Young and skint

member when I first got married it was 1969 and I was 19 years old. As I was under 21 I was not entiteled to a married Qtr so lived in private accommodation on the other side of Bielefeld. As an "under age" soldier I was not even entitled to a Ration Card it was bloody disgusting. Used to give the landlady Fags and Coffee to subsidise the rent. When the rules changed and I got a Qtr we thought we were loaded. Anyone else in that situation?

Tony, I was in the same situation, got married in '65 and moved into private accommodation in Monninghausen which was out in the sticks about 12 Km from Lippstadt. We had to do most of our shopping on the German net, even hired a TV from the local shop, AKC wouldn't install in private accommodation. Getting to work and back was difficult, the Stadt bus left at 0630hrs (if you could get on it) and returned at 1800hrs. I remember coming back from a 6 week course at Bovington, due to fog at Gutersloh the flight was redirected to Hannover, the coach picked us up and delivered us round the various Garrisons. I arrived at Lippstadt about midnight and thought I would be able to get the Duty Truck to take me home, got into the Guardroom to be confronted by the RSM (they did that in those days!), because I lived in private accommodation I wasn't entitled and had to schlepp the 12 Kms, carrying my 1157, in the rain! Happy Days.

Me too! I got married in '65 and fell into the under 21 trap. I was only in that position for about 3 months though, but it was a pain not even getting onto the MQ waiting list until I was 21. Looking back, it seems incredible that such discriminatory petty rules existed.

Caused me major problems getting married under 21 in Apr 69 the private accommodation that I found and booked was not available on arriving married in Verden-Aller (by train from Lancashire) and forced to share a tiny flat (our friends slept in the living room) for a month or so waiting to the flat below to come available…then on UK posting to Norton Barracks Worcester still under 21 but on reaching the ‘quarter age’ got a substandard quarter at Wood Farm Camp Malvern miles away (found out later a former mortuary) it was single brick but very cheap!
Cheers
Steve

Hi lads.
Yes there was many of us in that situation, it was so unfair. Yes Selldrake I remember the kit inspection dragging all yur kit in for a first parade kit check by our SGT. He was a right prat to me. But one thing he did give me the motivation to climb the so called promotion ladder. In fact I met him years later when I was on my WO2 course. He was a SSGT when I was prmoted to WO1. Guess what never bought him a pint.

Revenge is a dish best served cold! We lived in in Monninghausen for four years until the Regt returned to the UK where we got a fairly decent MQ. The upside was that we learned to speak German and to this day we still have German Satellite TV - sad, I know!

God those were the days. I was 8 months off my 21st birthday when we got married. My less than favourite SSgt who had married a local girl heard I was looking for accommodation and dug me out of bed on a Saturday morning. He said, “I’ve got just the place for you, and it’s on a bus route that runs past the camp gates.” He took me around to his wife’s relatives in a nearby village to show me a flat on the top floor of their house. I said I’d like it, but before I could take it the SSM had to inspect it. He took me up there later in the week and agreed it was a suitable flat but he said, “Your wife might appreciate more than a two ring burner to cook on”. On our return to camp he called in a favour from someone in the MPBW and had a good used electric cooker installed. SWMBO arrived soon after and we enjoyed living there for six months before I was posted and we moved back to UK.

Just a bit before my time
" border="0" alt=""/>
" border="0" alt=""/>
Was not much better in 1966
Cheers
Steve

Very interesting Steve, I bet there was a few heated discussions in the Mess when the WO1 Non Tradesman with less than 6 years service found out he wasn't being paid as much as the WO 1 Tradesman, with less than 6 years service. I suppose that in those days there was a lot of REME Tradesmen WOs 1 with less that 6 years in!! I think the idea of not providing MQs (they are known as Service Families Accommodation nowadays) for under 21s was to discourage them from getting married too young. I know that when I got married I had to ask the Battery Commanders permission!

I was married at 18, local girl, and had an MQ right away - 1991. Lived in Oerlinghausen near Bielefeld and it was a nightmare if you didn't have a car - accomodation was good and we all had ration cards, even the 17 year olds (but not for booze).

When my mom and dad got married in 1951, dad was a few months shy of 21 (mom was coming up 23, I believe) and, yes, he had to ask permission from his CO. I suspect it was a formality only. I can't imagine permission being denied, but perhaps it could be.

