TexMechs – The Home of the Royal Dragoon Guards

The Battalion’s Phonetic Alphabet

  As long as there’s been radio, there’s been a need to make sure you’re heard correctly- especially in the heat of battle. I mean, when you’re calling in artillery fire, you wanna be as sure as you can that the gun crew knows you said “B” and not “C”, “D”, “E”, “G” or anything else. To that end, we use a phonetic alphabet like anyone else. There’s a bunch of ‘em, in a bunch of languages across the Inner Sphere. Here’s the one we use.

  Oh, I almost forgot – don’t let it confuse you, but the companies of the theoretical Regiment of which the Battalion is a part are actually enumerated using an older version of the phonetic alphabet out of tradition. First Battalion has Able, Baker and Charlie. Second has Dog, Easy and Fox. Third has George, How and Item. We also have a headquarters company.

  So there it is. Next time you hear “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over?” you just might figgure out what they mean… 

Regimental Radio Callsigns

  We’ve got call signs assigned to us to help identify who we’re talking to when we’re on the tac net. The Regiment as a whole has a callsign, as do each Battalion, and each Company. Within those units, individuals and smaller formations have their own designators. Check below to see who we are.

  A callsign usually refers to a unit or formation, like Easy Blue- that’s “E” Company’s command lance. If I wanted to talk to the chain of command of Easy Blue, I’d ask for Easy Blue Six. Actual means I wanna talk to the “actual” person in charge of that formation. “Six” means CO. The XO is five, and the Senior NCO is seven. One through four correspond to our Staff shops. One is Admin, two is Intel, three is Operations and four is Logistics. These hold true for Battalion and Regiment, at the Lance or Platoon level one through four can refer to squads, or individual tanks or ‘Mechs. Six and seven still refer to the Lance Commander and Senior NCO, though.

Regimental Callsigns

• Gunsight – The Royal Dragoon Guards Regiment (Theoretical)
• Gunsight Six – Regiment HQ
• Gunsight Actual – Regimental Commanding Officer
• Gunsight Five – Regimental Executive Officer
• Gunsight Seven – Regimental Sergeant Major
• Gunsight One – Regimental Administration
• Gunsight Two – Regimental Intelligence
• Gunsight Three – Regimental Operations
• Gunsight Four – Regimental Logistics

Battalion Callsigns

• First Battalion – Grognard
• Second Battalion – Ironhide
• Third Battalion – Overkill

Company / Lance Callsigns

• Company – by phonetic designation. (I.E., “E” Company is “Easy”, etc.)
• Company Commander – __________ Six.
• Company XO – __________ Five.
• Company First Sergeant – __________ Seven.
• First Lance/Platoon – __________ Green.
• Second Lance/Platoon – __________ Blue.
• Third Lance/Platoon – __________ Red.
• Lance Commander/Platoon Leader – [Company] [Lance] Six. (I.E. Easy Blue Six for Lance Commander, Second Lance, “E” Company.)
• Lance NCO/Platoon NCO – [Company] [Lance] Seven.
• Individual BattleMechs/Infantry Squads – One through Four, as numbered. BattleMechs are usually numbered one and two, as the other two ‘Mechs in a Lance are the Lance Commander and Lance Sergeant.

Radio Communication Prowords

  In addition to the phonetic alphabet, we also use a fairly universal system of prowords, or “Procedural Words”, to help condense and clarify our communications.

