RAOC Gazette - page 77
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 |
obtained via a metal dixie full of water, a metal spoon, and •--..slightly sleepy and damp cook with the rear end of the cook applied to the source of power. Result? One truly airborne, Bionic cook, And perhaps MVEE would be interested to learn of * Q ' P---y St tts modification to Bedford RLs that enables them to swim! Or is it just that he keeps enough Meccano in his pocket to rebuild bridges that the OC has declared blown. Not that we wish to cast aspersions on his map-reading, but the duty SupSpec is now tasked with holding his hand and guiding him home at night. On day five of Exercise Wild Swan the OC A--in and the C-M upset the pulse of the OC in no small way. This gallant pair, with a packet of ten tonners in close support, came upon the scene of an accident in which two Land Rovers had collided —with bloodsoaked bodies all across the road. Now at the time it did look a mite suspiciously like an ambush so, as per SOPs, they drove straight on. The suspicions were then proved correct as one of the blood covered casualties only avoided NODUF injuries by beating a hasty retreat to the bushes near- by. They have both said that they are very sorry sir, and will play properly next time and will stop and render first aid, At the end of the exercise we all went home with the packets commanded by our Corporals. It is still a matter of wonder to most how Corporal Ji--- J---S got back to Munster without going through the Start Point which was less than a kilometre from the last location? The final saga came when Mrs Ch ne N--man-B y rang the families officer to say she was worried as her husband kept trudging down to the bottom of the garden each morning with a shovel over his shoulder! Departures since our last entry have included:—Captain and Mrs James Morgan, Sergeant and Mrs Eric Hunter and Corporal and Mrs Mick Cutbush. Whilst welcoming Captain Paul Harrington, Sergeant and Mrs Mick Gannon, Corporal and Mrs Eric Blunn, Privates Malcolm Ward 38 and Jimmy Tarbuck and, of legendary fame, Sergeant Ray Brooks. 3rd Armoured Division A HEADQUARTERS RAOC Have you ever heard of Musical Offices? It is a parlour game designed by planners for any number of reluctant players. Basically, pick up your desk and filing trays and move randomly. When the music stops, anyone left in the corridor is responsible for making the tea. Please send your next GAZETTB notes to Room 18 or 20 or somewhere. STAFF CLERKS IT appears that everytime notes are submitted for THE GAZETTE Sergeant Jim Reynolds, the PA to the GOC, is forgotten. We hope that we have now rectified our oversight and that he will continue buying a copy each month! Just because the weather has got warmer by one or two degrees some people have started dashing off in all directions in caravans and with tents. The Superintending Clerk, WOl Bob Skennerton, a newcomer to ' civilian camping,' came back last weekend after a damp three days camping with the family muttering something along the lines ".. . . it's not the same with- out a scrim net " There are quite a few smiles to be seen around the Head- quarters building these days. Lance Corporal Crowhurst, with a posting to Hong Kong in his pocket, has done enough smiling for the whole of G Branch the last two weeks—can you blame him! Private Tom Orrock, after just about managing to figure out what German coins and notes are worth has now to get started on learning all about Belgian currency as he is off to l British Forces Antwerp in October, Corporal Taff' Humphreys does not have to worry about the money just the accent as he leaves us shortly for Headquarters Northern Ireland, and we will have Welsh continuity amongst the Staff Clerks in the form of Private ' Taff * Jones who has just joined us from the Apprentices College. ORDNANCE COMPANY THE month started fairly casually with the Unit ten pin bowling team grabbing a quick second place in the BAOR Champion- ships, the opposition wandering down the lanes with a tube of Araldite was viewed with great suspicion. Our team considered itself to be all right, having acquired a tube of the quick setting stuff! It took quite a long time to notice that three members of the unit had gone missing, namely Lance Corporal 'Houdini* McDonald, Private ' No See Me' Rowarth and their pet, the incredible Private ' H o u n d ' Baskerville. They