Re: 911:: Phonetic Alphabet Exercises

[Guest guest]

My only suggestion would be flash cards. Have the trainee get a stack of 3 X 5

cards & write the letter on one side and the corresponding phonetic name on the

other. That's how I learned & it wasn't easy trust me... I spent several years

in the military using Alpha - Bravo - Charlie - Delta, then went to work in

police dispatch using Adam - Boy - - . We then consolidated the

dispatch center and I began dispatching for the Fire Department as well using

Alpha - Bravo - Charlie - Delta again. Let me tell you...dispatching on a

police radio for a period of time, getting up and immediately sitting down on a

fire radio using a different phonetic alphabet, CAD commands, etc...is not the

easiest thing in the world to keep straight but you deal with it. Tell your

trainee that he or she needs to study at home...study study study. The

idiosyncrasies of our jobs are not learned by osmosis and 8 hours of floor

training a day. It takes some dedication outside of the workplace. I've

noticed several trainees lately having a problem putting forth an outside effort

toward learning this job. It was not easy for me to learn coming into it from

being a helicopter mechanic and industrial maintenance technician, but I wanted

to do it well so bad I cat-napped for several months with an open training

manual in my lap sitting in an easy chair and studying every waking hour. It's

possible to teach us old dogs.

Hal Weese

Nashville, TN

Emergency Communications Training Officer

Tactical Dispatcher

These are my opinions only, not those of my agency's.

For liability reasons, my posts and my opinions are just

that...an opinion, and not to be reprinted without my

express permission. I frequent this group merely to share

ideas & experience with others and hopefully gain knowledge

and insight from others involved in my profession so that I may

better myself and perhaps introduce new ideas to my own agency.

I may be contacted off-list at tenseven@...