Misfits, Dad's Army Types et al...
Discussion
Oldred_V8S said:
Eric I don't think anyone is saying anything derogatory about volunteers, not that I have read anyway, I suspect everyone on here has a lot of respect for people giving up their time to help others, without looking to be awarded in anyway, be that monetarily or by status. The comments appear to be aimed at those people who volunteer with the sole aim of self-elevation, who believe that having a 4x4 or a hi-vis jacket is akin to putting on Superman's cape which somehow lifts them above the oy-polloy in terms of importance. We've all seen it.
I recall we had a guy faint in our office; the head of security somehow seemed to believe he was an SAS commander barked into his radio "man down, man down" to much sniggering and looks of amusement.
That's exactly right. I recall we had a guy faint in our office; the head of security somehow seemed to believe he was an SAS commander barked into his radio "man down, man down" to much sniggering and looks of amusement.
I did a couple of days walking along a canal a few years back with my girlfriend. Came to a lock where the side of the bank had slipped into the canal. We were stopped by two high viz types who were in radio comms with another two further on down the towpath past the slippage.
We got "Sorry Sir, Madam but we can't allow you to continue along here for your own safety". Very official sounding language so we assumed they were British Waterways or similar and despite the path past the slippage area being very wide figured we'd just find a way to bypass and come back to canal further along.
A sudden commotion at the other end and radio squawking with "one coming through, one coming through!"
An old chap with aged black lab strolled past our two officials and said to us "ignore these idiots, it's perfectly safe and they're just busybodies".
Turns out on questioning that they were a local 'emergency group' or something and had no right to stop us so we carried on past them with a good six foot between us and the edge of the canal anyway. I can't see how we could possibly have been in any danger. Much radio action occurred although just raising a voice would have worked equally well as the slippage area was probably less than 15 feet long.
For quite a while afterwards if girlfriend and I passed on the stairs at home we would use pretend radio voices and say "one coming through, one coming through over".
ChemicalChaos said:
Next time I give up my Boxing day to answer a callout to ferry district nurses through floodwater to their housebound patients, I'll remember your kind words.
Next time I spend all day standing in the pouring rain, copping vile abuse from entitled members of the public who think they can ignore an approved road closure put in place for the safety of a St George's Day parade, I'll remember your kind words.
Next time I'm running late for work, but stop to tow a broken down car off a dangerous busy road to a nearby carpark, I'll remember your kind words.
Next time I spend a snowy Christmas sober, sleeping with one eye on my phone, I'll remember your kind words.
The next time a handful of people work tirelessly to extract thousands of cars from a rain-soaked festival, I'm sure they'd be overjoyed to hear your kind words.
But hey, what would I know? I'm only a member of a highly professional organisation, trained by time served off road instructors, that the normal emergency services often turn to for volunteer manpower, or logistical help in extreme circumstances.
Next time I spend all day standing in the pouring rain, copping vile abuse from entitled members of the public who think they can ignore an approved road closure put in place for the safety of a St George's Day parade, I'll remember your kind words.
Next time I'm running late for work, but stop to tow a broken down car off a dangerous busy road to a nearby carpark, I'll remember your kind words.
Next time I spend a snowy Christmas sober, sleeping with one eye on my phone, I'll remember your kind words.
The next time a handful of people work tirelessly to extract thousands of cars from a rain-soaked festival, I'm sure they'd be overjoyed to hear your kind words.
But hey, what would I know? I'm only a member of a highly professional organisation, trained by time served off road instructors, that the normal emergency services often turn to for volunteer manpower, or logistical help in extreme circumstances.
Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
You're the sort of man he was talking about! There by the grace of you go nurses.
Of course, it's not about the recognition, is it?
BruceV8 said:
After I left the army I became an adult instructor in the Army Cadet Force. Now, the ACF is a fantastic organisation that does great work developing young people and I'm very proud of the three years I spent there.
BUT it is also the easiest way to wear a military uniform with a rank and get to tell people what to do without all that tiresome bother of having to go through military training and working your way through a career with dangerous wars and the like. Consequently it attracts a number of odd fish.
The organisation knows this and it does now select out some of the more outrageous walts and creepy types but even so, it can become a bit all-consuming for some and there are those who take it all a bit too seriously. The sight of adult volunteers pulling rank on one another, or getting excited about mess etiquette, or arguing about whose regiment is better, is at one and the same time a joy and an agony to behold. And, as has been mentioned, the worst offenders are those who have achieved little elsewhere in their lives.
