RAOC Gazette - page 298
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1980 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1980 |
| Late date | 1980 |
| Transcription |
The Post Spearpoint JRC Disco held in the 49 Gaststatte went well (how is that for a plug. Corporal Begg!), we now look forward to the film nights and the Wives ' weight watcher' Sunday lunches. The OC keeps looking at the progress of the Unit's very own squash court, (look out Jonah Barrington) but he will not be completely happy until the Unit receives its multi gym.' After Spearpoint the Unit football team managed to loosen up in time to beat 37 Field Squadron seven to three in a league game, well done the scorers Private Fetherston four. Lance Corporal Levett two and Private Wood. Sergeant Dawson carried the sponge and Sergeant Murray the flag! The Unit tennis team, comprising Corporals Hindle, Hetherington. Meah, Lance Corporal Smith. ' Q ' Bowes and Sergeant Arathoon also dropped their 'Spears' (take the point!) drew rackets and recently played the final match against 44 in the Battalion competition. In true 49 Company style, the ap- propriate venue could only have been the luxurious civilian indoor courts in Buckeburg. Unfortunately we lost—shame! Corps Troops ORDNANCE COMPANY and now for what really happened on Crusader. As everyone else is going to tell their war stories, we thought we should tell ours. From the operational side, the Unit had an excellent exercise. We had the added responsibility of starting the Corps RV. running it until 51 Company TA took over and then running it down when they departed. W02 Nimmons and several willing volunteers undertook this task admirably. It is not the operational incidents that will be remembered. It is the ' other' occurrences that are marked indelibly in the minds of all those who were present. The Training Officer. Second Lieutenant Mike Dolamore, found himself with two new roles on the exercise. The first was that of (using the popular expression) ' chief mojo line-layer.' By the last day he and his crew of four had become affectionately known as ' Telecon & Co.' Indeed both Sergeants Cork and Richardson were delighted at having found themselves a new trade for when they leave the army! The Training Officers other role was that of Entertainments Officer—a role undertaken not through choice but by mishap. First of all he must have been the only officer in Corps Troops to bog a Land Rover in—just when a television crew from UK. happened to be passing. Then. due to a communication misunderstanding with the AO, (well, it sounds good) he started pushing Land Rovers about instead of driving them. But his piece-de-resistance was the Great Drain Affair—picture the scene . . . situated next door to the cooks' wagon is one outdoor. German civilian, rectangular-type drain— lid removed, the time is six o'clock one morning. One half- asleep Training Officer wanders across to get hot water and, as usual, stops by the No. 1 burners to warm his hands. The CQMS, Staff Sergeant Thompson, cracks a joke: the afore- mentioned officer takes one step back and promptly puts his left leg down the drain. Now, it shouldn't be said that the smell was bad, but even the flies refused to go near him. The CQMS's department were annoyed with him for not un- blocking the drain while he was down it! The AO, Captain Keith ' Doolittle' Hewlett, obviously had not read the exercise instruction relating to no pets on exercise. He insisted on keeping three rats in his sleeping bag one night. When the OC returned from the CRAOC's conference, the AO had decided to spend the night in the Ops truck. Funny enough, the CSM also decided to sleep on a table that night! Private McCormick got into the swing of things by walking into a ten ton truck one night. Our advice to him: " You've got to be careful with ten tonners, they have this habit of jumping out and attacking you!" Another sight to see was Lance Corporal Taylor and several others coming back into the location covered in hay. Although they had only been helping stack bales for the Count von Schulenburg, on whose farm we were being allowed to stay, comments ranged from; " O h yes! Where is she then?" to a Wurzel's imitation of: "I've got a brand new combine harvester " All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable exercise and one that will be remembered for a long time. STORES PLATOON CORPS TROOPS WORKSHOP DURING Exercise Crusader we had the dubious honour of being