RAOC Gazette - page 190
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 |
1st British Corps HEADQUARTERS ML THE March wind arrived blowing us out of our ^•^L warm offices into Exercise Crested Eagle. Corporal ^K ^ ^ Paul Gardiner was heard to say, " This is definitely ^ ^ ^ ^ k my last Corps Headquarters exercise! I" We wish H | V him and Carol all the very best for their tour in ^ B ^r the Emerald Isle and welcome Lance Corporal ^ ^ ^ Aiden and Patricia Cowman from B Company, ^m 16 Battalion, and hope they enjoy their tour in Corps Headquarters. Congratulations go to the following on recent promotion— Corporal John Lehman, W/Corporal Fiona McColl, Lance Corporal Michael Ford and W/Lance Corporal Elaine Malcolm. Congratulations also to Corporal Jed and Ronnie Stone on the birth of Kimberley Marie who weighed in at six pounds thirteen ounces and to Corporal Paddy Moore who successfully com- pleted his EPC and is now qualified for further promotion. A ORDNANCE BRANCH THE last dreaded notes to be dribbled from my ink-starved quill, brush away a tear and read on. Highlight of the month was a farewell dinner for Lieutenant Colonel Colin van Orton, and Staff Sergeant Ches Hartley. At the completion of a most excellent meal, the DDOS rose to his feet clutching a large red book. Eamon, with a hint of Cliff Morgan I thought, said "Ches Hartley!—this is your life/* but swift as a NAAFI-cast bun came the reply—" Not in One damn book it isn't." The DDOS then produced a cardboard box clearly labelled Staff Sergeant Hartley, and took from it a tankard, equally clearly engraved Lieutenant Colonel van Orton. As a result of this, the following week, the confidential report of Major Brian Mills turned up in the Division Dumps file! It does pay to advertise, you know. Our Fire Chief, Roy Bishop, found the owner of the Hotel to be his local civilian counterpart, and much later, aflame with Schnapps, and 'Alte Cameraderie/ they were seen playing an accordian and doing a hornpipe, or vice versa. A really excellent evening all round! Captain John Cottington has got us all intrigued, first he smashed his little finger of his right hand, this has now set in a neat curve, and is very useful for removing stones from horses hooves, on the recent exercise he trapped the next finger to it in a door—flattened! Very handy for opening letters. We can only assume he is attempting to turn his right hand into a British equivalent of a Swiss army knife! W 2 'Axminster' Joe Fletcher nicked a nice new bit of carpet for the MATS wagon, green it was, no reflection on MATS of course, and no-one, but no-one was on the mat, everyone was warned not to step on Joe's pile. Lance Corporal * Straw D o g ' Keating, on another course, says he just doesn't have time to soldier, and faithful Corporal Huge Ward, complete with brandy barrel, continues to hold the fort, ah, the loneliness of a long-distance cleric. Sergeant Graham * Orinoko,' with a sidestep worthy of Phill Bennett, managed to evade another exercise, and whilst so doing, got into the semi-finals of the singles, open doubles, mixed doubles, and was runner-up in the Unit doubles of the Army badminton championships in U K ; quite a shuttle move on his part. WOl Gordon Hal ton went to Berlin to play hockey, how- ever, a wrong turn on the corridor and he ended up in East Germany, Stopped and photographed (bang goes his 007 rating) for one and a half hours—and practicing his Royal wave to all and sundry, he was eventually released. Finally, I can only say farewell to my fans as follows:—To those of you who have read my lines and enjoyed them—my sincere thanks. To those of you who have read between my lines and enjoyed them—my congratulations. D.H.H. 1st Armoured Division MARCH has been a particularly busy month for us as besides the usual work- load we have also had to contend with two exercises and final preparations for our new role in an Armoured Division. The Easter recess was a most welcome break, although soon forgotten in coping with the resulting backlog of mail. ®5£S*^SS2rS? Our first field exercise of the season, ^ ^sjrrg>^*£j Morning Glory, stretched our ingenuity, resourcefulness and knowledge to the limits as CRAOC and the DOWOs were representing higher A AQ control—bluffing was