Screen names. Okay, here's a good one...

[Andy]

When I joined the service the name I was given was Alphabet. An 11 letter last name that begins with the letter ?A? and has two ?Z?s?, it was a no brainer. However, once in Vietnam, with a loaded M-60, I indicated I didn?t care for the nickname. From then on it was Andy.

Being from Massachusetts and having done a little college prior to joining the Army I was also called Ivy League. Having been wounded a few times and requesting to go back to the field they also called me The House Cat, a term used for men in the rear, black humor I suppose. In my aviation unit they called me The Grunt. In my last unit I was called Lightening due to my 25th Division patch (tropic lighting). All of those AKA?s were interesting but Andy or Sergeant Andy was most commonly what I answered too.

Long ago I considered posting under, Charlie 2-5, my favorite radio call sign. However Andy is short, simple and easy.

Over the years I?ve played a little trick. If I know anyone socially my name it Tom. If I know the person due to the military or police my name is Andy. That way if I don?t recognize the person, at least I know from where we met.

Stay healthy,
Andy/Tom

[Dragon Lady]

Steve,
I honestly didn't have that one figured out. Rigger can be used for just about anything from a Navy Rig to an AF aircraft landing gear. They all need rigging.

Ron,
Wow, great history.

In fact they are all great stories. Each one individual and special. Just like the vets that carry the names.

Thank you for the history lesson!

DL

[Dragon Lady]

Andy,
You will always be Andy to me. It sure was great meeting up with you and Curtis. Sure wish we could of spent a little more time just talking about life.

Next time you find yourself wandering the streets of Albany give us a ring. We'll even find you a good bail bondsman.

DL

[SparrowHawk62]

Well, mine goes back quite a ways. To when I was a Boy Scout. Our Troop was at Scout Camp (J.P. Morgan's old estate in NY) and we all had tasks to do. Amoung those tasks was working on at least two merit badges. I did sailing and one that delt with finding all kinds of wildlife signs. (can't remember it's name)
I found almost everything I needed in a few hours. The Scout Leader signing off our little merit badge books, said "You must have an Eagle eye!" He thought about this and by the end of the second week was calling me Sparrow Hawk. The smallest raptor found in New York State, eats mostly bugs.
I always remembered the name, and when I finally got on line it just came to mind.
Of course I have a 8x10 photo of a Sparrow Hawk, that I took at a Raptor center. I also have a life size carving of one as well.
The number 62 when I use it, was the ships hull number that I was on. The USS Independence CV-62.

[afvet462]

I spent 20 years in the Air Force working in aircraft armament, more commonly known in the AF as loadtoads, gun plumbers and a few other choice sobriquets that are not very flattering. Air Force Veteran 462X0(Air Force Specialty Code) = afvet462. I use another screen name on another board, dawich3. The dawich was my fathers' CB handle back in the late 70's. It came from the first two letters of our names: DAvid, WIlliam and CHuck. My handle back then was dawich3, the third son. No my name is not Chuck, that was #1 son. I'm David. Turn the letters around and you will see that it is gibberish. chwida. So Dad went with dawich.

Dave

[darrels joy]

When my sons were asked if they wanted to participate in my wedding to Darrel, they all said "I want to give you to Darrel" so darrel's joy

Darrel, sfc_darrel, came from his rank at retirement but was tired of being called Sargeant Miller. Even after becomming a civilian he was Sargaent Miller in a security company for a while. Proud of his service and more personal.

Gunner Carvo is our sailor. Gunners Mate and his last name.

Joy

[HawkCW4]

Growing up on a ranch in New Mexico we had a number of Mexican Nationals under contract to work on the ranch for 6mo at a time. They could not pronounce my name so just called me Gavilan, which translates to Hawk. For the next 10 or 15 years I was always called Hawk. I retired in 74, I was a CW4 at the time.

[revwardoc]

I gotta hear the "Pocket Pickle" story!

[usmcsgt65]

Started out as Phantom, but my computer crashed. Couldn't get Phantom back. Since sgts are a dime a dozen. Picked the year I enlisted, made sgt (E-5) within two years, and served in the Marine Corps - usmcsgt65.

[Desdichado]

Spanish for "unfortunate".