Complex Numbers

The Force is Not With Me

If you were a fighter pilot in the Navy or Air Force, what would be your Call Sign? Why?

There's a disconnect here between what reality and what I would want.

No big surprise there.

I almost joined the military. My choice would have been Navy. I had a letter signed by that asshole Reagan's rubber stamp, recommending me for a position in Annapolis.

For various reasons, mostly having to do with being lazy, I chose a civilian path instead. Also keep in mind that, at the time, Vietnam was still a festering, pustule-ridden wound in my country's psyche; it would be another year or two before Born in the USA came out, just in time for that shitcock Reagan to completely misinterpret Springsteen's message and act like it was some sort of patriotic paean. But the repercussions were still fresh in our minds, along with the constant threat of a nuclear exchange with the USSR.

Just in case I'm being subtle about it, I didn't trust the President to not embroil us in another quagmire. So I bailed.

Anyway, the point is, "fighter pilot" wasn't something I aspired to. As I recall, my ambitions were more on the ground, or possibly ocean - as an engineer or technician. The idea of designing ships and airplanes, or their systems, was more interesting to me than the idea of piloting them.

Consequently, though it would be cool to have a pilot call sign like "Star Lord" or "Sky Walker" or "Speed Demon" - or something along those lines - I don't think I'd have any choice in the matter.

It'd probably have ended up being something like "Nerd Geek."

And that's why I'd never have fit in as a fighter pilot.