ATP-97 NATO land urgent voice messages pocket book

What it is

ATP-97 is the NATO Allied Tactical Publication that fixes a common set of urgent voice message formats for land forces at the tactical level. Its own preface describes it as containing "common templates of urgent voice messages for use in Land Operations at the tactical level", and it is meant to be carried and used as a printed pocket book rather than read as an office reference: "the publication is intended to be used in a printed paper form by the individual soldier as a pocketbook."

ATP-97 does not bind anyone on its own account. This edition prints its national letter of promulgation blank ("RESERVED FOR NATIONAL LETTER OF PROMULGATION"), and the pocket book reaches force through STANAG 2627, the agreement by which NATO nations take it on. A nation can ratify with reservations: this edition's own front pages record that Canada uses its own Contact Report at unit level and below, switching to the NATO version only when a brigade headquarters reports up, and uses its own, more versatile Situation Report instead of the NATO SITREP. Edition B Version 1 was published in March 2020; the text does not state what it superseded.

Life-saving reports

The MEDEVAC 9 Liner is "used to request the evacuation of sick and wounded personnel under medical supervision and on specific medical platforms", and is meant to be followed by a MISTAT form for each casualty giving the mechanism of injury, symptoms and treatment already given. The Explosive Ordnance Incident Report (EOINCREP), also known as a 10 liner, is "used to report any explosive ordnance incident" and carries a four-tier recommended priority, immediate, urgent, routine or no threat, driven by the threat to life rather than by the ordnance itself.

A CONTACT report has two tiers: an immediate flash of just two words, CONTACT and WAIT OUT, to alert higher formations at once, followed by a full report once there is time to give detail. An emergency call for fire is written specifically for "an UNTRAINED observer" to request and adjust artillery fire, and defines DANGER CLOSE as within 600 metres of friendly forces, 750 metres for naval gunfire. Emergency Close Air Support (ECAS) is likewise for someone who states plainly they are "NOT JTAC QUALIFIED", and is followed by a check-in brief the supporting aircraft sends back confirming its munitions and time on station.

The CBRN 1 Report is "used to report a CBRN incident excluding NUCLEAR". Its lettered fields run from B rather than A because, as the pocket book notes, "this message follows the CBRN 1 reports as set out in ATP-45 and therefore the prefixes A-Z are not sequential", an informational link between the two documents rather than a binding one.

Command, reconnaissance, protection and sustainment

The Situation Report (SITREP) is what a callsign sends "to make routine reports as per orders, or to report a significant or unusual event", and can be requested or initiated at any time. A Person of Interest Description Report and a Vehicle Description Report each disseminate a description, of a person or of any ground-moving object, and either can also report one missing. A Threat Warning covers any threat, including an air-attack threat or a ground obstacle, and may be followed by a fuller report. An Urgent Resupply Request covers equipment or supplies urgently required, and an Equipment Recovery Request covers recovery of a vehicle by troops with no integral maintenance personnel of their own.

One detail worth knowing rather than just the message names: the MISTAT form instructs that a casualty's identity code, the "Zap", must never be sent in clear, which is easy to miss on a form otherwise built for speed.

Getting the document

NATO publishes ATP-97 through the NATO Standardization Document Database at no charge. ComplyTrain does not sell it or host a copy; the NSDD listing for ATP-97 is the source.

Standards it references

• ATP-45Background