Ex Military/Still Serving Thread

[selym]

PaulG40 said:

To bring abit of equality to the table here, and to level the argument abit.... I only had time for 3 cups of tea during my night shift. I know, shocking yeah?! Those Chinooks don't fix themselves you know!

That needs to be addressed. If the Xbox wasn't on in the tea bar for at least half the shift, you aren't doing it right!

[Pyrolysis]

selym said:

PaulG40 said:

To bring abit of equality to the table here, and to level the argument abit.... I only had time for 3 cups of tea during my night shift. I know, shocking yeah?! Those Chinooks don't fix themselves you know!

That needs to be addressed. If the Xbox wasn't on in the tea bar for at least half the shift, you aren't doing it right!

This is utterly shocking, id consider submitting a service complaint! Im considering this myself, our game of volleyball had to be interupted the other day as some self importaint pilot called a state 3 because he was carrying DAC. Surely he could have waited till we had finished.

[selym]

Pyrolysis said:

This is utterly shocking, id consider submitting a service complaint! Im considering this myself, our game of volleyball had to be interupted the other day as some self importaint pilot called a state 3 because he was carrying DAC. Surely he could have waited till we had finished.

[HaplessBoyLard]

yellowjack said:

Yeah. Right.

And of course, a ground offensive can be prosecuted successfully by working strict 8 hour shifts and sitting beside a swimming pool between times? Who knew?

Why the buggering fk did I live in my driving seat, eating the same crappy food day in, day out, wearing the same clothes for months at a time, and stay awake for more than 90 of the 100 hours that the ground war lasted, when all I needed to do was stick out a thumb and grab a lift in the Sherpa back to the 5 star Shah Oasis Hotel for steak and chips, a nice hot shower and forty winks? Silly old me, eh!

I don't know whether you served or not, but from that little comment I'd suggest not, if your Spidey senses cannot detect a well-meant outbreak of (as far as I was taught, mandatory) inter-service banter. For all your shiny toys dropping crap on some poor bugger from a great height, wars are won, and gains secured, by boots on the ground. Boots filled with dirty, scruffy, and rather smelly men who don't have access to warm, dry and comfortable, but don't allow the facts to get in the way of a good yarn, as you polish the medals you 'won' guarding the gate at Northolt or Uxbridge, eh?

Yours sincerely,

A. Pongo

So bitter.

You chose that life. We chose ours.

[selym]

HaplessBoyLard said:

yellowjack said:

Yeah. Right.

And of course, a ground offensive can be prosecuted successfully by working strict 8 hour shifts and sitting beside a swimming pool between times? Who knew?

Why the buggering fk did I live in my driving seat, eating the same crappy food day in, day out, wearing the same clothes for months at a time, and stay awake for more than 90 of the 100 hours that the ground war lasted, when all I needed to do was stick out a thumb and grab a lift in the Sherpa back to the 5 star Shah Oasis Hotel for steak and chips, a nice hot shower and forty winks? Silly old me, eh!

I don't know whether you served or not, but from that little comment I'd suggest not, if your Spidey senses cannot detect a well-meant outbreak of (as far as I was taught, mandatory) inter-service banter. For all your shiny toys dropping crap on some poor bugger from a great height, wars are won, and gains secured, by boots on the ground. Boots filled with dirty, scruffy, and rather smelly men who don't have access to warm, dry and comfortable, but don't allow the facts to get in the way of a good yarn, as you polish the medals you 'won' guarding the gate at Northolt or Uxbridge, eh?

Yours sincerely,

A. Pongo

So bitter.

You chose that life. We chose ours.

Ha ha!

For his info, gains were last secured by boots on the ground (as a rule) in WW1. These days, Air Power makes the gains, the boots on the ground maintain it. That's just the way Air Land Integration works.

Not changing your clothes for months on end, has this guy seen too much Generation Kill?!!

[mikal83]

[Asterix]

I'd add The Falklands to where Ground Forces were particularly important.

However, the forces work together and without the fly boys keeping the Argie Air Force busy and the Navy getting us there in the first place, it couldn't have happened.

[selym]

Asterix said:

I'd add The Falklands to where Ground Forces were particularly important.

However, the forces work together and without the fly boys keeping the Argie Air Force busy and the Navy getting us there in the first place, it couldn't have happened.

Yeah, I'll accept that one without question. I'm not over-estimating the role the RAF have in ALI, most of the kit is unserviceable most of the time. What matey doesn't acknowledge is that you don't get a front line that moves forward without the input of both arms.

[Asterix]

selym said:

Asterix said:

I'd add The Falklands to where Ground Forces were particularly important.

However, the forces work together and without the fly boys keeping the Argie Air Force busy and the Navy getting us there in the first place, it couldn't have happened.

Yeah, I'll accept that one without question. I'm not over-estimating the role the RAF have in ALI, most of the kit is unserviceable most of the time. What matey doesn't acknowledge is that you don't get a front line that moves forward without the input of both arms.

Of course... and with the SF guys even further forward.

Have you read Tim Collin's bio? It explains exactly how much bodging and cannibalising went on just to get our tanks over there, let alone get the operational while they were there.

I was posted to a REME main Battalion Workshop in Osnabruck while the land war was ongoing and it was a horror show.

[selym]

Asterix said:

selym said:

Asterix said:

I'd add The Falklands to where Ground Forces were particularly important.

However, the forces work together and without the fly boys keeping the Argie Air Force busy and the Navy getting us there in the first place, it couldn't have happened.

Yeah, I'll accept that one without question. I'm not over-estimating the role the RAF have in ALI, most of the kit is unserviceable most of the time. What matey doesn't acknowledge is that you don't get a front line that moves forward without the input of both arms.

