Naval Telecommunications Procedure

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TYPES OF MESSAGES
GENERAL
SPEED-OF-SERVICE (SOS) OBJECTIVES

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GENERAL
Record messages are characterized according to precedence,
content, addressees, and format. Precedence determines speed of
service (SOS) objectives for each message; content determines
whether a message is considered operational or administrative in
nature; the set of addressees determines the message type; and
operating doctrine determines the appropriate message format.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide information that
defines the manner in which naval messages are characterized.
SPEED-OF-SERVICE (SOS) OBJECTIVES
Message precedence is used to indicate the relative order of
processing and delivery to the recipient(s). Four precedence
categories (ROUTINE, PRIORITY, IMMEDIATE, or FLASH) may be
assigned to a message. The goal of SOS objectives is to ensure
the fastest communications support possible is provided by the
NCTS. SOS objectives provide customers and managers with a tool
to compare measured performance against what is expected and help
gauge the operational performance of the record message
communications system. SOS objectives apply to the total elapsed
communications handling time, defined as period between the time
of file at the message originator's TCC and the time of receipt
at the addressee's TCC

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FLASH

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(Z) As fast as possible with an objective
of less than 10 minutes.

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IMMEDIATE

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(O) 30 minutes

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PRIORITY

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(P) 3 hours

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ROUTINE

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(R) 6 hours

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OPERATIONAL MESSAGES

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Operational messages are those directing or affecting the
actual use or movement of forces, ships, troops and aircraft
NTP 3 (J)
3-2 ORIGINAL
whether real or simulated; those disseminating weather or other
vital reports affecting the safety of life, ships, forces, or
areas; those dealing with high command and strike coordination,
tactical communications, combat intelligence, enemy reports or
information having vital bearing on the disposition, movement, or
employment of forces; those which control communications,
cryptography, deception, and countermeasures

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ADMINISTRATIVE MESSAGES

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Administrative messages are those which pertain to all other
organizational level matters of a nature or urgency that warrant
electronic transmission. Subjects include various reports,
perishable information, administrative matters associated with
operations and readiness, and urgent matters requiring
considerable coordination or which must be brought to the early
attention of seniors. The highest precedence normally assigned
to an administrative message is PRIORITY; the exception is for
those messages reporting death or serious illness which shall be
assigned IMMEDIATE precedence. All administrative messages shall
use the operating signal (OPSIG) “ZYB” after the date time group
(F/L 5).

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MESSAGE FORMAT

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a. GENADMIN is the USMTF used for most narrative messages.
The only exceptions are narrative messages for which a
publication, instruction, or other directive specifies a different
format. A pro forma message is one that uses defined data fields
that are both readable and machine processable. Pro forma
messages are identified in various publications and directives
which establish pro forma message requirements

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MESSAGE TYPES

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There are four types of classified and unclassified
narrative messages: single address, multiple address, book and
general message Single Address - A message that has only one
addressee, either action (TO) or information (INFO). Multiple Address - A message that has two or more
addressees, whether action or information, and is of such a
nature the drafter determines that each addressee should know the
other recipients.Book - A message that is destined for two or more
addressees, but is of such a nature the drafter determines that
no addressee needs nor should be informed of the other addressees
(e.g., a commercial contract bid) General message - A GENADMIN-formatted message
designed to meet recurring requirements to disseminate
information to a wide, predetermined, standard distribution. The
general message title, e.g., ALCOM, ALMILACT, NAVOP, etc.,
indicates distribution and serves as the designator in the
address line of the message heading

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SERVICE MESSAGES

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Service messages are short, concise messages which either
request action or report a problem on a previously transmitted
message. They may be originated manually by message handling
personnel or automatically by the Message Conversion System
(MCS). Such messages have the force of official communications
and shall be accorded prompt attention. Service message requests
from users shall be sent to the servicing TCC or NCTAMS and be
kept to a minimum to avoid overloading circuits and to minimize
operator intervention. MCS is designed to check every message it processes for
format and address accuracy. If a message is improperly
formatted or PLAs contained in the message are inaccurate, MCS
will send the originating command a service message outlining the
error The following is an example of an MCS service
message: RAAUZYVW RUEOSVA0001 0882218-UUUU--RULSWCA.
ZNR UUUUU
BT
UNCLAS SVC
QQQQ
ZUI RULSWCA0000 0881500
MESSAGE HAS NOT BEEN DELIVERED TO UNRECOGNIZED ADDRESSEE:
COMUNDERSEASURV PEARL HARBOR HI