out! We seemed to be doing quite well until the ' death ' of our night shift; why do vehicles always refuse to start on 'crash-outs 1 ?. At the end of the month there was a formal handing over of the keys of 79 Supply Depot, Hohne, from CRAOC Corps Troops East to CRAOC I Armoured Division. We wel- come all personnel of the Supply Depot and also the Area Fire Advisers to the Division, We mustn't forget to congratulate Herr Arnold Men, one of our German clerks, on his promotion from C4 to C5. We assure him that wc will all show due deference to his in- creased status. ORDNANCE COMPANY WELL, Jim may have * fixed i t ' for little Denise, daughter of Sergeant Hobday (REME) but we had to fix it ourselves—our move, that is! Yes, after months of 'will we or won't we*—- we did move, and smoothly at that. In truth all worked extremely hard to achieve a creditable two hour shut-down. Due to the heavy workload, sport has taken a sideline (the fact that all pitches were frozen and snowed under was irrelevant), with only the cross country runners venturing forth. Such gladiators as Privates Cook, Doherty, McNally and Kirkby showed their heels to many a competitor including our own Captain Bulldog Bentley. They did in fact achieve third place in 1 Division League despite missing five races! Congratulations to CQMS Chapman, Sergeant 'The Tongue' Irvine, Lance Corporals Hone and Perry on their promotion —who said the QMs were static? STORES PLATOON 7 ARMOURED WORKSHOP THE midnight sky glowed and explosions shattered the silence of the sleeping heath. Ghostly wisps of CS soured the smell of pine as soldiers, huddled in their trenches, strained ears and eyes to detect the elusive enemy. Thus the Workshop flexed its muscles on the Soltau-Luneburg Training Area on Exercise Shakedown the first field exercise of the year. Meanwhile W 2 Jim Sneddon, who did manage to pay us a flying visit, smokes his favourite brand of cigar with extra relish and satisfaction, as he reflects on a successful audit just completed. Private Kev Hardman paid a short visit to the UK and came back married. Best wishes for the future Kev and Bev. Our * Play H a r d ' policy seems to be extracting unsuspected prices. Sergeant Paddy Brymer and Lance Corporal Sammy Samuels both had arms in slings following a rugby match against the 16/5 Lancers. Paddy had to go one better by sporting a black eye as well. Private Andy Priestley went on Exercise Snow Queen and ended up in the Bundeswehr Hospital at Kempten with a broken leg which in his own words, ' the doctors were trying to nail together/ Congratulations to Private Smudge and Sue Smith on the birth of their son Daniel at BMH Hannover, Farewells this month are extended to Lance Corporal Allan Carpenter and Pam, who leave us for 15 COD Viersen. 2nd Armoured HH|HM ^ K ^ ^ P y ^ f ^ ^ ^^^^X ^ J fl^^^^^^kjH ^ | ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ | ^ | ^^2<^^fc^^^B I W ^ V M I ^ 2 ^ ^ W ^ lHHflHRM[^| Division HEADQUARTERS RAOC SINCE our last entry in THE GAZETTE, the note writer has changed, and several other RAOC members of the Head- quarters have come and gone. So we say hello t o : Captain Robin McDermott, Staff Sergeant George Willerton, Sergeant Dave Dupree, Corporal Steve Evans, Lance Corporal Bob Cummins, Privates Archie Archibald, Paul Chandler, Paul Compton, Shaun Gavin and Phil Harnott, and goodbye t o : Captain now Major Alan Butterworth, Staff Sergeant Roger Watts, Sergeants Alan Craig and Chris Kelly, Lance Corporals John Moore and Sas Paterson, Privates Chris Scantlebury, Albert Smart and Alan Thomson. Congratulations are also due to Private Harnott who is away in UK getting married as these notes are being written. On 8th March, WOl Dave Cochrane finally received his Long Service and Good Conduct Medal at a ceremony held in the 2 Armoured Division Sergeants Mess. It was presented by the CRAOC, (The photographs arrived too late for publica- tion.—Editor.) Although Mr Cochrane became eligible for the medal almost two years ago, it was sent to his address in Brunei after he had left. When it eventually arrived here, the envelope was boldly enfaced * URUSAN KERAJAN DULI YANG MAHA MULIA,* so it's anyone's guess where it has been in the meantime. — 392 — |
| Book number | R0246a |