trooping the colour

[guest311]

was it me, or did her majesty only just make it onto the balcony in time to see the flypast, might even have missed the Puma and Chinook.

not sure what the commentator was watching, but he and the cameraman were certainly not in sync, he was telling us about the red arrows while we were looking at the Tornadoes.

standards at the beeb seem to be slipping.

re the actual parade, as always a fantastic spectacle, though I'd question the dressing compared to years ago.

mind you, then we had an army with numbers to exceed it's taskings, unlike the present politician / cost cutting situation.

as always the squaddies did us proud, which is what we have come to expect no matter how shabbily they get treated.

[Bob Tidbury]

Years ago while a subcontractor for Asociated Asphalt our gang used to prepare the parade with fresh pea shingle ,it was a very laborious task going round with wheel barrows then raking the shingle out .
I came up with a much easier method ,we drove the lorry round towing three sheets of re inforceing bars loosely tied together and we just threw shovel fulls out on top ,this worked really well UNTILL one of the drill sergeants came out and shouted at us to stop .
Apparently he had spent the day putting in marker pegs where the soldiers had to turn ,stop and perform certain manoeuvres and we had just pulled them all out ,to say he wasn't pleased was an understatement ,We had a meeting afterwards and he agreed that the parade ground looked the best ever and but  he would now have to mark it out again .
The following year we sorted the pea shingle  the same  way and he THEN marked out the area.
I was very lucky my car reg was registered with the police and the forces and had a pass in the window so that we could get access to the different camps etc where we worked such as the Mall ,Northolt airfield and I was allowed to park in the camps .and actually on Horse Guards Parade and we used to sit there to eat our lunch  ,when I was rolling the Mall my car was parked at Canada Gate and again we used to sit there to eat our lunch. We also had an official sign saying SITE SERVEYING  and could park any where in London as long as we were sensible without getting a ticket but only when we were marking out the
manholes and gullies ready for re surfacing.
Happy Days
Bob Tidbury

[Newportnobby]

I'm always proud of our guys and gals as they do the biz for HM. I tend to agree with class 370205 some of the dressing leaves a little to be desired, and marching music does absolutely nothing for me at all but, hey, it couldn't be done without it

[javlinfaw7]

After watching the flypast I could not help thinking of past flypasts and how much more spectacular they were .

[guest311]

After watching the flypast I could not help thinking of past flypasts and how much more spectacular they were .

probably have to pay the leasing companies by the minute now, remember when the RAF had it's own planes, the Navy it's own ships, and the Army it's own vehicles ?

nowadays it's Hertz this and Avis that etc.

a shocking inditement of our politicians and the money saving ways, except of course when it comes to their trough

[acko22]

After watching the flypast I could not help thinking of past flypasts and how much more spectacular they were .

probably have to pay the leasing companies by the minute now, remember when the RAF had it's own planes, the Navy it's own ships, and the Army it's own vehicles ?

nowadays it's Hertz this and Avis that etc.

a shocking inditement of our politicians and the money saving ways, except of course when it comes to their trough

Ahh well I won't deny the Voyager is is a lease agreement, but everything else was 100% military owned, and as for hire vehicles the "core" military kits helicopters, tanks, Landrovers are 100% military owned. Its the argements signed for the parts that hurt.
When we go to buy kit to make the prices cheaper we sign to maintenance agreements, so the tank may be half the price but for 10 years we can only get parts direct and not get them made cheaper elsewhere, so the manufacturer then can charge what they want. Sound naughty and it is a bit, but we do it! The challenger 2 has only ever been exported to 1 country Oman they paid just over half the list price due to the maintenance agreement but that has brought in many times the cost of the tanks they brought!

But back to trooping of the colour, I have seen it and been in the stands when my regiment was on royal duties at Buckingham and Windsor thankfully I have never had to take part. The months that go into preparing for it are unreal, they would have done a full dry run everyday this week on horse guards parade and the amount of practice in barracks doesn't bear thinking about all day everyday since before Easter!
Although on the day as long as all goes well it is one hell of a show and really demonstrates why the army still class it as the best form of ensuring discipline.

As for the flyover well i can't remember them of old to much, but I know the Health and Safety aspect hammers a lot of things now for us, where we use to have queens exemptions we can;t use that now so we have to keep the high vis brigade happy, then add in the operational factor since 2003 through to today it has been the most operationally active time since WW2, right now we are talking of over 30,000 people been on active operations and it's quiet compared to 9 years ago at the height of Afghan ops and withdrawal from Iraq.
So while there may not be as many soldiers or planes in the sky for trooping the colour thats because they are needed on more important things.