YES! Whilst it has some of the most genuine people willing to give up there time for the good of others it also contains some of the biggest complete throbbers you'll ever meet.BUT it is also the easiest way to wear a military uniform with a rank and get to tell people what to do without all that tiresome bother of having to go through military training and working your way through a career with dangerous wars and the like. Consequently it attracts a number of odd fish.
The organisation knows this and it does now select out some of the more outrageous walts and creepy types but even so, it can become a bit all-consuming for some and there are those who take it all a bit too seriously. The sight of adult volunteers pulling rank on one another, or getting excited about mess etiquette, or arguing about whose regiment is better, is at one and the same time a joy and an agony to behold. And, as has been mentioned, the worst offenders are those who have achieved little elsewhere in their lives.
I tended to put them in 1 of 3 categories-
People trying to honestly help kids achieve more
People unable to let go of their armed service/ wearing green kit
Complete melts/throbbers/walts that should never be let near anything Green/weapons related/other peoples children
As you say though they seem to have gotten better at weeding the latter type out earlier on now.
Eric Mc said:
I hope the next time any of you are in some sort of roadside distress and a volunteer turns up to help you will have the courage of your convictions to tell them to their face that you don't avail of the services they provide.
I think stating "roadside" somewhat belittles the capabilities of the Rescue Rangers. I mean some of them have winches yer know and have been as far as Car Park F at Glastonbury to rescue a camper van.
Takes a special breed of hero to do that. The real Police gave up at Car Park B for example.
I am a long time Land Rover owner and I am also in the Army as a mechanic so I have done a bit of off road training. I thought I would have a look into joining a local 4x4 response group after seeing some of the good work that was done during flooding and bad weather.
I saw they had a stand at a local event so went over for a chat and mentioned I was thinking of joining.
I was then informed that any off road training I had done counted for nothing, despite not saying how much or how I did anything was told it was all wrong and my Land Rover was hopeless as all it had was all terrain tyres and no other preperations.
He then pointed out his shogun that appeared to have ram raided Paddocks and had every sticker known to man on it including Camel trophy. I was told that I needed at the very least a suspension lift and a winch as everytime he deployed he had to use his winch, when I suggested that he wouldn't have to use the winch if his ground appreciation was better he turned a strange colour purple and started to spit as he spoke about how I didn't know what I was talking about, they were an emergency service and the world would grind to a halt if they didn't do what they do so I walked away laughing.
I know that they can help and be useful, a friend of mine who is normal spent a couple of days picking nurses and doctors up from the villages they lived in and dropping them off at the hospital when it snowed heavily but the same as every volunteer force it is also attractive to those who wish they were in the Police/Armed forces/Fire Service etc but for one reason or another couldn't do it.
Just for clarification I am not saying I am the best off roader in the world and extras like winches and suspension can be needed depending on the type of off roading you do and there are times when there is no other choice
I saw they had a stand at a local event so went over for a chat and mentioned I was thinking of joining.
I was then informed that any off road training I had done counted for nothing, despite not saying how much or how I did anything was told it was all wrong and my Land Rover was hopeless as all it had was all terrain tyres and no other preperations.
He then pointed out his shogun that appeared to have ram raided Paddocks and had every sticker known to man on it including Camel trophy. I was told that I needed at the very least a suspension lift and a winch as everytime he deployed he had to use his winch, when I suggested that he wouldn't have to use the winch if his ground appreciation was better he turned a strange colour purple and started to spit as he spoke about how I didn't know what I was talking about, they were an emergency service and the world would grind to a halt if they didn't do what they do so I walked away laughing.
I know that they can help and be useful, a friend of mine who is normal spent a couple of days picking nurses and doctors up from the villages they lived in and dropping them off at the hospital when it snowed heavily but the same as every volunteer force it is also attractive to those who wish they were in the Police/Armed forces/Fire Service etc but for one reason or another couldn't do it.
Just for clarification I am not saying I am the best off roader in the world and extras like winches and suspension can be needed depending on the type of off roading you do and there are times when there is no other choice
this is the thread that keeps on giving.
we once went to a local stately home to visit its wildlife park. at the same time, there turned out to be a steam traction and vintage vehicle/truck day.
(Now there's a set of characters) Obviously I had to have a wander round: lo and behold there was an arena event where 3 or 4 of these WALT types with their 4 x 4 recovery vehicles (discovery, landcruiser etc) had an organised tug off with a traction engine.
cue, loads of winching, shackles, chain where they link 4 of them together to drag a traction engine backwards.
its was absolute comedy gold: hi viz, radio squawking fat men. all the vehicles covered in every sticker imaginable so you knew they were the "5th" recovery service.
we once went to a local stately home to visit its wildlife park. at the same time, there turned out to be a steam traction and vintage vehicle/truck day.
