Since radio became an important tool of military operations, the US armed forces have used several different phonetic alphabets. That's why World War II movies have characters saying "Able Baker Charlie" while present-day soldiers say "Alpha Bravo Charlie" for the same ABC. Here is a chart of the alphabets used by the U.S. and NATO.

 

 

1913

1927

1938

WW II

1957-Present

A

Able

Affirmative

Affirm

Affirm

(Able)

Alpha

B

Boy

Baker

Baker

Baker

Bravo

C

Cast

Cast

Cast

Charlie

Charlie

D

Dog

Dog

Dog

Dog

Delta

E

Easy

Easy

Easy

Easy

Echo

F

Fox

Fox

Fox

Fox

Foxtrot

G

George

George

George

George

Golf

H

Have

Hypo

Hypo

How

Hotel

I

Item

Interrogatory

Int

Int

(Item)

India

J

Jig

Jig

Jig

Jig

Juliett

K

King

King

King

King

Kilo

L

Love

Love

Love

Love

Lima

M

Mike

Mike

Mike

Mike

Mike

N

Nan

Negative

Negat

Negat (Nan)

November

O

Oboe

Option

Option

Option

(Oboe)

Oscar

P

Pup

Preparatory

Prep

Prep

(Peter)

Papa

Q

Quack

Quack

Queen

Queen

Quebec

R

Rush

Roger

Roger

Roger

Romeo

S

Sail

Sail

Sail

Sugar

Sierra

T

Tare

Tare

Tare

Tare

Tango

U

Unit

Unit

Unit

Uncle

Uniform

V

Vice

Vice

Victor

Victor

Victor

W

Watch

William

William

William

Whiskey

X

X-ray

X-ray

X-ray

X-ray

X-ray

Y

Yoke

Yoke

Yoke

Yoke

Yankee

Z

Zed

Zed

Zed

Zebra

Zulu