(UK) Armed Forces Week - Show Your Support

[joe cassidy]

lastly, BROWN boots ?

Maybe these days members of the British armed forces are allowed to procure their boots themselves ?

[guest311]

more likely shoe zone got the contract.

recruits course we had boots, black, ammn, with metal studs on the soles, horseshoe on the heels.

many slide / sit upon rear end until recruits learned !

once at Debden, got issued boots, DMS, black, much better.

still needed candles / spoons. polish, water and cotton wool to achieve an acceptable to instructors shine.

it was amazing how many pairs of boots would fit into a metal waste bin, or indeed how far they would fly out of the barracks windows.

[acko22]

lastly, BROWN boots ?

Maybe these days members of the British armed forces are allowed to procure their boots themselves ?

Nope brown boots are are standard issue have been for about 4 years

[Calnefoxile]

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Image: ©UK MOD Crown Copyright 2020
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Also notice the distinct lack of a proper Uniform, now having to wear the same stuff as those rotten Pongoes, none of the nice proper blue uniform even with a big hat on and a very distinctive white top, so they could be seen coming from miles away and also noticed 'hiding' in the undergrowth to catch the unsuspecting Airman hopping over the crash gate on the way back from the pub, 'cos it's quicker than going all the way round to the main gate like we're supposed to, I mean we might be a Terrorist or summfink.........

Not that I ever did that, of course 

Regards

Neal.

[guest311]

"and a very distinctive white top, so they could be seen coming from miles away and also noticed 'hiding' in the undergrowth to catch the unsuspecting Airman hopping over the crash gate on the way back from the pub,"

come on, be realistic, it would be a fur box mechanic with his brain on a chain hiding lurking poised by the crashgate .........

snowdrops wouldn't move more than a few feet from the guardroom kettle, unless forced to man the main gate.
only other time you saw them out of the guardroom was in a mobile, in those days probably a rag top / hard top landie, not like now, white estate cars with battenburg markings.

and that's even the dog handlers.

we walked our areas for 6 hrs, the limit being on the dog's hours, not the handler's, and your dog could do his job, which of course he /she can't if in the back of a car.

progress not in my book.

highlight of a shift, when the snowdrops mobile came round with an urn of tea, and a few corned beef doorsteps.

and guess who usually got the doorsteps  :'(

[Calnefoxile]

"and a very distinctive white top, so they could be seen coming from miles away and also noticed 'hiding' in the undergrowth to catch the unsuspecting Airman hopping over the crash gate on the way back from the pub,"

come on, be realistic, it would be a fur box mechanic with his brain on a chain hiding lurking poised by the crashgate .........

snowdrops wouldn't move more than a few feet from the guardroom kettle, unless forced to man the main gate.
only other time you saw them out of the guardroom was in a mobile, in those days probably a rag top / hard top landie, not like now, white estate cars with battenburg markings.

and that's even the dog handlers.

we walked our areas for 6 hrs, the limit being on the dog's hours, not the handler's, and your dog could do his job, which of course he /she can't if in the back of a car.

progress not in my book.

highlight of a shift, when the snowdrops mobile came round with an urn of tea, and a few corned beef doorsteps.

and guess who usually got the doorsteps  :'(

Don't think we had any Fur box mechanics at Henlow when I was there, and our Snowdrops drove a Sherpa, just so that even us Techies could outrun it 

Regards

Neal.

[guest311]

I remember a night shift at a certain airfield in northern Ireland..

snow drifting down, and clearance crews on the runway..

02:00 ish got to the end of the runway, and found a group of fitters / mt drivers / etc huddled around the back of a landie .....

chiefie looked over at myself and the brain on a chain ....

"you look frozen, corp ... fancy a brew ?"

do bears sleep int the woods ....

collected a mug of hot chocolate, and something else ...

of course the hairy part of the team was more interested in a sarnie, corned beef, doorstop...

never been a fan of hot chocolate, but that mug set me up for the rest of the 4 hours of my shift.

think the term was 'kye' maybe not correctly spelt, with a tot of rum in it.

Rex was happy with his sarnie, I was for even grateful for the mug of 'kye' on that cold, snowy night.

it's the little things that you remember, and forever thank them for.
could so easily have ignored us...

but that was how it was, all together as I remember it.

did I regret signing up ..... NO

would I today, not so sure with the politicians we have today.

but I would like to think that I would still do so, a sense of loyalty and duty.

