Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The Giant Voice

There is a military audio alert system called The Giant Voice.  It includes loudspeakers that broadcast various sirens and warning messages, including a message read in a deep voice that begins “This is the giant voice...”  I am not making this up.

At Davis Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, this same system broadcasts reveille every weekday at 7 a.m. and The Star Spangled Banner every weekday at 5 p.m.  And during certain military simulations the message contains the phrase “Exercise, exercise, exercise!”  

Those words woke me up at 1 a.m. last week.  Ar first I thought I was supposed to be doing jumping jacks.  Fortunately, the speakers are turned down in residential areas during  night-time tests, so you can still hear the messages but it’s not like the Mr. Giant Voice is sitting on the picnic table next to our rig. 

To quote the Davis Monthan Facebook page, “In order to simulate real world situations that could happen at any time, as well as ensure our Airmen are fully prepared to go downrange, we have to practice during the day and during night.”  To that Jim and Bev say:  You do what you gotta do. And thank you for your service.

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