Tango

SAS Codewords by thejadefalcon on 2009-08-26 16:45:00 UTC Reply

I’ve been replaying Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, followed by rewatching Ultimate Force and now going straight into a short oneshot about neither fandom but still featuring the SAS. A couple of questions though.

First of all, there seems to be a bit of a discrepancy in one codeword. CoD 4 uses ‘tango’ for the bad guys (i.e. Tango down, room One-Echo). However, UF and the NCOs back when I was in my school’s CCF use ‘X-ray’ (i.e. X-ray down, rear stairwell). Which is it? I’ve got a theory that Tango is an Americanism that CoD 4 fell into, but I want to know for sure. I personally think X-ray sounds more awesome, but the SAS don’t care about being cool, just about getting in, getting the job down, getting out.

Secondly, does anyone know what OP or FAP means? I can’t think of a context for the former, but Dempsey from UF says “FAPs please, gentlemen,” just as they head off to go and shoot people.

I've never played the game but... by Cinnia Aine on 2009-08-28 05:10:00 UTC Reply

I think I know what they might be hinting at, in a way, by the words "tango", "echo", and "x-ray". (As it is, I'm not sure my insight will be all that helpful.)
This may sound really stupid, but I'm positive that those code words are all taken from the military alphabet. Which, (partly because of the part the military plays in my relative's lives, partly because it's an interesting subject, and partly because memorizing the alphabet was fun), I decided to do a brief study on.
First, here's a handy link to the wikipedia page on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_alphabet
Anyway, the NATO alphabet is used in the military so that code words assigned to different letters of the alphabet don't get mixed up over telephone or radio communication. (e.g. "B" and "D" sort of sound alike.) I don't know what the code words are, but I'm guessing they aren't the same for every mission. So, yeah. That's my thoughts on the subject.

Thanks... by thejadefalcon on 2009-08-28 13:07:00 UTC Reply

I knew it was the phonetic alphabet (it was pretty much a requirement to learn in the CCF), but it was the usage I was confused about. Thanks for the help regardless.

Re: SAS Codewords by Heliomance on 2009-08-27 23:44:00 UTC Reply

I believe that Tango is indeed an Americanism, as I've seen it used in books I've read about the Navy SEALs. Fraid I can't help you with the rest, though.

No problem... by thejadefalcon on 2009-08-28 13:05:00 UTC Reply

it was mainly just wondering about Tango, really. I'm not using the others in this story. *uses X-ray in story for 'bad guy' codeword*

Tango by Caestus on 2009-08-29 18:18:00 UTC Reply

I believe tango is used in the original Rainbow Six, if that helps any.

I think that's a game about Yankees... by thejadefalcon on 2009-09-01 10:33:00 UTC Reply

so, yeah, it's probably an Americanism. Thanks.