RAOC Gazette - page 308
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1981 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | No |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1981 |
| Late date | 1981 |
| Transcription |
? Bob Roberts our PUE expert is a very worried man at present, he outloaded forty tons of stores to Denmark for Exercise Amber Express and to date he has had only twenty tons returned—not to worry Bob, think of all the work it saves you. Captain Eddie Hillan recently collected over £102 for a local charity by completing a sponsored marathon run—he managed to finish in three hours thirty minutes—not bad for his age! Our congratulations this month go to David Nicholls who recently passed a Clerical Officers Board—well done David. Vera Ashcroft our Admin Officer is currently attending a Provision Course at Deepcut, actually Major Ralph Phipps was nominated for the course but Vera begged the OC to allow her to attend instead and so after much persuasion he agreed. Never mind Ralph, you can go on the next one. North East District ORD BRANCH OUR happy wanderer, Captain John Foster, returned at the beginning of the month from the rigours of Denmark where he spent a delightful two weeks, according to him, up to his in muck and bullets whilst doing Ops Officer for 51 Company RAOC (V) during Amber Express. The CRAOC carried out the annual FFR inspection of our two independent TA Companies at the weekend and found that, according to one TA soldier's answer in a test paper, we have changed our Patron Saint, it is now and I have it in writing, wait for it, the DGOS. Sir Jimmy is one thing but Saint Jimmy The CRAOC introduced for the first time this year a trophy to be presented to the most proficient Company during the inspection and it was won by 8 Field Force Ordnance Company (V) which incidentally, is the Company of the lad responsible for canonizing the DGOS. A luncheon was held in the Headquarters Officers Mess to mark the retirement of Lieutenant Colonel Geoff Morton who, although he leaves the Branch, does not leave the building. He has taken up the appointment of G S 3 SD and now resides on the floor below. We expect to see quite a bit of Geoff because rumour has it that no one is interested in his golfing stories downstairs. Also this month saw the retirement of ROWO, W02 Dick Speirs. Dick's farewell party was held in the Sergeants Mess and judging by the bleary eyed, furry tongued, creatures wandering around the day after, it must have been some party. The CRAOC made a farewell presentation to Dick on behalf of all his friends and colleagues in the Branch. We all wish him and his wife the best of luck for the future. 10 Ordnance Support Battalion AMBER EXPRESS and all that will remain dear to certain members of the Battalion and for others not so dear! Of all the tales told, the tale of the Danish Fireman beats them all, A flight outward bound to Vaerloese was re-routed because of fog to an airfield one hundred and fifty miles West of Copenhagen. On arrival it was evident that no steps were available to dis- embark passengers. The airfields fire tender approached and a conversation between the fireman and the pilot took place which resulted in the fireman offering his ladder in place of the steps. On climbing up and peering through a cabin window, a passenger was overheard to remark: " H e must be here to clean the windows!" Headquarters Company say farewell this month to W 2 King who is posted to BAOR on commissioning, to WOl Matakitoga who leaves us for Perham Down, and we wish them both well in their new postings. We say welcome to W 2 Robinson and family and hope that they settle in quickly and enjoy their time with us. 47 Company arrived in Denmark in dribs and drafts, large parties, small groups and singles duly got under way to set up camp. Did you hear the conversation that went like this: " Zulu, Bravo, Alfa, Local timings are as follows: Zulu is two hours before Local which makes Alfa one hour behind Local and Bravo one hour ahead, Oliver (Offrs time) is five minutes after everything has happened. So we stand to at 0400 hours Zulu. Bravo is 0600, 0700, 03001 ? If so, then we've just missed breakfast which was on 25th September because the Danes put their clock back which makes Bravo equal Alfa and Zulu minus one hour. Understood (?) Good, letV synchronise watches, what time do you make it " 2 LRS have gone to Kenya. Captain