queens jubilee parade 1977

Stephen Lock · Subject: Re: queens jubilee parade 1977 Tue Oct 20, 2009 3:02 am

Mike_2817 wrote:

Stephen, Warrant Officers & Senior Ranks are the backbone of any army.

I agree...in fact, I would expand that and include Sergeants. Junior officers? Wellllll..... silent

Okay, okay....useless as tits on a bull, by and large.

The ones who were older and junior officers were usually okay, but as I metioned in the earlier post, those who got put through university by the army and then paid back with 3 or 4 years in the Army with a commission....blah....

Senior Ranks....like Majors and up? If they came up through the ranks, my impression was they were usually on the ball and pretty okay. If they had walked in with a commission and went from there, then 9 times out of 10 they were just older twits....

Of course, there are exceptions and every soldier has stories about some great Captain or Lieutenant he served under or a Major or Colonel etc. Same with my dad.

My mother had had a cousin in the Lord Strathcona's, a junior officer whose father retired as a Lt.-Col. (complete with always wearing a blazer with regimental crest and a great bushy white moustache). A total absolute twit.

Of course, being "family" this twit was over at our house once in a while for dinner...this was when we were in MQs in Canada. It got a bit weird because he was also dad's superior, although dad didn't work under him.

The rule soon became No Army Talk because the cousin had no idea what the hell he was talking about, my dad had "issues" with how he conducted himself as an officer and some of the decisions he'd make (and couldn't say anything). Eventually, the cousin chose to not associate as he didn't care for my dad either.

Thing is, my great uncle, the retired Lt.-Col., didn't have a hell of a lot of use for his snot-nosed son either!! And that is a quote :-) He far preferred my dad; a soldier's soldier (and that's also a quote).

Sergeants, WOs, MWOs and CWOs are like middle management -- close enough to the rank and file to 'get it' and far enough up the ladder to do something constructive with that.

Mike_2817 · Subject: Re: queens jubilee parade 1977 Tue Oct 20, 2009 10:14 am

As far as I know, no discounts are given to UJ members at the VSC and you must be a registered VSC member to stay. Of the two I prefer the VSC even if the UJ is a bit cheeper.

Mike_2817 · Subject: Re: queens jubilee parade 1977 Tue Oct 20, 2009 10:23 am

Stephen Lock wrote:

Mike_2817 wrote:

Stephen, Warrant Officers & Senior Ranks are the backbone of any army.

I agree...in fact, I would expand that and include Sergeants. Junior officers? Wellllll..... silent

Okay, okay....useless as tits on a bull, by and large.

..........

Senior Ranks....like Majors and up? If they came up through the ranks, my impression was they were usually on the ball and pretty okay. If they had walked in with a commission and went from there, then 9 times out of 10 they were just older twits.....

Bit of a misunderstanding here:

'Warrant Officers' are WO Class II & I

'Senior Ranks' in the British Army means Sergeants & Staff Sergeants,

'Junior Ranks' being Privates, Lance Corporals & Corporals.

'Junior Officers' are Second Lutenants (subbys) to Captain

Captains are sometimes known as 'Command Officers' and hold appointments such as Adjutant
[In the British Army this is where most ex-ranker 'Late Engagment' Officers start after short training as a subby]

'Field Officers' are Major to Lt Colonel

Full Colonels and above are 'Staff Officers'

Brigader and above are also 'Generals'

Gordon. · Subject: Re: queens jubilee parade 1977 Tue Oct 20, 2009 11:20 am

Quote:

Full Colonels and above are 'Staff Officers'

Not strictly true.

Captains and above can hold staff officer appointments

Hardrations · Subject: Re: queens jubilee parade 1977 Tue Oct 20, 2009 2:23 pm

In the Canadian Army. Major and above is all about politics.

There was once a tongue in cheek article in the Sentinel about Capts. being the last rank of responsibility with enlisted personnel. And that Majors and above should be left to do their politicing and Capts who wanted to remain in rank and work with the troops be given the pay and responsibility of command positions, ei: Company-Capt, Battalion-Capt, Brigade-Capt.

Stephen Lock · Subject: Re: queens jubilee parade 1977 Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:26 pm

Mike_2817 wrote:

Stephen Lock wrote:

Mike_2817 wrote:

Stephen, Warrant Officers & Senior Ranks are the backbone of any army.