On top of that, theirs was a 'whirlwind courtship'. Set up on a blind date, continued to date, and 6 months later got married. And, no, I didn't arrive until 1953!!! They were together for 29 years until Dad died of a massive heart attack at the age of 50. Mom never remarried or dated after he died. She'd lost her soulmate, absolutely. She died in 2000, so spent 20 years without him and, I'm sure, missed him every single day.

Shelldrake wrote:

Very interesting Steve, I bet there was a few heated discussions in the Mess when the WO1 Non Tradesman with less than 6 years service found out he wasn't being paid as much as the WO 1 Tradesman, with less than 6 years service. I suppose that in those days there was a lot of REME Tradesmen WOs 1 with less that 6 years in!! I think the idea of not providing MQs (they are known as Service Families Accommodation nowadays) for under 21s was to discourage them from getting married too young. I know that when I got married I had to ask the Battery Commanders permission!

Now that's interesting Shelldrake. Before I got married in '62 I had to ask the permission of my CO.
When I related the story later, to soldiers of a younger era, I got the standard response of "Bollocks !".

The fact is, back in the days of my youth we were under a lot of constraints. For example, you couldn't go downtown in civvies until the CO had passed them as suitable.
You could be charged with the offence of "Bringing the Army Into Disrepute".

Have any of you Old Sweats ever tried to describe a Pay Parade to a younger soldier ?

Pay And Book Correct, Sah !

Spot on Brum. I had to ask permission and I was 22. A formality really but you had to do it. Pay parade, well they counted it out and you had to check it. Pay and pay book correct sah! Not long after we went on to banking. Lloyds must have been laughing.

Never had a problem re wearing civvies. Work finished at 5 and if you weren't on duty you were a free man even in basic. I do remember streaking was in vogue at the time and the more "enthusiastic" used to do it around Richmond square (Yorkshire) for a dare or bet. Even when caught it was only a case of a slap on the wrist. Far too shy to be involved in that myself.! My excuse and I am sticking to it!

Asking for permission to marry was normally a formality. On occasions the CO would try and talk a young soldier out of it,if he saw something that could cause problems in later life.ie mixed race, religion etc.'

I was interested in the pay scales from 1962.At the time just over 10 quid plus LOA seemed a fortune

I must say that i never came across a R.Sigs. S/Sgt,WO11 or WO1 tech. committed to less than 6 years. You could make Sgt in 5 years and S/Sgt ( F of S) in eight ,but had to commit for 22

In fact S/Sgt,WO11 or WO1 techs were on the way out,as the new rank structure had come out the previous year

No problems wearing civvies either..I couldn`t get out of uniform quick enough

i remember the old pay parade at lubbecke before are money was paid in to the sparkasse,one morning on pay parade i was still a little bit worse for wear and on marching up to the table full of all the money and pay books i got to near to the table and on halting caught my knee under the table,sending all the money flying and everything all over the place, i was not a very popular boy that day as the pay officer stopped pay parade till the afternoon,got some stick for that.

The main thing I recall about Pay Parade were all the Stoppages
(Barrack room Damages etc)

That's right Jerry, you received your pay and then moved along the table to the Battery Captain who "deducted" money for Barrack Damages, Haircuts and Extra Messing. The extra messing paid for "luxuries" such as Salt, Vinegar, Mint Sauce and a seat with a view. Just glad that they didn't introduce Waiter or Room Service - would have been completely skint then!

The poor NS "were Skint", most of them didn't know whether laugh or "CRY" !!!

I certainly asked for permission, and I was 25. I believe it was only a formality maybe but nevertheless I was marched on front of the Brigadier and asked. He questioned me a bit and then said granted. Also told me to tell the DQ to ensure I had a hireing. We lived in a small block of hireings in Waddenhausen, just outside Lage/Lippe. Getting to work wasn't bad, Initially I got a lift from and Int Corp's CPL who worked in Bde HQ like myself, later I bought a moped, but God that was cold in winter. LOL.

When we were posted to Corps HQ, we lived in Oerlinghausen as well, I had a car by then, but there were unit buses to take people who had no transport in those days, well buses, most were 4 ton trucks.

Our first Son was born in BMH Iserlohn in 1967, Iserlohn was about 80 Kms from Lippstadt. Because of the distances involved my wife had to go into a Hostel, not far from the BMH, about 3 weeks before the baby was due. Because I lived in Private Accommodation I wasn't entitled to unit transport to visit her, the only exception to this was if someone who lived in MQs was making a visit or had an appointment at the same time. Other than that I had to make my own arrangements. Good old days!