The Military Spelling Alphabet
When disaster strikes, and you need to communicate important information over the phone, radio, or walkie. There is nothing worst than having to repeat yourself when time is of the essence. And could mean the difference between life and death. That is what the military spelling alphabet or NATO Phonetic Alphabet was created for. To communicate, clearly, efficiently, and without any possibility of misunderstandings in situations of high stress.
The Military Spelling Alphabet
In the past, the military used a different phonetic alphabet. It took several international agencies working together to come up with the militaries current spelling alphabet. But the military, are not the only ones to use the NATO phonetic alphabet it is also used by law enforcement officers, first responders, and radio operators from several different fields such as aviation and the coast guard.
The International Radiotelephony Spelling Alphabet is what the US military use today. Known by many names, The NATO Spelling alphabet, the ICAO spelling alphabet, and ICAO phonetic alphabet to name a few.
NATO Phonetic Alphabet:
Alpha
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
X-ray
Yankee
Zulu
These words were carefully chosen because they are easy to understand even through static and bad reception, and amongst people who speak different languages (of course not all languages) but a significant number of them.
ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization)adopted the NATO alphabet spelling system in 1956 and it is still in use today.
Shortly after ICAO adopted the system, numerous other agencies adopted the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, in fact some people refer to it as the ICAO Spelling Alphabet.
DOD – Department Of Defence
IMO – International Maritime
FAA – Federal Aviation Administration
IARU – International Amateur Radio Union
ARRL – American Radio Relay LeagueAPCO -Association of Public-Safety Communications Official-International
Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet#cite_note-:10-3
How To Pronounce The NATO Spelling Alphabet
The words were chosen because they are pronounced the way they are spelled. But just to be 100% sure there is no confusion for those non-native English speakers. Here are the words as they should be pronounced.
| A | Alpha | AL Fah |
| B | Bravo | BRAH voh |
| C | Charlie | CHAR lee |
| D | Delta | DEL tah |
| E | Echo | EKK oh |
| F | Foxtrot | FOKS trot |
| G | Golf | Golf |
| H | Hotel | HO tell |
| I | India | IN dee ah |
| J | Juliett | JEW lee ett |
| K | Kilo | KEY lo |
| L | Lima | LEE mah |
| M | Mike | Mike |
| N | November | NOH vem ber |
| O | Oscar | OSS car |
| P | Papa | PAH pah |
| Q | Quebec | keh BECK |
| R | Romeo | ROW me oh |
| S | Sierra | see AIR ah |
| T | Tango | TANG go |
| U | Uniform | YOU nee form |
| V | Victor | VIK ter |
| W | Whiskey | WISS key |
| X | Xray | EKS ray |
| Y | Yankee | YANG kee |
| Z | Zulu | ZOO loo |
Number Pronunciation :
One – Wun
Two – Too
Three – Tree
Four – FOW-er
Five – Fife
Six – Six
Seven – SEV-en
Eight – Ait
Nine – Niner
The Difference Between American And ICAO Version
There are a couple of differences between the American version. Not in pronunciation, but in spelling to avoid confusion as some countries pronounce certain words differently.
Alfa – Sounds more phonetically accurate than Alpha as not all foreign speakers know that PH is pronounced F
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliett – The extra T was added for French speakers as they tended to assume the T was silent.
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
Xray – is spelled without the – in the NATO version
Yankee
Zulu
Old Military Spelling Alphabet, Able – Baker Phonetic System
Prior to the NATO spelling system, the US used the Able-Baker Spelling Alphabet. Named after, well.. The first two alphabets.
Able
Baker
Charlie
Dog
Easy
Fox
George
How
Item
Jig
King
Love
Mike
Nan
Oboe
Peter
Queen
Roger
Sugar
Tare
Uncle
Victor
William
X-ray
Yoke
Zebra
Common Military Abbreviation
The military loves its abbreviations, here are a few commonly used ones.
Bravo Sierra – BS – or in plain terms, Bull-Shit.
Bravo Zulu – good job, or well done, kind of confusing right, well this particular phrase came about due to the navy flag system of communication. The navy used the Bravo and Zulu flag to mean “well done” and it got adopted by other military agencies.
Charlie Foxtrot : Cluster F***, replace asterisk with appropriate letters 🙂
Charlie Mike: Continue Mission
Echo Tango Sierra: Expiration Term of Service (someone who is about to complete their tour of duty)
Mikes: Minutes
November Golf: Failed or No Go
Lima Charlie: Loud and Clear
Oscar-Mike: On the Move
Sierra Hotel – Shit-Hot, which counterintuitively means very good.
Tango Uniform: Toes Up, killed, or destroyed, cos a person’s toes point up when they lay down, eg: dead
Tango Yankee: Thank You
Conclusion:
Being able to communicate quickly and clearly with no chance of misinterpretation is vital in a survival situation. Take the time to learn the Military Phonetic Alphabet, it is worth it.
If you know any other Military abbreviations kindly do share, if you have a story where they were used in an emergency leave a comment.