attacked by 21 SAS who left their calling cards stuck to some of our vehicles. Some wag was heard to say that it's just as well we didn't know the SAS was on the prowl or we would have been required to sort them out. One particular experience caused one to think; a soldier awoke in his sleep- ing bag to find a cryptic paper message on his chest which informed him that he had been visited by the enemy! Congratulations to Lance Corporal Harvey who continues to show his expertise as an angler. His latest achievement was being a member of the team gaining second place in the 2nd Division Championship and as an individual was placed tenth out of a total one hundred and twenty competitors. We welcome to our fold Private and Mrs Price and Private Hilton and hope that their stay is a pleasant one. We say farewell to Corporal and Mrs Mayoh and con- gratulate them on the promotion that goes with the new job and say goodbye to Lance Corporal and Mrs Butcher. Finally congratulations to Private Chris Emcrton on pro- motion to Lance Corporal. STORES PLATOON 22 AD REGIMENT WORKSHOP AS usual, personnel have changed. Sergeant Samuel. Sam to all. has gone to the Engineers in Northern Ireland. Lance Corporals Pete Watson and Jock Kilburn have gone, not too far, to 3 ADOC and we hope Mrs Kilburn and husband enjoy parenthood when the baby arrives; Lance Corporal Pays has also gone, just where we do not know, because M and R have changed it twice! New to the Platoon are Corporal Alan Nv.irn, Privates Grier, McFee, Hamilton and Walker. When we deployed on Crusader the lads morale was raised when lots of nurses came over from the UK. There were no end of volunteers to guard Headquarters when they arrived! Of course, not all our lads made it to the exercise. Private Bob Smithson who tried to invent a new cure for appendicitis —Alka Seltzer—managed to get sick leave to UK. Lance Corporal Jock Kilburn only opted for the short exercise before posting and Private Grier arrived one day and was on exercise the next. The Bar-B-Q at the end of the exercise to say farewell to Q. Weale, the WO (REME) went down exceptionally well . . . except for Sergeant Graham Seymour and Private Ron King. Sergeant Seymour left the exercise at Endex to collect his parents from Dusseldorf. Unfortunately, someone decided to do a mod on his new car. Luckily no one was injured, which cannot be said for Priviate King who fell downstairs and injured his back. That's war! We now have a Garrison Pentathlon, Corps Shoot and a minor reorg in the pipeline to keep us busy—not to mention Christmas! STORES SECTION 617 TANK TRANSPORTER WORKSHOP THE section's second-in-command, Corporal Ivan Sangster, who is also the organiser of the Hamm Folk Club, presented a Charity Concert recently. The evening was an overwhelming success and DM400 was raised for the British Limbless Ex- Servicemans Association (BLESMA). We now look forward to our next night when the guest UK artiste will be none other than Wally Whyton, who BAOR readers will recognise as the host of BFBS's weekly ' Folk Review.' With football under way again, the Station team greeted the new season with a three to two win. If we can play as well throughout the season then we'll be a force to reckon with. Very little of note has happened since our last report except that Corporal Sangster has had a change of heart and decided to ' soldier on.' This was rewarded with a two year extension and provisional selection for promotion to Sergeant. There must be a moral there somewhere. Our congratulations go to him. STORES SECTION 5 HEAVY REGIMENT WORKSHOP ONCE again the section is complete. Our famous five having completed their Op Banner tour are now fresh and recovered. Nice to see you all back safe and sound. The intrepid warriors involved were WOl McCann, Corporals Boneham and Grey. Lance Corporals Cureton and Rothwell. Lance Corporal Bolton has now passed his B2 the efforts now must seem worthwhile. Congratulations on both accounts. Welcome to Sergeants Chalmers and Williams—also Private Warhurst. Farewell to Sergeants Lord and Lancaster. The only member of the family left is Corporal Hughes who is spending all his spare time at the moment packing MFO boxes as he prepares to leave us for a quieter life at Ord Depot Antwerp. As the Unit did not take part in the exercise, are we unique amongst RAOC Field Force in BAOR? — 239 — KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE CORPS THROUGH THE RAOC ASSOCIATION |
| Book number | R0404 |