RAOC Gazette - page 152
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1980 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1980 |
| Late date | 1980 |
| Transcription |
HEADQUARTERS AAC ORD (AIR) 1 (BR) CORPS. Major de Foubert is trying to fit ten days into a seven day week, apart from getting used to being the father of a baby girl (con- gratulations). We say farewell to Corporal Panter and his family who are off to BATUS and hope they enjoy the good life. 1 AIRCRAFT SUPPORT UNIT. To write GAZETTE notes for this Unit is rather like holding a muster parade. In fact, con- sidering our spread round the globe, these notes tend to take the place of muster parades when we can decide where people are and whether they are in good health. Sergeant Dave Flower is in Belize and from the low profile he keeps we assume he is very happy. Staff Sergeant Neil Starkey and Corporal John McKimm are manning our detachment in Northern Ireland. Our best wishes to Mrs Sandra Starkey who has been into hospital for minor surgery on her back. Corporal Bob Kendrick is in the wilds of Norway progressing slowly towards Bardufoss with his Mobile Stores Detachment. Mrs Elizabeth Kendrick, our resident mole in the Army Air Corps Directorate, is counting the days towards her husbands return. Sergeant Steve Coelho is in Salisbury, Rhodesia, looking after the AAC Gazelle fleet. Corporal Paul Moore has just returned from Gwelo in Rhodesia having looked after the Scout fleet. He returned very suntanned to regale us all with war stories before disappearing off for his long weekend. Staff Sergeant Duncan Learmonth, Sergeant Graham Fullager, Lance Corporals John MacLellan, Ian Vaissiere and Privates Peter Elstob and John Woodward are off to Cyprus on exercise. All the OC is able to manage is trips on the Belfast shuttle! Our sporting life is going reasonably well. We entered a team, in fact, twenty five per cent of the Unit, in the Corps Cross Country Championship, under the eagle eye of trainer Corporal Dave Middleton. We did not come last, but the star of the day was W02 Derek Green who in the DGOS Challenge ran his three miles in eighteen minutes thirty five seconds coming second. Corporal Mick Jory and Private Bradbury are off to the lands of LOA on promotion shortly. Corporal Bob Craister is off to Wilton on promotion to Headquarters AAC UKLF. Sergeant Geoff Davies is going to Bicester and Corporal John Burley will be demonstrating his knowledge of aircraft spares in Cyprus in the near future. 2 AIRCRAFT SUPPORT UNIT. The OC, Captain R. A. W. Curtis, has gone into the renovation business with his BL car, the BP garage will never look the same! Dennis Gordon our VDU Supervisor recently decided to change screens for skis and went off in search of the Snow Queen!! We must pass on congratulations to Micky Pope in passing his B2—Bl Clerks Course. We have a very strange handover between Privates Robbins and Hutchins in 3 MSD Aldergrove. First Robbins to Hutchins then Hutchins to Robbins then who's next? Anyway Rbbby remember our shopping lists After a lot of persuading Corporal John Sheen was pushed into accepting his posting to Hong Kong!! Guess who was packing in forty eight hours! Best of luck and crongratulations on the promotion. We welcome his relief Corporal Parish from Headquarters Rhine Area and hope that all his contacts from that High Office remember him. While on the welcome lark, let's say hi, nice to see you Corporal Cass. Ian has spent a while with a leg in plaster, pops off to the BMH to have the pot changed and decides the company is better and stays there! Someday, we may see you again!! Well that's about all for now next time you will read about the ' Big Move' into our new building across the way (we hope)! 10 Ordnance Support- Battalion HEADQUARTERS AND HEADQUARTERS COMPANY. The Second-in-Command, Major David Rowe, and the Adjutant, Captain Trevor Wilson, have managed a week each with 48 AMFfL) Company in Norway. It is understood that both gentle- men are now applying for transfer. Lieutenant Colonel Eddison our Commanding Officer managed at long last about five days in Kenya during which time he reviewed the life of the Local Resources Sections. The Unit cannot understand how the CO managed to obtain such a good tan in such a short stay. The staff have been further depleted with Staff Sergeant Taffy Hector, Sergeant Aggi Browne and Lance Corporal Orgar in Southern Rhodesia