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RAOC Gazette - page 299

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Full title RAOC Gazette
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Publication date 1980
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Early date 1980
Late date 1980
Transcription W u l f e n Station
THE two Units which make up our
Station Sergeants Mess, FVD and FAD,
decided to meet in combat on the soccer
pitch recently. We believe this was a
result of some political stirring by the
resident mole, ' Gct-te' Morrison, who, in
order to get a good view of the proceed-
ings also volunteered to referee. How
wicked can you gel? Alas, his plan went
badly wrong when he was forced to play
because of a shortage on the FAD side.
I'm afraid I cannot put down in writing, in case your wives
and children should read, what happened when he came up
against those three hard men of FVD—' Big H,' ' Villy' and
' Smiler Stue '—it wouldn't make happy reading! Back to the
match—this was a real close affair, the play went from one end
to the other. No side gave an inch and in the end the result re-
flected just how evenly these two teams were matched—FVD one!
FAD six! Everyone got together for a beer and a spot of curry
lunch afterwards and all decided—" We must do it again soon."
Major Steve Goldring the SSO has just about finalised the
Christmas sequence of events. Starting with the Carol Service
on the 9th December and finishing with the MSO Serbian Christ-
mas on 7th January—Goodness, how are we going to get through
it all?
A road warning for everyone in Wulfen Station, Staff
Sergeant Terry Larkin (CC FVD), after years of falling off his
bike, has finally decided to go in for a four wheel job. He is
actually buying it from Major David Braithwaite (his OC), ah
well—staff clerks will be staff clerks!
May we take this opportunity here at Wulfen Station to wish
all our friends in the Corps, wherever you may be—" A Very
Happy Christmas and all the best for 1981."
154 FORWARD AMMUNITION
DEPOT
WHAT a quiet month it's been (he says, tongue in cheek!).
Apart from the new Commanding Officer arriving creating in-
dividual hurricanes and frightening certain people half to death,
it's been very quiet. It is rumoured that the new CO intends
to stay. He's even put his name on the door!
As promised—a report on the Staging Area at Wulfen.
After many months of planning by our intrepid marcher WOl
John Crawford, ably assisted by W02 Jim Grey and their Man
Friday Mr Jacques Ferrari, the chosen area was set up, taken
down, moved and guarded in preparation for Exercise Jog Trot.
Muscles were provided by elements of the 1st Battalion The
Royal Scots with logistic back up by RMP, RCT, RE, Feld-"
jaeger and assorted Regiments and Corps required to allow an
organisation with the function of moving hundreds of men and
assorted vehicles to all points east to proceed smoothly and
efficiently. All the visitors were well impressed by the Wulfen
Staging (or so they said) and all convoys staging through passed
quickly and quietly. A mention must be made here for the
ACC who so admirably provided excellent (if one can say that
of Compo) sustenance for the BAOR reinforcements. There were
great sighs of relief when it was all over, the exercise not the
food, as can be seen by the smiles of the persons heading the
last convoy out of Wulfen.
The last- convoy leaves the Wulfen staging area.
Congratulations to W02 Dennis Ahcrn and Lance Corporal
Elliott on promotion to those ranks.
We welcome Lieutenant Colonel Sharland from RMCS to
Wulfen and hope that he enjoys his tour here and also convey
the same to Corporal Parsons, Corporal Kirby and Private
Hughes. Also Lance Corporal Elliott on his return from
Suflield, who reckons he's deserved a holiday.
Congratulations to Private Share on his recent marriage and
Sergeant and Mrs Woollard on the birth of Caroline.
Headquarters Soest Garrison/Task Force Foxtrot
THE Task Force deployed on Crusader, and, thanks to the padres
throughout the army, the weather was excellent—or was it the
fact that the clerks refused to deploy if it was raining? The
clerks set to with a will to produce all the urgent necessary
requirements of a busy Task Force Headquarters. The speed
with which they produced the goods was amazing; coffee was
made in seconds, bath runs were organised, sleeping arrange-
ments were well established (who will be the winner of the
' Golden Blanket Award'). The cooks tent quickly located,
oh! and they did an excellent clerical job as well.
Lance Corporal Hughes is happy about the news of his
posting to Headquarters 1st Armoured Division. We say fare-
well to Corporal Lord the Commanders driver and welcome his
replacement Lance Corporal Spurway. To our RQMS W02
Ben Turner DERR currently in hospital we say unanimously
" come back ' Bcnjy' all is forgiven."
Headquarters Land Forces Cyprus
FOR the uninitiated, the Cyprus Walkabout is
a two day orienteering competition covering
some sixty miles of ground from sea level to
six thousand feet and down again in less than
twenty four hours total walking time. As a
concession the competition is held towards the
end of the summer when temperatures drop
into the eighties. To even contemplate taking
part requires courage, fitness and determination
(and some would say the brains of a rocking
horse). The members of the Headquarters were delighted when
Corporal Kevin Smith not only completed the course but to-
gether with the other members of his team finished in a very
creditable seventeenth place. About eighty teams entered this
year, less than half of whom completed the course.
This result is some consolation for Kevin after his team
lost on penalties in the final of the Carter Cup Floodlit Foot-
ball Competition, held this year for the first time in daylight.
This and the sound of Sergeant Hugh Ward^ muttering dark
mutters about POL savings are just two of the manifestations of
the moratorium currently affecting all aspects of work and life
on the Island.
Congratulations in this edition are due to Sergeant Ginnette
Spicer now ' wife of' Corporal Colin Powell 3 Light Infantry;
Lance Corporal ' Little Lyn' Seymour for obtaining an A
grade on her B2 to Bl clerks upgrading course and to Lance
Corporal Nick Nicholson for passing his RPC2 ' mouth and
trousers ' course.
We welcome WOl Doug Wherry, our new Super Clerk,
Staff Sergeant Terry Houghton, Sergeants Alison Clements and
Kay Dalton and Lance Corporal June Bird. We wish them all
an enjoyable tour in the land of sun and wine.
Regular readers might have noticed a change in style but
this is a result of the author appearing on the Corps role for pro-
motion to Sergeant and being given the job as a reward, by the
Superintending Clerk WOl Wilf Wright.
British Forces Hong Kong
I N G R O W I N G t o e n a i l s , back-ache and
pregnancy symptoms are once again to the
fore. Yes, it's BFT time. First, we got the
good news: the tests will be taken on Soo
Kon Poo sports ground instead of that nasty
concrete of Bowen Road. Then we got the
bad news: the course at Soo Kon Poo was
discovered to be four hundred yards short
and is now being extended!
Boots, black, DMS, hardly worn, are being taken out of cup-
boards, cockroaches evicted and polish once more applied (to
the boots, not
). Conversations now seem to end with,
" . . . and if it wasn't for my war wound obtained in the First
— 240 —
Book number R0404