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RAOC Gazette - page 74

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Publication date 1978
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Early date 1978
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Transcription Championships last year. Bad luck beat John, for after one
hundred and fifty miles his engine completely seized up and
i^:.:d him out of the competition.
A party of RAF Officers recently visited the Unit and were
intrigued with what they L saw.
They were also given the
opportunity of having a cabby' in an assortment of vehicles.
As a token gesture, the CO was invited back to their station
and given the opportunity of a flight—in something much faster
than a Chieftain!
The Unit took the opportunity of having a day's Regimental
Training whilst the civilian element were on one of their very
many public holidays. There were the usual ' nasties" such
as the Gas Chamber, but lunch in the field was superb, with a
choice of fish and chips or meat pie—and no sign of a Hexamine
cocker I There were lectures, a display, (and flight) in a Wessex
helicopter and a map reading exercise, after which, to everyone's
amazement, we were still able to account for all the Officers!
All in all a great day and we look forward to the next one.
Orienteering has really got off the ground, and led by the
CO a small party takes part most weeks in the Rhine Area
League. Although we don't wish to embarrass anyone it must
be recorded that on his first outing the CO beat two young
Captains from SSD Viersen.
Finally a warm VSD welcome to SSM Moncaster and Lance
Corporal Gardiner, and farewell to Conductor Siviter to civilian
!:fe. Sergeant Cradleton, Corporals McMullen and Millership,
an J Privates Sanders, Littlejohn and Woodruff.
Congratulations to Private and Mrs Hayes on the birth of
a son, Luke Anthony.
Rhine Area
89 SUPPLY DEPOT
WE thought we had achieved total obscurity and anonymity
by keeping a low profile in recent years but our new Chief
Cbrk, Staff Sergeant Ian Benson, insists on entering and
winning golf tournaments and so resurrecting our Unit. He
even had the audacity to beat the Commander-in-Chief,
General Sir Frank King. As he came here because of a heart
attack in his previous Unit there would appear to be a moral
here for golfers.
Our ' skipper,' Major Lionel Baldwin, continues to steer
the ship on a steady course and as Summer begins he looks
longingly at the sky wondering what the sea is like at Kiel,
So maritime has he become that instead of shouting "get
on parade" he shouts " all hands on deck.'*
We have lost our dapper 2IC, Captain Roger McClosky.
He has retired and can be found every day at Windsor Castle.
His relief, Captain Charles McGuigan has come from (whisper
it) a field force unit and is the only officer in many years not to
be posted here pending retirement.
W02 White has gone to UK to learn Arabic prior to going
on Loan Service to Kuwait and our new Depot Superinten-
dent is our old Master Butcher, W02 Ken Maul! in.
Corporal * Scouse' Mynes surprised himself, his wife and
all who knew him by coming in with a shocked expression
or his face and muttering " I'm too old to be a father/' His
wi-;e proved him wrong by presenting him with a curly-headed
daughter, Bemadette. Despite her name, she was not born at
Lourdes but in RAF Wegberg.
Staff Sergeant Ken Uzzell the Master Butcher left on pro-
motion to W02 for Cyprus and we all hope that all his MFO
boxes reached their many destinations safely.
Other new arrivals are Sergeant Tom Kelly and Corporal
Phil Knowles who have each settled into their niches in the
Unit.
Staff Sergeant Les Petrie our CQMS pulled a fast one and
applied for his last six months in UK thereby making it a
dose run between Major Baldwin, Staff Sergeant Benson and
Corporal Keith Armin (still here!) and himself as to who
leaves first for UK on discharge /retirement.
Other military characters still here are Staff Sergeant
Barry Campbell, Sergeant Ted OTray, Corporal Bill Richard-
son and Corporal Jim Gudgeon.
ACCOMMODATION SERVICES UNIT
DURING the ARU Inspection the inspecting officer, Colonel
W'-iks, Deputy Commander Rhine Area, presented C-in-Cs
ye-many Long and Meritorious Service Certificates to two mem-
oes of the staff. Herr Arthur Schultes, and Mr Eddie Staniforth.
Herr Schultes is well known as an ASA as he has a notice-
able Yorkshire accent—he was born in Huddersfleld! Mr
^taniforth is noted for his main recreation as a very active
member of the Duisburg Jager Club and is reputed to be a first
class hunting shot.
