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RAOC Gazette - page 61

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Full title RAOC Gazette
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Publication date 1978
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Early date 1978
Late date 1978
Transcription • Mge purposes to their home countries. It has caused the
[• .,[ Qfike some consternation and given us here a great deal of
a:vjsement.
Brigadier Bob Persson is off to Dubrovnik for some well
earned leave at the end of the month. He's taking with him, in
addition to his wife, a sheaf of ' White Perils' in case any-
thing should occur to him to remind us about.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Foskett has established some
kind of record. Despite giving the appearance of not being
here very often he has managed to clock up 150,000 miles
during his eight years of service to the School. Any advance
on this?
Having enjoyed a fairly successful winter-type sports season
wc are now performing merrily—work permitting—on the cricket
ivJds of Blackdown. Domestically we are unbeaten and for the
Training Centre we provide almost half the team but with only
limited success so far.
CENTRAL VOLUNTEER
HEADQUARTERS
WITH the arrival of the warmer (?) weather it has become
increasingly difficult to keep tracks on the Staff of CVHQ.
Major Fleming, WO I Clark, RSM Hendry and Uncle Tom
Cobbley and all have either departed or will depart for the
wilds of BAOR, allegedly to assist TAVR Platoons training
over there. One expects a rush of 'King Edwards' around
tl:ese parts shortly. If HM Customs and Excise will turn a
blind eye to the bulging combat suit pockets and overloaded kit
bags.
Staff Sergeants Pitts, Means, Dadd and Windsor have all
just returned from Belgium and BAOR.
If Staff Sergeant
Windsor spends much more time at Olen he wilt soon speak
more Flemish than English.
The constant to-ing and fro-ing of both Volunteers and
Permanent Staff causes headaches for Sergeant King. He spends
most of his time running in circles booking, cancelling, arrang-
ing and disarranging flight tickets, train tickets, ferry tickets,
tnptiques and all the other bits of paper involved in moving
people and vehicles to and from training areas. Perhaps a
skateboard would be of use to him.
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
ONCE AGAIN, notes from Sandhurst, they seem
to be passed through more hands than an FA Cup
Final ticket on the black market.
It's been a good month for Lance Corporal
u
Ken * Robson, his wife gave birth to an 'A'
grade and he gained a baby girl on his Bl clerks
course! or was it the other way round? Oh the
pressure! ! !
We welcome Private 'Chris' Pavey, who has
joined us from the * factory.' At the moment he
is trying to master the keyboard of his type-
writer but most of the time ends up manhandling
and cursing
l
it. When he arrived out of the blue, Major Jim * Houseman's
eyes lit up and he had thoughts of 2IC's PA. After some fast
talking Staff Sergeant 'Pete * Harrison poached him away with a
promise of a job which would guarantee him some work.
WOl Ian Birchall has finally arrived from SHAPE, to
make WOl Eric Briggs, (posted to civvy street) and the tax
man very happy. He wanders around the Academy looking into
his now thinner wallet, muttering "Where has all my money
gone?" out of tune.
Lance Corporal * Jim * Robertson has now gone to the
Open Sanatorium (NI) as a civvy—wish him and his family
luck.
The latest rumour in the Academy is, with the Defence
cuts, Staff Sergeant * George' Stephen CC AQ branch, is
doubling up as CC Gymnasium as it appears he spends more
time there than in his office. Or maybe he's keeping himself
fit to out run us all when someone is needed to write up the
next lot of Corps notes.
Posting orders, BATUS, ERSP, Upgrading Courses, RPC,
Trips to Cyprus and BAOR—the smarter than the average Staff
Clerk is a very mobile person within RMA.
Socially we are to be very busy in the next week or so.
The Junior Ranks Academy Ball follows hotly on the heels
of the Families Day for which we warm up by a free trip
to the Albert Hall for 'An Evening with Andy Williams.* When
it's all over k we can settle down with thoughts of sending our *
families to Butlins for a day, all in.'
Northern Ireland
Sergeant McCee looking happy about his trip to Cyprus.
Sergeant McGee sits here looking smug, telling everyone he
is going to Cyprus on a recce. We know why he is really
gorng. We suspect it has a lot to do with Sun, Sea and Ouzo.
C••;.: photograph shows him pretending to be overworked (still
With his smug expression).
Congratulations to Lance Corporal Jones on being pro-
moted Corporal.
THE
D G O S
FITNESS
TO THE
OVER
CHALLENGE
FORTIES
THE undermentioned successfully completed the distance: —
Captain J. H. Harradence, ASU Aldershot; Captain B. A. Page,
OStJ Rhine Area; Brigadier C. W. Smith GM, COO UKLF.
HEADQUARTERS
RAOC
THERE was a ripple of cheerfulness
when we suddenly saw the sun come out
of hiding, and this was folowed by a
burst of activity on the grass cutting front,
in the quarters around the place. Major
Leslie (soon to be Cobber or Pongo)
Brown finally decided that he was really
proving nothing by persisting with the
use of his issue type side wheeler mower,
and joined the queue of his bretheren
for a loan of the destitute RO Ills Flymo, and someone said
" ROs are surplus."
We also noticed a distinct tendency to smile on the faces of
Captain Gordon Geddie and WOl Dave Brunt who have received
posting orders, the former to Manchester University on a two
year * sabbatical' sojourn (he is not taking his tadpoles with
him) and the latter to Germany (did I hear someone say "After
the Lord Mayors Show!") He is talking in
terms of Ford
T
Cortina Estates; a far cry from erratic, I don t want to he seen
in it, old time ' B L ' 1100. Well at least the ROIII (same one)
will get his portable typewriter back from extended loan.
Major John McConville has now entered the sporting
landscape in white flannels, wielding a large piece of willow for
Lisburn Garrison, and we must say with a certain amount of
success, eight hundred and eighty eight yards worth (in tne
approved provisioning manner the formular for establishing the
number of runs is to divide eight hundred and eighty by twenty
two on your pocket calculator). We lost.
Lisburn Town Civic Week culminated in (you'll never
believe it) a firework display, they very kindly announced it,
and so avoided us hiding under the dining table.
Finally we welcome the arrival of Gina May McConville
on 27th April. Our hearty congratulations to the McConvilles.
Welcome to Staff Sergeant Les Davison and his family and
Corporal Steve Phillips and his family. We wish WO2 Kevin
Hartely and Sergeant Ian Sylvester, good luck on their postings.
For a long time the * Logistic Brief * for visiting dignitaries
had said that our ammunition Sub-Depot was * replenished over
Book number R0247