[dannyboy]

and marching music does absolutely nothing for me at all but, hey, it couldn't be done without it

Couldn't they mime it? 

[The Q]

Silent drill is carried out but only normally by display teams.who spend day and night for months getting it right.
When you have these much reduced numbers carrying out the trouping the colour they get much less practice, and with less marching over a larger area it's more obvious when something is not right.

[Newportnobby]

Only 8 posts and 2 have contained political remarks. My Mod finger is twitching to remove the pertinent comments

[Newportnobby]

and marching music does absolutely nothing for me at all but, hey, it couldn't be done without it

Couldn't they mime it? 

Strangely, if I mute the sound - they do

[guest311]

PLEASE let me clarify my comments,

I in no way meant to disparage the troops who carried out this parade.

as always I have nothing but the highest respect for them, my comments were purely my opinion, and my observations.

I realise the stresses and strains the forces are under, but in deference to Newportnobby's blood pressure I will make no further comments on the reasons 

it may be that while I was napping someone sprayed a rose coloured tint on my glasses, but I remember when the parade was not a few companies, and the flypast was not 12 airframes and the red arrows.

I STILL FEEL THE SAME PRIDE WHEN I WATCH THIS EVENT, but it has to be tinged with the regret that this, like so much of the military, now seems to be carried out on a shoestring budget.

I'll stop there, as I feel a political comment coming on, and I need to think of NN's finger 

[javlinfaw7]

When you are looking at a decreasing number of airframes the RAF will find it harder to provide aircraft for events like this. Purely in terms of strike and fighter aircraft the airforce has eight squadrons(Typhoons and Tornados) where as in 1989 at the end of the cold war 28 squadrons (Jaguar Phantom,Buccaneer,Harrier and two versions of the Tornado)were available,this was excluding OCUs.

[daffy]

Re current v. past flypasts -  Times, capabilities, costs, needs etc, all change. I think the flypast was excellent as usual, and given the health and safety concerns of the modern era, perfectly executed and remember that this was a normal Trooping event, not associated with, say, a milestone Queens Birthday, as in 2006, when 49 aircraft were in the flypast.

For more RAF aircraft in formation this year, this snippet from Wikipedia might be of interest:

To mark the 100th anniversary of its founding, the Royal Air Force has announced that a major flypast will take place over The Mall, London on 10 July 2018. The flypast is expected to feature 100 aircraft.[6] In addition, a smaller flypast of 50 aircraft is expected to take place at the Royal International Air Tattoo on 13 July 2018.[7]

As for the event as a whole, I have probably watched it every year since I was a lad and always enjoy it. I do tend to sing along quietly to some of the marches, but then in my youth I had a fascination for the songs the soldiers sang over the centuries.
And I don't worry about the occasional dressing problems or reduction in numbers, I'm just thankful that, when push comes to shove, these men and women in uniform will defend me, my country, and my way of life.

In the words of the old song, bless 'em all.

[guest311]

I'm afraid I'm from the era of the Lee Enfield, learnt my drill in the CCF at school, when on Saturday and field days to our sgt.maj, as ex Irish Guards [IIRC] SNCO, we were soldiers , and not schoolboys.

when I joined up ours was the last flight to pass out with the mk.4, our support flight had the SLR, so two different drills on one parade.

even after all these years, and there have been many  , I can still remember the drill.

IMHO the drill, though not the standard, went downhill after the mk.4, SLR wasn't as crisp / smart, and then the SA80 became even less able to be smart, again IMHO.

things change, but is it always for the better ?

I look forward to the 10th July flypast, dare I say it must be scraping just about every airframe we still have.

[acko22]

I'm afraid I'm from the era of the Lee Enfield, learnt my drill in the CCF at school, when on Saturday and field days to our sgt.maj, as ex Irish Guards [IIRC] SNCO, we were soldiers , and not schoolboys.

Ok now I need to behave  having worked with the Cadets on numerous occasions the p*** take button is in danger of been activated, having been tld one by a Cadet Sgt (some spotty 15 year old) he out ranks me have me crying in laughter and him crying 

But back to topic, the parade may never be as big as it was in the olden days that's just a sign of the times. From a personal point of view the best parades to watch and for me to be on are the home coming parades while we haven't practiced drill for months (we have been a little busy for that) and its in no way as elaborate as trooping the colours (Normal no jets in sight either).
The whole thing of homing coming parades are just amazing despite the politics that may surround things to see that people are grateful for us been willing to do the job does fill you with pride and make you feel appreciated.
Having done them after numerous tours I can say that experience, even if afterwards I generally can't remember to much about them (the amount of free booze you get is a plus also!!  )