RAOC Gazette - page 232
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 |
- ul d was admitted to the MRS (the Staff Sergeant, not the fly; Pu Hy died). However, he has since been discharged and Ord ^ er v;.:es are an hoping that he will report for duty shortly and ^1 irt _ arrival proforma, Captain Peter Field, OIC Ord Servi JCS, issued a short statement at a press conference today i n which he said: We are not unduly worried over the disappearance of Staff Sergeant Graves. There is no need for panic. He is on 5ergeant Chris Davie's nominal roll which is the important thing- Actually, in one way his disappearance has helped reduce what is really an embarrassing problem. Let me explain. It js no great secret that Ord Services are very much over staffed a nd underworked. We have tried to alleviate this by supplying personnel for Camp Guards, Junior Ranks Club NCO, Duty St on: men and Duty Clerks. Unfortunately, we still have men . A - cannot find employment for during the lunch hour and weekends. In fact the majority of the staff are finishing for the day as early as 1900 hours. I have spoken to the Camp Com- mandant about this and he has suggested that if the problem gets any worse I should consider sending the men back after they have completed six months here. Meanwhile I should persevere with my present staff. Until I actually meet Staff Sergeant Graves I have nothing further to say. Back to you Lemon. On to the next item. W02 Graham Arscott has now taken over the mantle of Chief Clerk Force Headquarters. He replaces WO2 Mike McClean who achieved everlasting fame with his infamous poem to Records. W02 Arscott's family have also arrived and been allotted their plot of ground for the building of an Attap, family type. Because the building normally takes so long he and his family have been requested to stay here for eighteen months. Sergeant Bob Boughen (Bowgen not Bowhen!) is the Deputy Chief Clerk and has helped welcome the new Chief by explaining his duties; he has spent the rest of the day wonder- ing what his own are. Sergeant Dave Frost has not had a chance for a natter yet. You can catch the occasional glimpse of him wandering to and fro, usually in possession of his Pergonal File and squash racquet. His biggest worry is about his replacement. The racquet just looks good. His spare time interest is shuffling Force Standing Orders. Corporal Lee Humphries looks after the A side of things and often pops into his office during the week for a chat. Corporal Steve Artiett looks after registry and guards his pigeon holes like a mother hen. Meanwhile, over in the Force QMs, Major Cliff Scott has trespassed into the FMTOs field by issuing twenty cycles for use around the camp. He spends the remainder of the day checking that they have been secured with lock and chain when not in use. WOl Colin Browne, the RQMS, keeps himself busy by constantly changing the address on his MFO boxes. He has finally decided to stencil them in chinagraph and keeps a rag and tin of silk cleansing fluid at the ready in case of yet an- other amusing signal from Records. Finally, the most unfortunate chap in Belize at the moment must be Captain John Bennett, the Camp Commandant. He has had three punctures in as many days and has spent a fortune on spare tyres. He was offered the use of Camp Office bike but refuses to ride crossbar. His refusal was greeted with relief by Lance Corporal Geordie Pendleton who would probably have had to provide the pedal power. He is not known for his cycling skills, however, having ridden into a monsoon ditch and just recently tried to enter the rear of a Land Rover whilst on the move. It is one of the most terrifying sights imaginable when you see him coming towards you, leaning over the handle bars, legs pumping furiously, gritting his teeth in determination. God help us when he gets a two wheeler 1 From here in Belize—Goodnight STOP PRESS: Hurricane Greta arrived. Story next edition. Headquarters Brunei Garrison IT has come to my notice that, despite a one hundred per cent subscription to our venerable journal, we never get mentioned— hardly surprising, we never contribute, The inspiration and drive to put us on the map, so to speak, naturally had to come from the junior, although by NO means youngest, member of the Unit. As our activities are many and diverse, and sometimes questionable, the following lines of verse should bare all. TAKE FIVE Now from our posting—Brunei State, Of people here I will relate, therms only five but my, what men, 111 sing their praises with my pen. — Right from the top, there's Major Jones, From rank and file you'll hear no moans, A sterling fellow, our OC, A credit to the Corps is he. Now if you're stuck for pot or pan, W02 Strugnell; he's your man, For his appointment's ASU, With cheerful face he'll see you through. The next in line is our CQ, I'm sure that he's well known to you, Staff Campling—there, I've said his name, To BEM he can lay claim. Off to the Stores Section, now we go, A man sits there, his head bent low, Staff Hadfields' the name, that springs to mind, A better clerk is hard to find. There's just one left, It must be me, Corporal Owen—RAOC British Forces Hong Kong ^ I ORDNANCE DEPOT £&, v c < y ^ y ^ / ffi I THE predominant colour in K ^ M ^ y ^ « B H 9 f i 4 H H l ^ H l * lc Unit Orderly Room over H S v ^ M L I H ^ J H H yellow. This is not a re fie c- ^^^/y^^^^S J ^ ^ ^ T ^ P t ' o n o n ^ e P e r s o n a l bravery o f Staff c l e r k s b u t G&C* esJxC —51 reflects ^ZMx f£££sx flfrAft , the avalanche of RAF Forms ^ " 2768/IND, Application for Indulgence Passage, that have descended like primrose confetti for the week-end return flights to f Korea. Let us hope that those enjoying the two day trip do not over-indulge * themselves. Major Tony Jeffries, our Admin Major and athletic con- science of the depot, has departed on posting. No more lunch- time runs and a definite slackening in BFT training? How' short-lived are the expectations of mere mortal man. Major David Kime is a younger version of his predecessor but with the additional dubious attributes of being para trained and commando trained I It would appear, therefore, that any amend- ment to the training programme will be an escalation and not the fervently hoped for de-escalation. The illusion of ' taking a breather F between BFT Tests was rudely shattered at the Ammunition Sub-Depot by frequent invitations to participate in highly energetic sporting events. The first was ;the Stonecutters annual volleyball competition, organised by W02 Derek Wood, in which five island teams took part, As expected, the winners were the Super-Sikh AD Police who won all their games. Of course, the two ASD teams purposely held back, merely using the event as a warm-up for the Unit Inter-departmental competition at Black down Barracks, their placings in which we will, however, omit! The following day, nevertheless, the four man relay team came a respectable fourth out of eleven entrants in the Unit relay race and could have done better had Sergeants Phil Bean and Nick Reader, W02 Roger Sumner and Corporal Fred Hallas became acclimatized to breathing the eighty per cent carbon monoxide air of Kowloon. The OC of SPSD, oops, SSD, has also changed. Captain Roger Bensaid, with W02 Joe Campbell and Sergeant Ray Pembroke, was given a good send off at a dinner and show in the Pink Giraffe, although Pink Elephant might have been more appropriate. The new OC, Captain Martin Hicks, has quickly settled in to the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong life and has found that there are two meanings to the phrase " running the depot'! Staff Sergeant Bob McNaught's search for a new empire continues. WOl Fred Woolhouse has promised to don his Sub Aqua diving kit and mark him out a site on the sea-bed. The * oops' above is quite a common occurrence these days. Titles for Sub Units within the Depot have been changed. The Supply and Petroleum Sub Depot (SPSD) now becomes Supply Sub Depot (SSD), the Stores Sub Depot (SSD) becomes Stores Group (SG), (still with us?). Then the Returned Stores Sub Depot becomes Returned Stores Group and the Vehicle Sub-Depot becomes Vehicle Group. Apart from the occasional mental hernia the Headquarters remains unchanged. The spirit of adventure and the lure of exotic places, the names of which nobody can spell but are somewhere in Nepal, have gripped our resident overweight Staff Clerk, Corporal 189 — |
| Book number | R0247 |