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Precedence
whereas the Secret message may not require
any action at all.
The message drafter indicates the desired
writer-to-reader delivery time through the
assignment
of
a
message precedence.
Although
the drafter determines the
precedence, the releaser should either confirm
or change it.
The following paragraphs list the various
precedence categories, their indicators, and
basic definitions:
l ROUTINE (R). Processed within 6
hours. This category is assigned to all types
of traffic that justify electrical transmission
but which are not of sufficient urgency to
require a higher precedence.
l PRIORITY (P). Processed within 3
hours. This category is reserved for messages
that furnish essential information for the
conduct of operations in progress. This is the
highest precedence normally authorized for
administrative messages.
l IMMEDIATE (O). Processed within
30 minutes.
This category is reserved for
messages relating to situations that gravely
affect the national forces or populace and that
require immediate delivery to addressees.
l F L A S H ( Z ) .
Processed as fast as
possible with an objective of less than 10
minutes.
This category is reserved for
initial enemy contact reports or operational
combat messages
of extreme
urgency;
message brevity is mandatory.
Precedence is assigned according to
urgency, based solely on writer-to-reader time,
not according to the importance of the subject
matter or the text.
For example, an
unclassified message may be assigned an
IMMEDIATE precedence, whereas a Secret
message may be assigned a ROUTINE
precedence. In this situation, the unclassified
message requires fast action or response,
Address Component
The address component contains the
designation of the originating station identified
by the originator prosign FM (meaning
“from”).
Prosign
T O c o n t a i n s t he
designation(s) of the action addressee(s), if
any.
Prosign
INFO contains
the
designation(s) of the information addressee(s),
if any.
Addressee designations in the address
component may be call signs, address groups,
plain language designators, or a combination
of routing indicators and plain language
designators.
The separation sign BT, meaning “break”
provides a distinct separation between the
heading and the text and between the text and
the ending.
Text
The text is the part of the message that
contains the thought or idea that the drafter
desires to communicate.
In drafting the text for transmission, the
drafter should strive for brevity through the
proper choice of words and good writing
technique. However, brevity must never be
achieved at the expense of accuracy or clarity.
Uncommon phrases and modes of expression
can render the meaning of a message
ambiguous or obscure.
The text must be worded so that it
unmistakably expresses the thoughts to be
conveyed. All abbreviations must be limited
to those meanings that are self-evident or
those that are recognizable by virtue of long
established use. We will now discuss some of
the more important requirements concerning
the text of a message.
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