Need US military to tell me if this is absurd.

Bartholomew said:

The protagonist in my story finds out that the soldiers escorting her have been referring to her as Lima Echo, which she finds out is short for "Lady Engineer."

Is there some reason that the US Army <wouldn't> use "Lima Echo" when refering to her in communiques?

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Yes.
Official message traffic (whether standard messages or e-mail) would refer to her by her rank/name, unless for some strange reason, the operation were classified highly enough that actual personnel involved are referred to by code name.

I can see the soldiers referring to her that way, but only if she doesn't know what it means.

Oh, and the Army doesn't issue communiques.

Any kind of correspondence, they would refer to her by her name and rank. Used to be social security number, too, though that may have changed. If you want examples of military correspondence, check them out here: http://www.apd.army.mil/series_range_pubs.asp.

However, the individual soldiers in the unit might very well call her that. With the Transportation Company I was in, I could easily see someone doing that.

I'd be more inclined to believe Foxtrot Echo for female engineer. The term 'Lady' doesn't come up all that often in soldier speak.

That's true. We were never women or girls or ladies--always females.

AMCIT (for "American Citizen") would be a more likely reference if the troopers didn't want her to know they were talking about her.

That having been said, I don't recall ever being in a situation where circumlocutions like this were required.

RJK said:

I'd be more inclined to believe Foxtrot Echo for female engineer. The term 'Lady' doesn't come up all that often in soldier speak.

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True.

You can be whatever sex you want in the army, so long as it's male.

When my brother was in the army years ago he said that they were instructed to address their Captain (who was a woman) as Sir.

But I don't know if that was a unit thing, or something that happens in the wider military. If someone knows could they tell me, because I think it's intersting if it's true.

In the US Army, female officers were addressed as "ma'am" in my day. I do believe female officers in the Navy are called "sir", though.

Noah Body said:

In the US Army, female officers were addressed as "ma'am" in my day. I do believe female officers in the Navy are called "sir", though.

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Negatory, Ghost Rider. Having been married to one (for a while), and my sister being one for a number of years, and myself having served with women, they are definitely "Ma'am".

<shrug> Could be, don't really know. Flew off Navy ships in the past, but there were never any female officers about. Just luck of the draw, I guess.

Linda Adams said:

That's true. We were never women or girls or ladies--always females.

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Officers had ladies, enlisted men had wives.

Shadow_Ferret said:

Officers had ladies, enlisted men had wives.

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Actually, we never called them that. They were always spouses.