RAOC Gazette - page 142
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1978 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | No |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1978 |
| Late date | 1978 |
| Transcription |
J?eto£ from Hbroafc N A T O Headquarters SINCE our last article, eighteen months ago, a number of events have taken place worthy of note. In June, General Sir David Fraser presented the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal to Staff Sergeant Wills and Sergeant Blaber, Paul Blaber has since left us for 1 (BR) Corps on promotion, congratulations,— whilst a much thinner version of Brian Wills can still be seen supervising his merry band in the Mail Distribution Centre— nice to see you back after your recent illness Brian. In August we witnessed the presentation of the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal to SQMS Terry Wilding. The ceremony was once again performed by General Sir David Fraser who had some very fine words of praise to say about our ex-coalminer (unfortunately photographs not available). Incidentally, the * Declining Staff Clerk' fraternity might like to note that Terry, who has passed his half century, con- sidered it an honour and indeed very flattering to be posted to a field force unit in August, At the same time, Staff Sergeant Dennis War burton arrived to take over as the Chief Clerk of the Army Board, Military Agency for Standardization, The war stories haven't stopped since his ferry was rammed by a French cargo vessel when returning from leave early this year. Rumour has it that he has been offered a part in the BBC ' Warship' series. October heralded the arrival of Lieutenant Colonel D. A. (Pipeline) Simpson from Westmoors to chalk up another first for the Corps. He is the only serving British officer to be seconded to the International Staff, which is the political/ policy body of NATO* We hope that he has found out by now that, in this high-powered environment, he is only allowed to make instant coffee—Colonels can prepare fresh coffee—but only ' one star * officers have the privilege of brewing tea, December saw the departure of Staff Sergeant Geoff Read to the Logistic Executive after his recent holiday in Portugal with the Military Committee. To replace him, we bid a warm welcome to Stergeant Jim Gallagher who arrived from NORTHAG on promotion, just in time to complete his most strenuous task of the year here at NATO—that of attending all the IMS Christmas parties. To complete the quintet we have Sergeant Bob Corbey who has returned from UK where he was the Best Man at his Father's wedding—no comment! [ Come to think of it he is always just returning'; last year it was Ottawa, Westminster Abbey and Washington, this year it will be Italy and possibly Germany—all whilst on duty (so he says) with the Council Committees he helpes to support. Congratulations on your selection for promotion during 1978. Some of you older members of the Corps may be interested to know that we have two ex-members working here. They are ex-W02 Dick Wheeler who served as a technical clerk at Ordnance Depot Antwerp before retirement and ex-Staff Sergeant Pat Sinnott who served as a driver with a supply com- pany in BAOR before joining UK Support Unit at SHAPE as the NATO BIA. Both still take a very keen interest in Corps matters and would welcome letters from old friends, Before we sign off, we would like to offer our congratulations to Conductor Don Longmoor, our Chief Clerk at UK Sup- port Unit, on being selected for a Regular (QM) (OEO) Com- mission in March—well done! Planning and Worksrudy Unit BAOR THE DOS Study Period kept the Unit busy during the earlier part of the month. Sergeant Nobby Gaunt and Lance Corporal Kennedy burnt the midnight oil preparing * corrected slides/ Conductor Steve Mayes burnt his motor oil maintaining ad- ministrative lines of communication and the rest of the Unit burnt elbow oil as part of a highly paid labour force. On the day everything went well, even accident prone SSM Dennis Balsdon escaping without mishap. Immediately after the study, the Unit branched out to their various study locations throughout BAOR, The Officer Com- manding chaperoned Conductor John Alford, SSMs Dave Stott and Dennis Balsdon to Berlin, SSM Sandy Bennett and SQMS Geoff Seaby succumbed to the flesh pots of Dulmen a SSM Rod Harban reluctantly dragged himself away from Dortmund and looked yet again at the Bracht complex. SSM Dave Ashworth bravely attempted to visit Celle, but got snowbound in the depths of the Bielefeld country-side, where a new Mercedes 280 decided to attack his Land Rover. We welcome Frau Van Megen to the Unit conservancy department, The ' Unit D o ' comprised a Cheese and Wine party which went very well according to SSMs Brian Shepherd and Dave Stott. , The opinion of the experts, for what it is worth, is that the 77 Cheddar is easier to cut than the '75 Beaujolais which leaves you only half cut! The Officer Commanding having taken note of the new car syndrome, decided to join the crowd. His new car at last arrived to be met with a welcoming party of critics. All of whom were churlish in their approval until finally the truth was overtaken and magnanimous approval ensued. The attached cartoon illustrates the lengths the Officer Com- manding has to go to get some members of the Unit to attempt the DGOS challenge. BAOR Ammunition Inspectorate IN the past month we have seen no less than seven of our small band leave for places far and wide and walking our corridors are a similar number of new faces. It is not un- common to hear one of the * oldies' just back from leave nudge another who hasn't had the privilege and say to him "Eh, who is that character." There was even a case where one of the ' oldies * challenged a newcomer and asked to see his ID Card—the reply to that request is unprintable, because that newcomer was the new OC/SATO just after he had arrived. Parties have been numerous and two are most worthy of T note. The first saw us mustered in the ' Duck and Shovel to say farewell to Private Spud Murphy who has left us on PVR to join Securicor; Captain David Caldwell who left for 48 AMF(L) and is by now 'holidaying* in Norway; and WOl Roger Crisp who somehow contrived to get himself posted to Headquarters BAOR (Ord 4). In their places we welcome Captain Tony Jacques from the ATO Course and Private Hank Williams from Blackdown (W02 Eddie Weeks was WOl Roger Crisps' replacement and we welcomed him to the unit some months ago). As luck would have it the farewell coincided with the local carnival so when the club bar closed ' on time * a party of revellers departed down to join the German celebra- tions. It was at this point that our extrovert typist, Wendy Cox, considered that the Officer Commanding's socks were too — 354 — |
| Book number | R0246a |