RAOC Gazette - page 187
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1983 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1983 |
| Late date | 1983 |
| Transcription |
Aviation Supply 1 (BR) Corps HEADQUARTERS AAC 1 (BR) CORPS. At the moment Headquarters AAC is sizzling under a heat wave. Even Staff Sergeant Wautier isn't wearing a vest any more, and Major Scourfield-Evans and Corporal Pete Yardley are leaking like a couple of sieves. By the time this is printed, Major Scourfield-Evans will be back from his well earned leave (hope you had a good one Sir), and Corporal Pete Yardley will have left the fold for the flatlands of RAF Wildenrath to become the FAACO. We wish him and his wife good luck in Wildenrath. THE FAACO'S. First of all we must apologise to Sergeant Ian Cass for not knowing where he is. Last month it was said that he was in the Falkland Islands, he is in fact in Northern Ireland. So sackcloth and ashes time, but this Headquarters will make it up to Sergeant Cass when he returns. (Or maybe he would like to go to the Falklands.) We hope to hear from 1 and 3 Regiment FAACO's in next months GAZETTE, but we do hear that they are working hard and keeping their respective units supplied and in the air. As mentioned earlier Sergeant Ian Cass is still clicking away with his camera in Northern Ireland and Staff Sergeant Ginge Hicks will soon be starting his summer leave. So Sergeant Howard Hart will be manning 4 Regiments FAACO on his lonesome for a while. Corporal Pete Brown is alive and well in Berlin at 7 Fit and rumours are filtering through that he and the rest of 7 Fit are taking up Ornithology round the Lakes. In Wildenrath Corporal Pete Finer is packing his bags for his posting to Cyprus, don't forget to send a postcard Pete. 2 AIRCRAFT SUPPORT UNIT. Since our last notes to THE GAZETTE (with lots of hardwork by all) we've managed to finish the re-org of the storehouse. Staff Sergeant Micky Danaher can now be found walking around on cloud nine not knowing what to do with himself, he's sure to come down soon as the receipts bay is now bulging. The Junior Ranks played the Senior Ranks at cricket with the result an easy win for the seniors, WOl Ray Candlin getting most of the runs and Sergeant Pete Lythgoe taking most of the wickets, although Sergeant Stan Burton kept the-run rate down with his quickies. For the Junior's Private Graham Pemberton kept the first innings together with thirty one runs and Lance Corporal Hutchinson tried hard in the second. Corporal Micky Pope can still be heard shouting for a re-match, we look for- ward to it soon. Congratulations go to Corporal John Green on his marriage to Lynne Bennett, and to Lance Corporal Ian Picot for passing his B3 Clerks course on changing trades (quite an achievement for a B2 Storeman). Captain Hawthorne has at long last found out who owns the airfield at Detmold after free falling with Sergeant John Frew and Corporal Ames, much to the annoyance of 4 Regi- ment AAC. We say goodbye to Lance Corporal Roy Doughty to the Falklands on promotion while Private Mark Davis goes to Ludgershall. Welcome to Corporals John Burley, Phil Jones, Lance Corporal Pete Ward and families, Corporal Ian Vaissiere who has eventually arrived and Privates Graham Pemberton and Geordie Horn. I'm sure they'll enjoy their stay at Detmold as much as the rest of us. Multinational Force and Observers Sinai READERS of THE GAZETTE may have already read the article published last year on the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), written by my pre- decessor, Staff Sergeant Ray Gash. For those of you who missed that edition, the RAOC personnel here are part of a thirty seven strong British con- tingent of an eleven nation Force, stationed in a camp called el Gorah in the Sinai. The Sinai Peninsula is located on the south eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The principal terrain feature is a narrow coastal plain, running along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. North Camp, el Gorah, is situated approximately twenty four kilometres south west of the Egyptian/Israeli border. The camp area is three square kilometres, considerably less than thirty six kilometres when this was an active Israeli air base called Eitam. Life on camp is not too bad with most sporting facilities and a swimming pool available. In the evenings you can relax in either the Britcon Club ' The Three Jokers ' or one of the NCO clubs. On the weekends there is also the opportunity of visits to the Valley of the Kings and Queens in Egypt or Bethlehem, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea in Israel, to name but a few of the many places of interest in this part of the world. The RAOC members here are Major Maurice Palmer, who is the Camp Commandant and Quartermaster for the whole of North Camp, Sergeant Steve Bird, the Force Photographer, Corporal Keith Cassam, the NCOIC of the Reproduction and Distribution Centre and Staff Sergeant Rick Attard, Chief Clerk Staff Secretariat. Major Palmer is destined for a tour in Gibraltar (for all his hard efforts here), Steve Bird is off to Belize for yet another six months tour. Steve leaves behind a darts team without a captain and No. 1 player and also an organ which no ane else in the contingent can play—I wonder if he might extend? Rick Attard is heading for NATO Headquarters in Brussels and we wish them all good luck and fortune in the future. The only RAOC replacement is Sergeant Alan Woods from the Commando Regiment who will be the new Chief Clerk. We wish him a good tour. British Forces Hong Kong mmmfj^-.t'-'fy^ SUMMER has definitely arrived at long last. The sun shines almost daily and it is ^^^^ getting hot. This is the time of year for pool A / ^ H H parties, bar-b-ques, junk trips, cricket, swim- % ^ { H I ming and exercises. Exercises? Yes exercises. *>»>>'' The headquarters has an annual exercise • called Aquamarine. This covers adventure L'„ - L ^^^~ > ~"-~' training, swimming, mini BFT and sport. The exercise takes place on a remote beach on the island of Lantau. The Headquarters moves over there by RPL, that's the adventure training! Once there, a swimming ' pool' is formed using the edge of the beach and the RPL. A fun swimming com- petition then takes place and the starting line is some ten or fifteen metres away from the water, the mini BFT. Just ask the competitors in the jigsaw marathon. Once the competition is over everyone breaks for lunch then spends the afternoon relaxing, either windsurfing or canoeing. This year the Deputy Commander British Forces tasked his next door neighbour with the job of organising the event! After many recces, much string pulling, lots of liaising, helicopter rides, beer drinking, and hard work the big day arrived. An early morning shower cooled everybody down just as they arrived on the beach (Dunkirk style) then the weather cleared up and everyone had a great time. Everyone is now waiting to see if Super will volunteer to do it again next year. Still with sport the G3 Div four-a-side soccer team has just won the lunchtime league, going through the thirteen match programme undefeated. Two of its star? players were RAOC, Norman Eldridge as team captain and Dave Gray. On the hockey scene Captain Harcourt and Sergeant John Moulding are still playing (in this heat?) and going strong. Both represent the Hong Kong Association. On the social scene the RAOC clerks had a get together over a bar-b-que and had an enjoyable, informal evening. It was certainly informal for the odd character sat on his own in a corner sipping cheap red wine from a bottle all evening! Looking at our personalities we have congratulations for Sergeant Gary Holmersley on promotion into the mess and Sergeant John Lee on arrival from Hereford and his recent promotion. We have said farewell to Staff Sergeant Oscar Pennells who has gone to Headquarters Northern Ireland to tell them about the hard life in Hong Kong. — 156 — SEND IT TO THE GAZETTE A short article about events—places—people is always interesting particularly when accompanied by a photo- graph. Send it to THE GAZETTE. |
| Book number | R0406 |