escaped with a tryptique in one hand and a radio in the other, claiming to be going on Exercise Flying Falcon. Apparently Holland is really beautiful at this time of year, which makes their excuse rather feeble. The glorious rugby team took a bit of a hammering in the early rounds of the Rhine Area Seven-a-Side, but judging by the looks on the team's faces the next morning, it would be fair to say that a good time was had by all! To remain on the sporting scene, the golf team, driven on by Sergeant 'Where shall I put(t) it' Dillow and Q 'Where's my driver ' Raffan took the RAOC (BAOR) Gold Championships by storm and came fifth—a very respectable performance for beginners. Our Church Sunday caused ' alarm and despondency* amongst the officers and a really visible look of embarrassment from the CSM as the OC appeared resplendent in Service Dress when the remainder of the Unit was attired rather differently. It was then ascertained that our gallant leader had been in- specting the Scouts! (Green berets are to be demanded for the whole Unit). The Unit social life has not been allowed to slip, the major function of this month being the car treasure hunt. Right the way to the finish it was a well fought fight in typical * Gum- ball Rally' type tradition, but Staff Sergeant Lee lost to Sonya Spedding, beaten by a woman what next? because of low tyre pressure. The word ' sabotage' is heard frequently from the aforementioned gentleman in order to clear his good name. Visitors to the Unit this month were headed by the DDOS, Brigadier Macdonald, who came to say farewell to the Unit. We welcome the following: Second Lieutenant Harris, Privates Whetton, Williams and Connolly and say goodbye to Privates Filtness, Guest and Wilkes, Congratulations to Corporal Storey on the birth of his daughter and to Lance Corporals Sullivan and Folland, Corporal Barraclough and Sergeant Hepburn on their recent promotion. WE were visited by the Director of Clothing and Textiles, Brigadier Ryder during the month. We were delighted to see him since clothing is a hot political issue here. There was slight cause for concern when during a discussion, he and S02 Maint (Major Bruce Boulton) removed pullovers and rolled up their shirt sleeves. However, happily it turned out to be an in- vestigation of the suitability of the new Officers pattern shirt for use in shirt sleeve order. Sergeant John Duff, a URS Sergeant in the Divisional Signal Regiment, has very properly observed that although he plays football for the Regiment, the fact has never been recorded in these pages. Having remedied the omission, it is also true to say that he plays a mean game of snooker. Rumour has it that with the amount of devoted practice he puts in, he ought to be good. We entered two teams in the Regimental Orienteering Com- petition last week. These comprised: A Team—Eades, Ginn and Hawthorne. B Team—Ahearne, Bartram, Boulton and Davies. Lance Corporal Chris Hades unfortunately, absented him- self in the woods somewhere, to the point where his team was ruled out of time and did not finish. When he eventually appeared he had no smile on his face, so he probably was simply lost. WOl Gary Hawthorne however came third overall on the long A Team course. Our team on the shorter B Team course did finish and was placed seventh of ten starters. Major Chris Ahearne performed a fine recovery job using a straight pull on STORES PLATOON, 5 ARMOURED WORKSHOP team-mate Major David Davies who leapt off a river bank onto AFTER missing last month's issue due to change of location, what looked like firm going but turned out to be thigh-deep we are all settled in and ready to go again. We are now at full mud. This was lucky since without the recovery the latter strength at last, but promptly lose sixteen members of the platoon might have been there yet, hungry but with a flawless com- on Operation Banner duty with the Workshop. Will we ever plexion. be all together? Corporal Alan Armstrong fresh from his success on skates, went on an offshore sailing course at Kiel for two weeks. He 56 — came back with a rugged sea-going look about him (Probably the tan) and we an offshore qualification. Well reorganisation. done! configuration of our Finally, office will accommodation. have be firm, just hand's completed at least We until are yet the another assured next reorganisation that the new i j |
| Book number | R0247 |