Group
A callsign is the identifier that is used to address another unit over radio. Every unit down to the fireteam level has a unique callsign to identify it.
Some individuals also have their own callsigns. These are generally for people with leadership or specialised roles, like the platoon commander, platoon seargeant or forward air controller.
Deployment ORBATs in UNITAF have callsigns which are assigned by the deployments Field Leader, callsigns come from a pre-approved callsign list. Some callsigns are from the phonetic alphabet, ALPHA, BRAVO CHARLIE etc. However many other callsigns exist, and can carry themes such as birds, animals and chess pieces. Callsigns are usually words which are short, easy to say, remember and to understand.
In UNITAF Callsigns are assigned to Platoons or to Companies. When a Platoon is assigned a callsign, all subordinate elements of the Platoon also adopt that callsign. A simple example of how this works is outlined below.
When needing to speak to the leader of an element specifically, and not anyone else on net who may take transmissions for the callsign (platoon sergeant/radio operators etc.), append ACTUAL after the element's callsign.
ACTUAL is never combined with a personal callsign as defined in FM/BP-1137 - Personal callsigns
To keep radio communications brief, shorten callsigns whenever possible, according to the following rules:
When addressing a specific person in the HQ element, use their personal callsign. The assignment of HQ personal callsigns works in reverse from the number 9, where 9 is the commander of that callsign. Typically, the second-in-command will be 8, forward air controllers, observers or medics can be 7, 6 and so on.
When adressing all callsigns on a network, use ALL STATIONS instead of listing all callsigns separately.