(Now there's a set of characters) Obviously I had to have a wander round: lo and behold there was an arena event where 3 or 4 of these WALT types with their 4 x 4 recovery vehicles (discovery, landcruiser etc) had an organised tug off with a traction engine.
cue, loads of winching, shackles, chain where they link 4 of them together to drag a traction engine backwards.
its was absolute comedy gold: hi viz, radio squawking fat men. all the vehicles covered in every sticker imaginable so you knew they were the "5th" recovery service.
Crossflow Kid said:
You appear to be confusing official volunteer vehicles with the Have A Go Heroes.
Yes, a correctly marked and equipped MRT wagon driven by a trained member of its parent service is of good value.
A privately owned tired 4x4 equipped to the owners vision of "useful" and driven by a well intentioned but naive "volunteer" is something else entirely.
funnily enough if you asked a 'professional' emergency services bod about the VASes or mountain rescue 15 -20 years ago you'd have got the response that you are giving about 4*4 response ... Yes, a correctly marked and equipped MRT wagon driven by a trained member of its parent service is of good value.
A privately owned tired 4x4 equipped to the owners vision of "useful" and driven by a well intentioned but naive "volunteer" is something else entirely.
Cfnteabag said:
I know that they can help and be useful, a friend of mine who is normal spent a couple of days picking nurses and doctors up from the villages they lived in and dropping them off at the hospital when it snowed heavily but the same as every volunteer force it is also attractive to those who wish they were in the Police/Armed forces/Fire Service etc but for one reason or another couldn't do it.
That made me laugh.Cfnteabag said:
I was then informed that any off road training I had done counted for nothing, despite not saying how much or how I did anything was told it was all wrong and my Land Rover was hopeless as all it had was all terrain tyres and no other preparations.
sounds like you spoke to the same knobhead as me, the wife even told me i'd been out-geeked 
When I got my old Landy (before it broke a lot) I thought about joining my local 4x4 response. I liked the idea of making a contribution and having some kind of purpose behind mucking about with vehicles.
Then I looked them up on the internet. Oh.
Call from 2015:
1 Standby
0 Alerts
3 Deployments
1 Calls Cancelled
0 Calls Declined
Monday 26th January 2015: Stood down as weather had improved
D15/01 Saturday 16th January 2015 09:48 Message received from Ian Rennie Hospice at Home service with request to take a member of staff to a patient as a District Nurse had declined to visit due to snow. By the time we returned the call at 10:08 it had been decided the snow was not going to cause problems and we were stood down.
S15/01 Friday 15th January 2015 Group goes to standby due to risk of snow and extreme temperatures
This is in North London and Herts.
Then I looked them up on the internet. Oh.
Call from 2015:
1 Standby
0 Alerts
3 Deployments
1 Calls Cancelled
0 Calls Declined
Monday 26th January 2015: Stood down as weather had improved
D15/01 Saturday 16th January 2015 09:48 Message received from Ian Rennie Hospice at Home service with request to take a member of staff to a patient as a District Nurse had declined to visit due to snow. By the time we returned the call at 10:08 it had been decided the snow was not going to cause problems and we were stood down.
S15/01 Friday 15th January 2015 Group goes to standby due to risk of snow and extreme temperatures
This is in North London and Herts.
Edited by mr_spock on Friday 13th May 14:27
Whilst no doubt some of the 4x4 response folks go over the top they did us a bloody good job during the recent floods in York over Christmas.
We (I help run an independent lifeboat) had two boats working the floods as a nationally deployed flood rescue team. We needed some more kit delivering to enable us to form up another team to do some low level stuff, the bread and butter, knocking on doors, getting shopping in for those who can't get out of the house etc. Our supplier was opening up their warehouse in Scotland to supply us the kit but we didn't have sufficient team members spare to drive out for it, 4x4 response were brilliant, they got a couple of vehicles out, drove up to Scotland, picked up the gear we needed and brought it back, and seemed genuinely delighted to help.
Similarly when comms were failing (mobiles, landlines and at one point Airwave all failed) another volunteer organisation, Raynet, were setting up a new network to use.
We (I help run an independent lifeboat) had two boats working the floods as a nationally deployed flood rescue team. We needed some more kit delivering to enable us to form up another team to do some low level stuff, the bread and butter, knocking on doors, getting shopping in for those who can't get out of the house etc. Our supplier was opening up their warehouse in Scotland to supply us the kit but we didn't have sufficient team members spare to drive out for it, 4x4 response were brilliant, they got a couple of vehicles out, drove up to Scotland, picked up the gear we needed and brought it back, and seemed genuinely delighted to help.