[Newportnobby]

never been a fan of hot chocolate, but that mug set me up for the rest of the 4 hours of my shift.

think the term was 'kye' maybe not correctly spelt, with a tot of rum in it.

I know that term was used on board ships in WW2 for their 'hot chocolate mix'

[joe cassidy]

My son is in the French army.

I'm hoping to see him march down the Champs Elysees on July 14.

I'm pleased to report that my son did take part in the military parade for Bastille day yesterday.

One proud dad 

[acko22]

My son is in the French army.

I'm hoping to see him march down the Champs Elysees on July 14.

I'm pleased to report that my son did take part in the military parade for Bastille day yesterday.

One proud dad 

Glad to see, he was able to take part in the parade, not going to lie I hated the build up to big parades, days of practise just to do a 20 minute jaunt around somewhere.
Although the short spell we were doing royal duties had its advantages if you were young and single, but them stories are better spoke of by word of mouth rather than written text which is just evidence the better halves can use against you! 

But I am glad he enjoyed and he is army rather than airforce!

When I was on Herrick 10 (summer 2009) shortly before been blown up (again) we did an operation to clear a village to the south of the town we were holding and while it was expected to take till mid / late morning the gents on the other side decided that we would have to evict them by force rather than admit defeat and leave.

So my job at the time was as a forward air controller (playing with airborne assets telling them where to shoot), but due to this operation over running the designated air cover was low of fuel and weapons so had to be swapped out with 2 USAF A-10s leaving and in return I got 1 French Air force Mirage 3 equipped with a machine gun pod.

Now I won't slate how willing and good french pilots are, even if by standards then they were very much the poorer brother when it came to the kit they had. But I think on this day I got the bottom of the class student from pilot school!

So my radio cracks into life with the pilot of Sonic 31 doing a comms check and to get a brief off me nothing new there all standards stuff!

So as I am giving him a situation brief he comes on "Widow 12, Widow 12 I have PID (Positively Identified enemy) firing an RPG towards friendly forces stand by for grid", now at this stage I waited for the grid and he comes back "Enemy grid 41 S PR xxxx,xxxx am I clear to engage?"
I had to double check everything just in case and I had to confirm grid so I asked him to confirm and he gave the same grid again, which seemed wrong to me as it was to far north, so time to do a full map check and as I went to look at my map I glanced at my wrist mounted GPS.

My wrist mounted GPS and the grid the pilot had given me was right next to me! So now I am thinking were are about to be engaged at close quarters so give everyone the heads up, then I decided to ask the pilot 2 simple questions "What altitude are you flying at and confirm method of identification"

His response bless him was so assured and confident "I am at flight level 17", so he was 14,000ft above ground level and "I used my binoculars"  It was at this point things began to add up all wrong, so I asked him 2 more questions "Is the personnel still there", the answer was "Yes he has not moved" and does he appear to be on top of some large sand coloured structure or vehicle?" and the pilot again very happy with himself answered "Yes, can you see him am I clear to engage?"

Now this is where things all came together the enemy RPG gunner was infact the gunner on my Husky Armoured vehicle who had not touched an RPG but was using his .50 Cal to encourage the current tenants of the village to adhere to the eviction notice!

So without hesitation I got on the radio "Do not engage! Do not engage! That is friendly forces that is my call sign you have identified that grid is friendly", the response I got was "are you sure?", by now I was unhappy and replied "yes I am sure you stupid  I am sat at that grid right next the the  vehicle, there is no  Taliban here you stupid French  , get your binos shove up your  and get the  out of my airspace you useless  "

In fairness he followed my last request to the letter well the bit about leaving the airspace, I am not certain if the binos went where directed, but yeah I didn't work with the French air force after that! 
So be glad you lad is Army and not air force 

[joe cassidy]

Hi Acko.

Thanks for that anecdote 

My son is going to the artillery training school next month.

His ambition is to become a forward observer.

Hope he won't suffer too many "friendly fire" incidents 

[TrevL]

Hope he won't suffer too many "friendly fire" incidents 

I hope he doesn't suffer ANY friendly fire incidents.

[RailGooner]

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