and I have just heard that the Chief Clerk, W02 Billy King is shortly off to Jamaica. However. with all these trips the Headquarters is still functioning and un- believably still churns out an amazing amount of paper work. FIELD FORCE CADRE. The OC of FFC Captain Jim Lamb, is at present in Kenya and with this has left the Command of the Unit to Captain Stephen Monk and Captain Ricky Kay who are trying to figure out ways to turn the tables round the other way. 1 Bulk Transit Platoon have in fact had a very busy time of late in handling all airfield transit tasks for the Southern Rhodesia operation. In fact the Unit is split between UK and Africa and Captain Monk managed a week in New Sarum to check on his Second-in-Command, W02 Woods. 280 Petrol Fil- ling Platoon is also much depleted and Corporal Gray (now promoted to Sergeant) is now platoon commander, Sergeant and Corporal! Both Local Resources Sections are deployed in Kenya. However, Captain Peter Ball, OC 170 LRS is busy over indenting for volley ball nets for the Patriotic Front. It is understood that the order was ten times bigger than it should have been! 48 AMF(L) COMPANY. Exercise Hardfall in Norway is shortly to give way to Exercise Arctic Express and the Company, as is usual at this time of year, are very busy with supplying! Americans, Germans, Canadians and Italians. OC, Major Richard Rhodes has finally proved to the Second-in-Command and Adjutant 10 Ordnance Support Battalion that 48 Company can in fact walk on water. Sergeant Mills however would like to point out that there is a subtle difference between Norwegian and British water. This he will testify to due to a bitter experience with a static water tank. Central Ordnance D e p o t Bicester THE mystery of the blood curdling screams which have started to come from the square each morning, has now been solved. Lieutenant Ted Jukes and his training staff have, through lack of space at Deepcut (?), brought Cyprus Platoon to St George's Barracks to do their basic training. The ' Old Soldiers' sit back in their chairs and smile contentedly at the sound of the recruits being put through their paces. The ' youngsters ' cower in the comer whilst the ladies of D Com- pany think the Sergeant is ' Nasty for shouting at all those poor young men.' As reported in last months GAZETTE, General Callan was ' lunched o u t ' in fine fashion by the Sergeants Mess Members recently. Rumour has it that RSM Brownlow, who is himself about to retire and take up civilian employment, was rather pleased that so many senior officers turned up for his farewell lunch. RSM Ford is the new incumbent of the most exalted post He and the Commanding Officer (Lieutenant Colonel Bill Ford) deny that they are relatives. Incidentally, it was not Sergeant Sid Siddiqui who said he would swop two Fords for a reliable Mini! We are very pleased with our Battalion football team, which under the express guidance of Captain Bill Tweddle, has won its way through to the semi-final of The Richards Cup. Their opponents in the semi-final are CAD Kineton. After a frustrating month in which games were cancelled because of the weather the Unit hockey team finally managed to play RAPC Worthy Down B team in a Division 2 league match with Bicester winning one nil. Major Jim Tilling is deep in the throes of planning Exercise North Star. Often he can be heard to mutter the plaintive cry of ' never again.' However, with the administrative instruction issue and the Tilling gypsies ready to go, we wish him and them a most successful and enjoyable exercise. I'm sure there will be a post exercise report in the next issue of THE GAZETTE. It was hoped that an exercise report from D Company WRAC on Exercise Arctic Roll could be included in these notes. How- ever, the photographs have not yet been returned. Arctic Roll was an exercise where six members of D Company, under the guidance of Second Lieutenant Lucie Newsham joined 11 Signal Regiment in the old POW Camp of Cultibraggen for four days ski-ing and walking. It would appear that except for a few minor setbacks (Corporal Babs Reilly being chased by an angry cow, Lance Corporal Sheila Jansen falling into a stream, the long bumpy journey to reach the camp, toes and hands being very cold), the exercise was a great success. Just before closing the epistle I would like to list the following personal events since the last issue: Our Assistant — 353 — |
| Book number | R0403a |