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RAOC Gazette - page 150

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Corps RAOC
Material type Journals
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Full title RAOC Gazette
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Publication date 1983
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Early date 1983
Late date 1983
Transcription The piece bears four silver stamps, the identifiable ones
being an Irish Harp and Brittania. The weight not known but
could be in excess of forty ounces.
Any information to the Corps Secretariat, Blackdown
Barracks, Deepcut, Camberley, Surrey, please.
COLD
posting, they get the rare opportunity to spend weekends in such
places as The Valley of the King's in Egypt or Bethlehem,
Jerusalem and the Dead Sea in Israel, to name but a few of the
many places of interest in that part of the world.
PRIVATE
COMFORT
ARMY
FOLLOWING a recent survey of employees former military
service the ASU of 3 Ordnance Battalion find that they have
nearly a thousand years of uniformed experience and the old and
bold of the following Regiments and Corps have come in to roost
with them:—Carbiniers, 7H, 3QOH, 15/19H, 9/12L, RA, RE,
R Signals, Scots Guards, R Hampshire Regt, Queens Regt.
R Fusiliers, R Scots Fusiliers, RGJ, WFR, KSLI. Bucks LI,
AAC, RAMC, RASC, RCT, RAOC, REME, RMP, ACC, Royal
Air Force plus the Canadian Military Forces and South African
Defence Force. GAZETTE readers may be interested to know
that the following former members of RASC/RAOC continue
to serve the Corps with ASU: Mr Fred Pearce (CASO). Ex
RASC; Mr John Atkins, Ex Cdr RAOC; Mr Tony Crowhurst,
Ex RAOC; Mr Alex Johnson, Ex RAOC; Mr Harry Keene,
Ex RAOC; Mr James Kenney, Ex Cdr RAOC; Mr James
(Mac) McDonnel, Ex RASC (former military BIA); Mr Stan
Moulton. Ex RASC; Mr Albert Thompson, Ex SSM RAOC;
Mr Ted Yarlet, Ex RAOC.
WE recently reported that on 23rd March Corporal ' Speedy'
Elstub made his way from Viersen to an Army National Guard
tent, twenty two miles out of Nome in Alaska to help and be
part of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.
It was ' Speedy's' job (along with Egor Zdanovec, a native
of Alaska) to man the Safety Check Point. It was in this tent
that they cooked, sheltered the mushers and visitors.
In
' Speedy's' words the accommodation was ' very comfortable,
out of the wind, warm with a dry floor and electric lights powered
by a National Guard generator.' Corporal Elstub first saw the
State in 1976 when he took leave while his unit was training in
Canada. He has spent most of his annual leave there since.
From Viersen to Alaska.
He plans on retiring in nine years time and settling in the
Interior ' some place with trees so I can build a cabin." Pictured
here with Corporal Elstub (left) is Mr Joe Reddington Snr
(father of Iditarod).
MULTINATIONAL
OBSERVERS
OUR photograph shows Corps members of the Multinational
Force and Observers, Siniai. Though it sounds an outlandish
Photo Captain M. E. Parsons, RAOC.
John Scoular and Eric Toom following the presentation of their
certificates for twenty five years loyal service to BAOR together
with the CO Lieutenant Colonel David Harris and OC ASU
Major Alan Foote.
MOROCCO
Out in Sinai, Major Palmer driving w i t h left to right: Sergeant
Bird, Staff Sergeant A t t a r d and Corporal Cassam.

BOUND
GIBRALTAR was the first stop for the expedition team led by
Major Terry Mitford which included Second Lieutenant
Margaret Wilton and Privates Jackie Emery and Pauline Wilson
from COD Bicester. They headed for the Central High Atlas
Mountains in Morocco and Tangier, Marrakesh and Ouarzazate,
finally reaching Bou-Thara from where the walking began.
Major Mitford had hired three mules, along with their
owners as guides. The first days were spent wading knee-deep
in cold, fast flowing water as they trekked up a river valley to
over eight thousand feet over a steep ridge, where even the
mules had to be pushed!
On average they covered ten miles each day over a variety
of terrain. Some valleys resembled the Grand Canyon, others
were wide and fertile with cultivation on terraces built into
the hillsides. The party crossed deserts, dry river beds and
gorges choked up by boulders. Occasionally the heat was
unbearable, but they also experienced snowfalls, rain and gale-
force winds too, and the tents were often weighted down with
rocks at night
In the villages the group were objects of great curiosity.
Children begged for sweets, money and cigarettes, which they
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Book number R0406