U.S. Marines of Charlie Co. 1/1 of the 15th MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) carry their weapons and battle gear as they cross the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu in the northern Arabian Sea and board CH-53 helicopters for a raid into southern Afghanistan on November 25, 2001

A U.S. Marine from Charlie Co. 1/1 of the 15th MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) lines up with other Marines on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu in the northern Arabian Sea late November 25, 2001, as operation 'Swift Freedom' gets underway

"Mumbles", a 26-year-old US Navy pilot of F-14 Tomcat jet fighters, holsters a 9mm automatic pistol issued October 18, 2001 as she gears up for a bombing mission on Afghanistan on the USS Carl Vinson

Fighter pilots on the U.S. aircraft carrier Carl Vinson may do the most glamorous jobs in the navy but you wouldn't guess it from the names they go by.

Shorn, Mumbles, Lamb, Stroke, Pooh and Lips are just a few of their call signs.

``They don't give out call signs like Iceman and Maverick,'' said Brian, better known as Beke. ``You can only do something stupid.''

``If you're called Shooter it's because you shot your foot or something,'' said Shorn, whose call sign comes from the movie Austin Powers and, like, many of the nicknames is not the sort of thing you'd want to explain to your grandmother.

``It's nothing to do with my grooming,'' Shorn said.

Andy, a pilot from Santa Barbara, goes by the name Stroke because when put together with his surname it makes a phrase that makes the pilots smirk. His surname cannot be given because of military security rules.

``It's got to be something that makes the other guys laugh,'' said Shorn.

Pilots do not get to choose their own call signs. Junior officers come up with a list of suggestions and the senior officers have the final say.

``When you first arrive they usually put a list of 40 on the board, the first 10 are always the same -- dumb ass, idiot, that kind of thing. Nobody gets them,'' said Beke, whose name stands for Been Everywhere, Know Everything.

There's also an Ike, standing for I Know Everything.

``You don't usually change your call sign unless you do something stupid, like Tufi, he left his helmet on shore,'' said Shorn. Tumbleweed became Tufi, standing for ``Tumbleweed You +++++++ Idiot.''

Not all the call signs are lewd and rude.

``There's Lamb, Little Angry Man Boy,'' said Shorn. ``He likes to call himself Psycho but we don't let him... And Lips, you have to see him to understand the humor of that.''

``We have a guy called Rooster, with red hair.''

Mumbles, one of the few women pilots on the Carl Vinson, is so called because she spent the first 22 years of her life in England and her American colleagues say they can't understand her accent.

``It's not quite British and not quite American, it's mumble-ese,'' said Shorn.

Picture caption: SENT VIA NAVY COMMUNICATIONS--U.S. Marine aircraft mechanic LCPL Corey Pelto of Highland, Mich., leans on the wing of a F/A-18C on the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt and watches the sun set on Sunday, Nov. 25, 2001.

A sailor, plane captain, aboard the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier takes a break on the fuel tank of an FA/18C Hornet on the deck of the carrier in the Arabian sea October 13, 2001.

Scrubbing down the flight deck the same way you did in the 40's 50's and 60's
Notice the woman aviation boatswains mate, fourth from the right
SENT VIA US NAVY COMMUNICATIONS--
U.S. Navy sailors scrub the flight deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt at the end of the day on
Sunday, Nov. 25, 2001.

Navy pilot gives clearance to flight deck crew upon returning safely to the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in the Arabian Sea, October 12, 2001.

The USS Yorktown
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