He Has the Best Callsign in Military History 😂
A military pilot recounts how he received his callsign "Smurf" after a serious mishap left him in an induced coma. The name originated from his friend's contact information listing his college nickname "Scrappy," which another pilot transformed into a makeshift acronym that the Navy later rebranded with a politically correct cover story.
Summary
The speaker describes a traumatic military incident where he was placed in an induced coma and struggled to regain consciousness. During his emergency contact procedures, his commanding officer discovered that his emergency contact form listed a friend named Matt along with the nickname "Scrappy," which the speaker had earned during his time as a kite board instructor in college. When the commanding officer shared this story with other pilots in the ICU waiting room, another pilot made a crude joke about him being "scrappy," which evolved into the acronym "Smurf" (scrappy motherf---). Recognizing the politically incorrect nature of this origin story, the Navy subsequently created an alternative official explanation for the callsign, attributing it to the speaker's short stature and the fact that he had turned blue from hypothermia during the incident. Despite the traumatic circumstances, the speaker expresses satisfaction at having earned a military callsign, which is typically a mark of acceptance and belonging within pilot culture.
Key Insights
- The speaker was struggling to wake up from an induced coma following a serious mishap, requiring emergency contact procedures.
- Military personnel must designate emergency contacts on forms, and the speaker's contact information included the college nickname "Scrappy" from his kite boarding instructor days.
- Another pilot created the callsign "Smurf" as a crude acronym based on a joke about the speaker being "scrappy," which originated when the commanding officer shared the emergency contact story.
- The Navy required an official cover story for the callsign's origin, rebranding it to reference the speaker's short stature and blue skin from hypothermia rather than the original crude meaning.
- Despite the trauma of his mishap, the speaker views receiving a callsign positively as a mark of belonging within pilot culture.
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] They were trying to get me out of the induced coma and trying to get me back to consciousness, [music] but I just wasn't waking up. When you get in a mishap like that, you have to fill out this form of who you want to contact in the case of an emergency. And I had filled out [music] my friend that I had been a kite board instructor with when I was in college. And my nickname when we were in that crew was Scrappy. My commanding officer opened this envelope and saw that number and [music] called my friend Matt. He's like, "You mean Scrappy?" And my skipper thought that was a hilarious nickname. [music] And so…
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