After many months of rumours the re-organisation of the
Unit has been disclosed. All the departments at Moenchen-
gladbach and Krefeld will, in due course, move into Viersen.
A central AAS will be established in ex-15 COD real estate
where originally a chap called Kaiser stored coffee. However,
with
the new, and long promised, storage we will be able to say
11
Bradley has bin here " and then confuse the issue by talking
about APR, RSP, RIP, CIP and CFI.
1st British Corps
*
G OPERATIONS say farewell to Corporal Sharon
mL
Lucas who is leaving the Army next month to be-
J^L
come a full-time housewife, whilst Sergeant Fred
^f
^L
Laycock is moving to the R and D for three months
^^Q^^k
before he too leaves the Army in October. We
^^•^^F
say many thanks to them both for all their efforts
^ H ^W
in the past and wish them well in the future. In
^^W
Fred's place we welcome Sergeant John Murray
^w
from Headquarters AFCENT and wish him and
his wife a pleasant tour in Bielefeld. Congratula-
tions to Lance Corporal ' KC * Smith, a regular member of the
Headquarter Company Soccer Team, which won the 2nd
Armoured Division Minor Units Soccer League for the second
year in succession—could this achievement be the beginning of
the minows* equivalent to Scotland known as, *" Wally's Khaki
Army!!' Lance Corporal Dave Cox is presently on his RPC 1
and we wish him the best of luck,
GSD is happy to report the recent marriage of Corporal
1
Scouse' Hayes to Miss Moira Hill and we wish them both
every happiness. As the saying goes, there are two sides to
every coin and on the other side we wish Leslie, the wife of
Lance Corporal Jim Shanks a speedy recovery after a recent
operation. We say farewell to Private John Robertson who
is leaving the Army shortly to run a cafe on the A l ! 1 We all
wish him the best of luck. Corporal * Taff * Cowman is feeling
pleased with himself on gaining his second tape—congratulations
and keep up the good work. Sergeant Alan Buckwell is trying *
to find a job for his wife, Elite, so that they can buy the Rolls
Royce they want Records please note: Alan is due for a
posting in January 1979—plenty of notice! W/Lance Corporal
Vanessa Dike is still with us * pulling and riding' horses—it all
seems quite kinky to some of us! Her boyfriend, Private Sam
McLeod even managed to escape from his arduous duties in
OAD to take her sightseeing somewhere in Germany during
the recent break.
PAs/MS Corner—W02 Sam Johnston is still keeping a low
profile in the Commander's office; with a change of MA and
ADC this is proving difficult. Staff Sergeant Mac MacLaren of
MS Branch continues to flit from office to office with highly
sensitive bits of MS news, which all but him find terribly boring.
Staff Sergeant Will McBurney and Sergeant Roy Coe PAs to
COS and Brigadier AQ respectively are still under abnormal
pressure of work but still find time to nip down to the local
bowling alley and grace the lanes. They don't however, find
time to burn the classified waste!
G Air have said farewell to Lance Corporal ' Shuggie *
Graham who, having worked with an Oirishman (Corporal Paddy
Moore), finally received his posting to Oirland! With this in mind
he stopped drinking Tartan and went onto Guinness. We wel-
come as his replacement Corporal John Lehmann who has
finally seen the 'errors of his ways* and moved downstairs
from G Trg/EPS to a better and more promising branch!
Corporal Paddy Moore has also received his posting order but
just to keep his counterparts in the Headquarters happy he is
not saying where to. However, let it be known that Paddies
do get postings to Main NATO Headquarters! Latest G Air
proverb—" Noli Illigitimi Carborundum."
W01 Mike Newman is now settled in AQ Coord and has
already got his leave pass in for Summer vacation. So too
have the rest of his staff who aim to get some leave in before
the exercise period. The Commander's Cup Summer Sports
competition is to commence shortly and the branch hope to win
a few trophies.
AQ Operations have little to report this month. W02 Bob
Toland is still recovering from the shock of failing
his BFT.
6
He took the test with the intention of taking it easy/ finished
fresher than he started but alas just failed. Still, we know you
can do it Bob, so keep trying! Congratulations to Staff Sergeant
Eddie Edmondson on his substantive promotion.
Congratulations this month to the following who were
selected by the last promotion board for promotion in 1978/79:
WO2 Bob Toland, Sergeants Dave Leek and Roy Coe.
Book number R0247