Of course... and with the SF guys even further forward.

Have you read Tim Collin's bio? It explains exactly how much bodging and cannibalising went on just to get our tanks over there, let alone get the operational while they were there.

I was posted to a REME main Battalion Workshop in Osnabruck while the land war was ongoing and it was a horror show.

It never ceases to amaze me the ingenuity of the engineers in getting the kit working, especially when it is needed 'yesterday'.

[Asterix]

selym said:

Asterix said:

selym said:

Asterix said:

I'd add The Falklands to where Ground Forces were particularly important.

However, the forces work together and without the fly boys keeping the Argie Air Force busy and the Navy getting us there in the first place, it couldn't have happened.

Yeah, I'll accept that one without question. I'm not over-estimating the role the RAF have in ALI, most of the kit is unserviceable most of the time. What matey doesn't acknowledge is that you don't get a front line that moves forward without the input of both arms.

Of course... and with the SF guys even further forward.

Have you read Tim Collin's bio? It explains exactly how much bodging and cannibalising went on just to get our tanks over there, let alone get the operational while they were there.

I was posted to a REME main Battalion Workshop in Osnabruck while the land war was ongoing and it was a horror show.

It never ceases to amaze me the ingenuity of the engineers in getting the kit working, especially when it is needed 'yesterday'.

That was the part of the trade I really liked, the training of how to actually fabricate parts, even from casting new bits in the field from old bits melted down, if necessary rather than just being a 'fitter'.

[98elise]

Asterix said:

I'd add The Falklands to where Ground Forces were particularly important.

However, the forces work together and without the fly boys keeping the Argie Air Force busy and the Navy getting us there in the first place, it couldn't have happened.

Just to be clear, the blokes keeping the Argie Air Force busy were Royal Navy pilots. The RAF did the long range bombing, but all the Harriers were RN

[Asterix]

98elise said:

Asterix said:

I'd add The Falklands to where Ground Forces were particularly important.

However, the forces work together and without the fly boys keeping the Argie Air Force busy and the Navy getting us there in the first place, it couldn't have happened.

Just to be clear, the blokes keeping the Argie Air Force busy were Royal Navy pilots. The RAF did the long range bombing, but all the Harriers were RN

Fully aware

[selym]

Asterix said:

98elise said:

Asterix said:

I'd add The Falklands to where Ground Forces were particularly important.

However, the forces work together and without the fly boys keeping the Argie Air Force busy and the Navy getting us there in the first place, it couldn't have happened.

Just to be clear, the blokes keeping the Argie Air Force busy were Royal Navy pilots. The RAF did the long range bombing, but all the Harriers were RN

Fully aware

There weren't any Chinooks (or was there one saved) so that aspect had to be improvised as well.

[selym]

Asterix said:

That was the part of the trade I really liked, the training of how to actually fabricate parts, even from casting new bits in the field from old bits melted down, if necessary rather than just being a 'fitter'.

Working from an AESP (or AP, or JSP) day in, day out can grind you down. A little innovation is what the job is all about, surely?

[Asterix]

selym said:

Asterix said:

That was the part of the trade I really liked, the training of how to actually fabricate parts, even from casting new bits in the field from old bits melted down, if necessary rather than just being a 'fitter'.

Working from an AESP (or AP, or JSP) day in, day out can grind you down. A little innovation is what the job is all about, surely?

Totally.

Battalion Workshops were boring trade-wise; think a main dealership that does standard servicing day in day out. If I had a quid for each steering bush I replaced on a 4t then I'd have been a very rich man. The LADs were where you got to do the cool stuff, which I did in later postings.

That said, the Bn's were great for doing loads of funky courses as manpower cover was never an issue.

[anonymous-user]

selym said:

There weren't any Chinooks (or was there one saved) so that aspect had to be improvised as well.

One survived. Bravo November, and it worked its bks off, often carrying troops numbering in three figures in an aircraft cleared for 30ish.
Still flying today.

[selym]

Asterix said:

Totally.

Battalion Workshops were boring trade-wise; think a main dealership that does standard servicing day in day out. If I had a quid for each steering bush I replaced on a 4t then I'd have been a very rich man. The LADs were where you got to do the cool stuff, which I did in later postings.

That said, the Bn's were great for doing loads of funky courses as manpower cover was never an issue.

Times have changed, at least in the RAF. Everything has to be justified through every level of the decision making process. We are on our arses, and in my opinion we fared a lot better in the last rounds of redundancies than the other two arms.

[anonymous-user]

98elise said:

Just to be clear, the blokes keeping the Argie Air Force busy were Royal Navy pilots. The RAF did the long range bombing, but all the Harriers were RN

What.....even these 'ere GR3s?:


My recce was never brilliant but.....

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 25th September 11:08

[Asterix]

selym said:

Asterix said:

Totally.

Battalion Workshops were boring trade-wise; think a main dealership that does standard servicing day in day out. If I had a quid for each steering bush I replaced on a 4t then I'd have been a very rich man. The LADs were where you got to do the cool stuff, which I did in later postings.

That said, the Bn's were great for doing loads of funky courses as manpower cover was never an issue.

Times have changed, at least in the RAF. Everything has to be justified through every level of the decision making process. We are on our arses, and in my opinion we fared a lot better in the last rounds of redundancies than the other two arms.

Yeah - remember back then, the Cold War was technically still going on - BAOR was basically tens of thousands of people sat around waiting for something to happen. GW1 was a blip as was Bosnia & Kosovo with the latter being peace keeping roles. There was plenty of room for guys to go missing from their units for a while. It really started tightening up from GW2 onwards as every unit would at some point be operational and the redundancies of the mid-90's really started to bite.