Similarly when comms were failing (mobiles, landlines and at one point Airwave all failed) another volunteer organisation, Raynet, were setting up a new network to use.
mph1977 said:
Crossflow Kid said:
You appear to be confusing official volunteer vehicles with the Have A Go Heroes.
Yes, a correctly marked and equipped MRT wagon driven by a trained member of its parent service is of good value.
A privately owned tired 4x4 equipped to the owners vision of "useful" and driven by a well intentioned but naive "volunteer" is something else entirely.
funnily enough if you asked a 'professional' emergency services bod about the VASes or mountain rescue 15 -20 years ago you'd have got the response that you are giving about 4*4 response ... Yes, a correctly marked and equipped MRT wagon driven by a trained member of its parent service is of good value.
A privately owned tired 4x4 equipped to the owners vision of "useful" and driven by a well intentioned but naive "volunteer" is something else entirely.
Besides, MRT wagons and the like follow strict guidelines regarding the marking of vehicles and always have, such as what constitutes an "Ambiwlans" (you 'tard) and what doesn't.
Most of the Rapid Reaction Rescue Ranger Regt seem to be very home-made in their approach to vehicle conspicuity and I have a strong suspicion that, if really tested, a lot of the lighting and reflective garbage adorning their vehicles would be deemed non-compliant/illegal.
Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 13th May 12:21
austinsmirk said:
this is the thread that keeps on giving.
we once went to a local stately home to visit its wildlife park. at the same time, there turned out to be a steam traction and vintage vehicle/truck day.
(Now there's a set of characters) Obviously I had to have a wander round: lo and behold there was an arena event where 3 or 4 of these WALT types with their 4 x 4 recovery vehicles (discovery, landcruiser etc) had an organised tug off with a traction engine.
cue, loads of winching, shackles, chain where they link 4 of them together to drag a traction engine backwards.
its was absolute comedy gold: hi viz, radio squawking fat men. all the vehicles covered in every sticker imaginable so you knew they were the "5th" recovery service.
Lolz we once went to a local stately home to visit its wildlife park. at the same time, there turned out to be a steam traction and vintage vehicle/truck day.
(Now there's a set of characters) Obviously I had to have a wander round: lo and behold there was an arena event where 3 or 4 of these WALT types with their 4 x 4 recovery vehicles (discovery, landcruiser etc) had an organised tug off with a traction engine.
cue, loads of winching, shackles, chain where they link 4 of them together to drag a traction engine backwards.
its was absolute comedy gold: hi viz, radio squawking fat men. all the vehicles covered in every sticker imaginable so you knew they were the "5th" recovery service.
First rule of rescue: try not end up needing rescuing yourself.....
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4utwPM-2oeI
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4utwPM-2oeI
Crossflow Kid said:
First rule of rescue: try not end up needing rescuing yourself.....
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4utwPM-2oeI
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4utwPM-2oeI
This thread has mad my day.
As the OP and therefore owner of this thread it is indeed gratifying to see so many of you responding in a favourable manner.
I trust this thread will attain legendary status thus elevating me in the level of respect and deference of which I undoubtedly command. I may not have been here for 100 months, but no doubt when this happens in six months time I will assume the right to tell the rest of you, and the moderators for that matter exactly what to do.
Is there a PH committee I can join then take over?
I trust this thread will attain legendary status thus elevating me in the level of respect and deference of which I undoubtedly command. I may not have been here for 100 months, but no doubt when this happens in six months time I will assume the right to tell the rest of you, and the moderators for that matter exactly what to do.
Is there a PH committee I can join then take over?
wildcat45 said:
As the OP and therefore owner of this thread it is indeed gratifying to see so many of you responding in a favourable manner.
I trust this thread will attain legendary status thus elevating me in the level of respect and deference of which I undoubtedly command. I may not have been here for 100 months, but no doubt when this happens in six months time I will assume the right to tell the rest of you, and the moderators for that matter exactly what to do.
Is there a PH committee I can join then take over?
I trust this thread will attain legendary status thus elevating me in the level of respect and deference of which I undoubtedly command. I may not have been here for 100 months, but no doubt when this happens in six months time I will assume the right to tell the rest of you, and the moderators for that matter exactly what to do.
Is there a PH committee I can join then take over?
. Thanks for being so tolerant when the thread drifted heavily towards p*ss-taking of a certain group.Crossflow Kid said:
First rule of rescue: try not end up needing rescuing yourself.....
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4utwPM-2oeI
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4utwPM-2oeI
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