For our first Whiskey Tango Foxtrot – Learning the Lingo Series, we are going to start with the ABC’s…literally!!! Military and other organizations use the Phonetic Alphabet to help with precise spellings and/or phrases. This has proven to help effectively communicate over radio and telephone for a plethora of years! These “letters” helped people to be understood even in the combat chaos that may be occurring at the time! The version that we use now was established back in the 1950s by NATO, and it is sometimes even referred to as the NATO Alphabet.

Let’s start with the basics:

• A – Alpha
• B – Bravo
• C – Charlie
• C – Delta
• E – Echo
• F – Foxtrot
• G – Golf
• H – Hotel
• I – India
• J – Juliet
• K – Kilo
• L – Lima
• M – Mike
• N – November
• O – Oscar
• P – Papa
• Q – Quebec
• R – Romeo
• S – Sierra
• T – Tango
• U – Uniform
• V – Victor
• W – Whiskey
• X – X-ray
• Y – Yankee
• Z – Zulu

Once you have learned the majority of the phonetic alphabet, I would suggest trying to learn how to spell your name (first and last at least) as that has come in super handy over my years as a military spouse!

Here are a few common phrases that you may have heard around an installation, or even in a military show/movie:

• Bravo Zulu = Good Job (I know…this one is doesn’t make sense as it isn’t Golf Juliet ! What can I say?!?! It’s a Navy thing!)
• Charlie Mike = Continue Mission
• Lima Charlie = Loud & Clear
• Mikes = Minutes
• November Golf = No Go (fail)
• Oscar Mike = On the Move
• Tango Yankee = Thank You
• Whiskey Tango Foxtrot = WTF

Let’s give it a try…

Yankee Oscar Uniform
Charlie Alpha November
Uniform November Delta Echo Romeo Sierra Tango Alpha November Delta
Tango Hotel India Sierra
Quebec Uniform India Tango Echo
Echo Alpha Sierra India Lima Yankee

While this may all be foreign to you now, you will be quite surprised as to how quickly you can pick this up and utilize it in your military life!

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***Answer – You Can Understand This Quite Easily***