Ellis, Sergeant Toze Corporals Scull and Sylvester should all by now be into their world record breaking attempt at the largest number of Scrabble games ever played in East Africa (7) We say fareweil to WOl Archie Claydon who leaves us for pastures new in 6 Field Force and say thanks for all your help, advice and assistance over these last few months. We welcome Staff Sergeant Dennis Gordon, soon too on his way to Kenya with 2 LRS. 4 Petroleum Platoon have been playing (Pluto) games in fuel supply down at ye olde Ammunition Depot (Bramley) to which it was noted that Sergeant Smith kept popping back to Devizes to see if Apple Pie (Crumble) was on the menu. We say welcome to Staff Sergeant Dobbings (currently gravel crushing under the eye of both RSM and CSM), Lance Corporal Evans and Private Dacey. Congratulations are in order to WOl Malone, W02 Hector and Lance Corporal Philips on their recent promotion. Also congratulations on recent marriage to Lieu- tenant Wiggell and Private Dacey, We say farewell to Lance Corporal Burton, The annual 48 Company Robert Weston Challenge Ctip Competition (tests of military skill, fitness and sporting ability) took place recently. A hard fought contest that was decided in the final event with the Class 3 (Pol) Platoon taking the honours. Congratulations go to the organisers for picking the hottest day of the year for the march and shoot. September once again saw the Company packed up and moving off. Our destination this time being Denmark and Exercise Amber Express. The exercise proved a great success. Class 3 (Pol) Platoon were detached from the main element throughout the exercise, whilst tactically hidden under massive cam nets the fact that the best shower facilities ever seen by the unit were a few yards away had nothing to do with their position. The members of 54 Company TA who were attached to the Platoon, are to be thanked for their excellent hard work which included a bar-b-que where Lance Corporal Robbie Gough of the MT Section showed some admirable skills. Lance Corporal Martin Baume wins the Company stalker of the exercise award for his efforts in capturing Danish Army infiltrators in the Class 5 (Ammo) Platoon storage area. We are still wondering who was more surprised. W02 Dick Stacey is still complaining that Danish Beer affects his night vision and refuses to go walking in the woods at night The big question of the exercise is " Who borrowed my Land Rover?" but we will remain silent about the person who asked i t Congratulations to Captain Charles Emmett on his marriage and farewell on his posting to Cyprus—how AG9 swallowed it we'll never know—to Staff Sergeant Tony Lundie on becoming a grandfather and to Sergeant Mick Simpson on his promotion. We welcome Captain David Hingston-Jones, Corporal O'Neill, Lance Corporal Frodsham and Privates Bolderson, Kilbey and Viney. The morning of 16th October dawned bright and cheerful, well at least clear, as this was the day of the Battalion Cross Country meeting. The course covering about six miles included some steep hills, a few tracks and roads and large areas of open muddy fields, the latter proved to be the downfall of many a stalwart fellow. The mass start of one hundred and sixty souls took place on the Battalion Square (to the amazement of RSM Wilson who couldn't believe so many eagerly stood on his hallowed ground). The first hill sorted out virtually all runners and the unit was soon spread out over quite a distance; the flat road and track which followed this hill gave an ideal opportunity to regain breath before the headlong charge down a very muddy and slippery gully caused a number to fall, but no injuries of note occurred; there they followed a fairly lengthy stretch along the side of a ploughed field and from various comments after the race it was perhaps fortuitous that the course planner was not waiting at the end of this stretch! The final mile was a fairly straight forward romp along the road through Round way and thence to the finish at the back gate of the camp. Following frantic calculations the prizes were presented by Mrs Champion to the following:—Individual 1st Place—Private McEvoy Class 3 Platoon—thirty five minutes 50.7 seconds. 2nd place—Lance Corporal McCourt Battalion HQ/QM—thirty seven minutes 18.7 seconds. 3rd place—Private Webb, 3 D S P - thirty seven minutes 48.2 seconds. MAKE SURE YOUR COPY IS AT DEEPCUT BY THE 28th 256 — |
| Book number | R0250 |