• ALL AFTER – I am referencing everything in your previous communication after the words __________.
• ALL BEFORE – I am referencing everything in your previous communication before the words __________.
• AUTHENTICATE – The station called is to reply to the challenge which follows.
• AUTHENTICATION IS – Followed by the proper response to AUTHENTICATE, above.
• BREAK – I hereby indicate the separation of the text from other portions of the message.
• CALL SIGN – The group that follows is a call sign.
• CORRECT – You are correct, or what you have transmitted is correct.
• CORRECTION – An error has been made in this transmission, the correct version is __________.
• DO NOT ANSWER – Stations called are not to answer the call, acknowledge receipt of message, or otherwise transmit in connection with this transmission. When this proword is used, the transmission shall be ended with OUT.
• EXECUTE – Carry out the purpose of the message or signal to which this applies.
• EXECUTE TO FOLLOW – Action on the message or signal which follows is to be carried out upon the reciept of the proword EXECUTE.
• EXEMPT – The addresses immediately following are expemted from the collective call.
• FIGURES – Numerals or numbers follow
• FLASH – Precedence FLASH.
• FROM – The originator of this message is indicated by the address designator immediately following.
• GROUPS – This message contains the number of groups indicated by the numeral following.
• GROUPS NO COUNT – The groups in this message have not been counted.
• I AUTHENTICATE – The group that follows is the reply to your challenge to authenticate.
• IMMEDIATE – Precedence IMMEDIATE.
• IMMEDIATE EXECUTE – Action on the message or signal following is to be carried out on reciept of the word EXECUTE.
• INFO – The addresses immediately following are addressed for information.
• I READ BACK – The following is my response to your instructions to read back.
• I SAY AGAIN – I am repeating the transmission or portion indicated.
• I SPELL – I shall spell the next word phonetically.
• I VERIFY – That which follows has been verified at your request and is repeated. To be used only as a reply to VERIFY.
• MESSAGE – A message which requires recording is about to follow.
• MORE TO FOLLOW – Transmitting station has addition traffic for the recieving station.
• NUMBER – Station serial number.
• OUT – This is the end of my transmission to you and no answer is required or expected.
• OVER – This is the end of my transmission to you and a response is necessary. Go ahead and transmit.
• PRIORITY – Precedence is PRIORITY.
• READ BACK – Repeat this entire trasmission back to me exactly as received.
• RELAY (TO) – Transmit this message to all addresses (or addresses immediately following this PROWORD). The address component is mandatory when this proword is used.
• ROGER – I have reiceved your last transmission satisfactorily.
• ROUTINE – Precedence ROUTINE.
• SAY AGAIN – Repeat all of your last transmission. Followed by identification data that means “Repeat __________ (portion indicated)”.
• SERVICE – This message that follows is a SERVICE message.
• SIGNALS – The groups which follow are taken from a signal book.
• SILENCE – Cease transmision on this net immediately. Silence will be maintained until lifted.
• SILENCE LIFTED – Silence is lifted.
• SPEAK SLOWER – Your transmission is at too fast a speed. Reduce speed of transmission.
• STOP REBROADCASTING – Cut the automatic link between two nets that are being rebroadcast and revert to normal working.
• THIS IS – This transmission is from the station whose designator immediately follows.
• TIME – That which immediately follows is the time or date-time group of the message.
• TO – The addresses immediately following are addressed for action.
• UNKNOWN STATION – The identity of the station with whom I am attempting to establish communication is unknown.
• VERIFY – Verify entire message (or portion indicated) with the originator and send the correct version.
• WAIT – I must pause for a few seconds.
• WAIT OUT – I must pause for longer than a few seconds.
• WILCO – I have recieved your signal, understand it, and will comply. Note: ROGER and WILCO are mutually exclusive terms, and never used together.
• WORD AFTER – The word of the message to which I have reference is that which follows __________.
• WORD BEFORE – The word of the message to which I have reference is that which precedes __________.
• WORDS TWICE – Communication is difficult. Transmit (transmitting) each phrase (or each code group) twice. This proword may be used as an order, request, or information.
• WRONG – Your last transmission was incorrect. The correct version is __________.

Abbreviations and Written Communication

  We do try to make sure our written communications look nice and sharp, so prospective employers from one of the Great Houses don’t decide we’re a bunch of illiterate bullet-stoppers. Make sure you use the right abbreviations, and ensure your signature blocks are juuust right. Not short – we need to know who you are and what you do – and not too long. Really long signature blocks say you REALLY think you’re important.

  A signature block contains your name, in ALL CAPS, followed by your rank spelled out completely. The third line is your job, and the fourth is your unit assignment. So my signature block would look like this:

LIAM SHANAHAN
Senior Chief Technical Sergeant
NCOIC, BattleMech Technical Team
2nd Battalion, Royal Dragoon Guards


  When you’re posting “in character”, use the above signature block and make sure the subject line of the email begins with [IC], otherwise use your real name in place of your persona’s in ALL CAPS, and add the persona name below it normally. So the top two lines of Tex’s signature above would be to “JOHN Q. GAMER” and “Liam Shanahan” followed by the rest of the sig block. There should NEVER be more than five lines on a block for an OOC post, or four for an IC post.

JOHN Q. GAMER
Liam Shanahan
Senior Chief Technical Sergeant
NCOIC, BattleMech Technical Team
2nd Battalion, Royal Dragoon Guards