Is "Broken Arrow" a military call sign?

Answer 1

BROKEN ARROW refers to an accidental event that involves nuclear weapons or nuclear components but which does not create the risk of nuclear war. These include:

Nuclear detonation.
Non-nuclear detonation or burning of a nuclear weapon.
Radioactive contamination.
Jettisoning of a nuclear weapon or nuclear component.[3]
Public hazard, actual or implied.

EMPTY QUIVER is a reporting term to identify and report the seizure, theft, or loss of a U.S. nuclear weapon.

Answer 2

Broken Arrow is a (by now?) unclassified military code phrase, used to describe the type of situation involving a nuclear weapon. (There are several more, each describing a specific situation, but I have long since forgotten them, and, if I did remember, I would be hesitant to explain further.)

The first time I heard that phrase used for a movie title on my car radio, I damn near drove off the road. (It was classified when I first learned it, at lest a decade earlier)

Before the civilians got into the HazMat game, the Army was tasked with it. As a specialist in NBC warfare, I got the periodic priviledge of pulling a week's duty in charge of what was then known as an 'Atom Bravo' team, covering the tri-state area of Indiana, central and eastern Kentucky, and Ohio.

Anything that went wrong -- a dropped nuke, a barge accident involving chemicals or other hazardous material, a truck wreck, a derailment, what have you, my team got the call to go out and survey the area.

Our job was to survey the extent of the damage (and the possible threats), and then mark it. and report it. Our higher HQ then worked up wind predictions, etc., and determined who had to be evacuated.

The phrase would be called to us at our alert site, and gave us time to start preparing for the specific mission before the detailed orders showed up (hand-carried).

I don't know if the current HazMat crowd (mostly, your local FD's now) use the same code phrases. I would guess they do.

wsulliva

Answer 3

There really are no proper call signs. They can even change daily for some units, selected from a pool of itinerant call signs. There is no real call sign affiliation with any military branch. Current call signs are listed with the National Telecommunications and Information Agency (NTIA). They handle federal radio communications regulation. The FCC handles everything else. NTIA call sign listings are classified however. Bottom line, make up any call sign you want. Nobody will know the difference. Nobody will say, "Who wrote this thing? Any fool knows that Archer 5 is a call sign associated with the Marines! C'mon!"

Answer 4

It's not a military call-sign, it's a codeword now used in the US military to describe an incident involving nuclear material.

Answer 5

it is, but it doesn't necessarily mean a lost nuclear weapon as in the movie of the same name. A broken arrow is defined as "an accidental event involving nuclear weapons or nuclear components but does not create the risk of nuclear war".

Answer 6

Its a nuclear flag word, there are six of them, Bob had the definition exactly right.

Answer 7

No its a dumb movie with John Revolting and Christian Slater.

Answer 8

It was during Vietnam. It meant that all hell has broken lose.

Never hear it used during the first gulf war.

Answer 9

N O, It is a Military Operation!!

Answer 10

YES IT IS !!!!, Or at least 40 years ago, it was !!! Rent / buy / borrow the movie, " WE WERE SOLDIERS ( and young once) with Mel Gibson, and watch that movie, the directors cut, &the interviews, including the interview with General (then Col.) Hal Miller. This movie is based on a true story, and is the most accurate movie, of its kind , ever produced by Hollywood!!!
The Term "BROKEN ARROW" is correctly used in THAT movie! MOVIES BY AND LARGE, PRODUCED IN / BY HOLLYWOOD, IS A HUGE CROCK OF CRAP !!!!!! ""NEVER, NEVER, EVER, PERMIT THE FACTS, OR TRUTH TO INTERFER WITH MAKING A SINSATIOAL STORY"" (crap)!!!!!!!
Uncle Wil