I agree...in fact, I would expand that and include Sergeants. Junior officers? Wellllll..... silent

Okay, okay....useless as tits on a bull, by and large.

..........

Senior Ranks....like Majors and up? If they came up through the ranks, my impression was they were usually on the ball and pretty okay. If they had walked in with a commission and went from there, then 9 times out of 10 they were just older twits.....

Bit of a misunderstanding here:

'Warrant Officers' are WO Class II & I

'Senior Ranks' in the British Army means Sergeants & Staff Sergeants,

'Junior Ranks' being Privates, Lance Corporals & Corporals.

'Junior Officers' are Second Lutenants (subbys) to Captain

Captains are sometimes known as 'Command Officers' and hold appointments such as Adjutant
[In the British Army this is where most ex-ranker 'Late Engagment' Officers start after short training as a subby]

'Field Officers' are Major to Lt Colonel

Full Colonels and above are 'Staff Officers'

Brigader and above are also 'Generals'

Thanks, Mike....

Again, having not been involved with anything Army for nigh on 30 years, I tend to forget these sorts of things.

Of course, I knew Senior ranks referred to Sgts and Staff Sgts (Canadian rank of Warrant Officer was a post-unification rank equivalent to S/Sgt)...duh!

DND didn't have WO II or WO I...the rank was divided up into Warrant, Master Warrant Officer and Chief Warrant Officer (WO, MWO, CWO) and roughly equivalent to S/Sgt and or Sgt. Major.

Certainly I knew, even as I wrote my original response, that 'Junior Ranks' referred to Privates, Lance Corporals and Corporals which makes my missing the Senior Ranks concept even more gregarious....I must have been having a senior's moment LOL

Junior Officers...yep, knew that!

I believe Canadians also have the Field Officer designation for Major to Lt.Col, but don't quote me on that. And our Brigadiers are also Generals, or I guess rather the rank of General is sub-divided into things like Brigadier General, Lieutenant General, Major General etc. Or is that American? Oh dear, slipping into another senior's...uhm...senior's....ahhh, what? geek

Stephen Lock · Subject: Re: queens jubilee parade 1977 Tue Oct 20, 2009 7:33 pm

Hardrations wrote:

In the Canadian Army. Major and above is all about politics.

There was once a tongue in cheek article in the Sentinel about Capts. being the last rank of responsibility with enlisted personnel. And that Majors and above should be left to do their politicing and Capts who wanted to remain in rank and work with the troops be given the pay and responsibility of command positions, ei: Company-Capt, Battalion-Capt, Brigade-Capt.

Sounds about right to me! LOL And I wonder just how "tongue-in-cheek" the article was. It'd, of course, be written that way in an attempt to thwart any repercussions, but one suspects it may not have been quite as much a piece of satire as it appeared!

Certainly, and I recall talking about this with my Dad many many years ago, there is a huge "jump" between Capt. and Major, even though the higher rank is only one rank above the other. A bigger jump than, say, between Lieutenant and Captain, or Sgt. and Sgt. Major/WO. Part of that, I now realize (and kind of did back then too) is exactly that divide Hardrations speaks of re Capt. being the last rank of responsibility with enlisted personnel and Majors not.

blairgowrie · Subject: Queens Jubllee Parade 1977 Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:21 pm

was right quide (WO11) for the Queens Jubillee parade which was held at Hillsburgh in 1977 and did not receive a medal, only one person on parade received a medal, the Major in charge of the parade.
Joe

Paul · Subject: Re: queens jubilee parade 1977 Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:28 pm

blairgowrie wrote:

was right quide (WO11) for the Queens Jubillee parade which was held at Hillsburgh in 1977 and did not receive a medal, only one person on parade received a medal, the Major in charge of the parade.
Joe

But who did all the work to put the parade on in the first place??

Off topic, but was it not said that the OBE awarded to many (but not all) was for "Other B*****s Efforts" scratch

Paul.

Brian · Subject: Re: queens jubilee parade 1977 Wed Nov 04, 2009 12:18 pm

Hi All
1st Day Cover
Queens Silver Jubilee 1977
Sennelager

_________________
Brian
Ich bin ein Berliner
Looking for anything to do with the British army in Berlin