal ones do not lend themselves to the corresponding law of thinking (there are not all "birds" and "trees" in the battalion). And this is true - without knowing the TPDL (table of call signs of officials), you will never understand in an open interception network who Dunduk-29 or Dyatel-36 is. This is how US special forces work.
In Special Forces, when conducting a secret operation, it is customary to choose call signs for yourself (children's nickname, something fashionable, or whatever comes to mind). If a fighter "lit up" on the air while performing a special task, he needs to change the PSO. This isreasonable.
US Special Forces can give a Russian soldier trouble. America's radio intelligence and electronic warfare know how to crack cipher messages. And even if they do not know the cipher, they can monitor the intensity of radio exchange between units or disorient the enemy, jam stations, interfere, and so on. And they can also take direction finding signal sources, which is also bad.
In addition, the Americans have a separate National Security Agency (NSA), which deals with electronic and electronic intelligence. This is the most secret institution in the US.
