Murphy's Law: Politically Correct Call Signs

Archives

October 24, 2007: U.S. Army combat units headed for Iraq have been advised to be sensitive to Iraqis, in order to avoid making anymore enemies than they already have over there. So one unit headed there, the 1/35 Armor (1st battalion of the 35th armored regiment) will change its call sign from "Conqueror" to "Iron Knight." It was felt that the word "Conqueror" might be misinterpreted by Iraqis. Actually, it's not the Iraqis that officers worry about in situations like this, it's U.S. journalists who, on a slow news day, might round up a few English speaking Iraqis and get them to complain about the American tank battalion that refers to themselves as "Conqueror." Oh, the horror. Especially when this stuff reaches Congress, and the incident is brought up when the army asks for money.

The 1/35's call sign is actually derived from the unit motto; "Vincere Vel Mori," (Conquer or Die). In a further twist, the unit previously used the call sign "Iron Knights" for decades, until nine years ago. At that time, there was an army reorganization, and the 1/35th found itself in the same division with an aviation units that also used "Iron Knights" as a call sign. So the 1/35th changed to "Conquerors." But now the aviation unit is gone, and "Iron Knights" is available again.

Just in case you were wondering. Now you know.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close