Wearing service kit

brum wrote:

Same here Jim. Mind you, I learned .303 drill in Boys.

Learning the drill for SLR was a bit of a pain I remember, 'specially the recover from the Present. (Kept bringing my foot up on the first movement...painful !).

I've got a deactivated .303 and find the drill comes back quite easily, even after all this time.

When I did my RPC one Brum, one of the things you had to do was give a drill lesson. I chose to do the present and shoulder arms in the old .303 drill with an old .303 they had in the armoury. The training team were well impressed and I got top marks.

"Showing my age", Steve ? You're not wrong there mate !
The "Absent Friends" section of our Old Comrades is starting to look like a Casualty Return from the first day of The Battle of the Somme !

We got SLR around '60 - '61, I think. We would have been a lower priority for issue, I imagine, as we were equipped with 5.5 Mediums in those days.

jim wrote:

brum wrote:

Same here Jim. Mind you, I learned .303 drill in Boys.

Learning the drill for SLR was a bit of a pain I remember, 'specially the recover from the Present. (Kept bringing my foot up on the first movement...painful !).

I've got a deactivated .303 and find the drill comes back quite easily, even after all this time.

When I did my RPC one Brum, one of the things you had to do was give a drill lesson. I chose to do the present and shoulder arms in the old .303 drill with an old .303 they had in the armoury. The training team were well impressed and I got top marks.

Handling the .303 I've got, I notice that the rifle is a lot heavier than it used to be !

LOL, Is that the weapon or you mate.

Aah yes . . the old Shrinking Waistband Syndrome !

(I hope that's what you mean, Jim !).

LOL, yes indeed mate

Ah! Nostalgia kick in.

BD The joys of pressing it. Like trying to make a horse blanket into a dinner jacket.
However it had at least evolved from the wartime version and I've always thought that a well fitted and pressed BD complete with buff blancoed belt n gaiters and polished brasses took some beating in the smart uniform stakes. Mind you it had to be seriously tailored, shaved and generally customised to get the look but was well within the means of the average squaddie

ah yes, soaping the creases was fun.

He! He! Soaping the creases, yep great fun but it had an unfortunate side effect in that it rotted the material. I recall a guard mounting when the stickman, having been selected, was fallen out. He executed an impeccable turn and as he raised his knee to the prescribed height His BD trousers split right down the crease. much to the amusement of the guard and the bemusement of the Orderly officer. His trousers, it turned out, had been shaved and soaped to excess.

Nice to see someone else mentioning "Stick man", Wrinkles.

BD seemed to attract bullshit somehow. We had to paint our tapes with white Blanco, trade badges had to be brass and those front pleats taken out. Why they didn't just modify the BD, instead of bringing out that horrible No 2 dress is beyond me.

How about the greatcoat then, eh ? eh? Running about in the pouring rain with a soaking wet greatcoat on. Absolute purgatory !

Greatcoat???Was that the thing that hung on the side of my locker??I can`t remember ever wearing it apart from when it was issued and tried for size.Got rid of it when i left BAOR for sunnier climes.and never had one after that.

Running about in the rain brum..? The very thought makes me feel weak.Must go for a lie down now.

Ah! But it was a Great coat. Mine spent more time on top of my bed as an extra blanket when in the dreaded wooden spiders at Norton barrack in the winter. But yes a soaking wet greatcoat was to a squaddy the equivalent of a ball and chain. And Just how did you go about pressing one of those things. Soap was no good 'cos as soon as it rained you disappeared into a mass of bubbles.

i cut my greatcoat down to car coat size,exellent for driving ferrets.

dandc wrote:

i cut my greatcoat down to car coat size,excellent for driving ferrets.

We has some lads do that with old great coats in the days before a proper battle dress was issued. This was in the early summer and bush issue was the dress of the day. We only had a skimpy WW 2 wool issue sweater and bush jacket for warmth on cold rainy days. Well the C.O. ( a definite dip stick) had us parade on end of a most miserable exercise on the prairies and ordered the lads with these modified great coats were not to be worn at any time. This while he was wearing the same and continued to do the same on cold days. Often wondered how we got through WW 2 with some of these officers.

Did I just get promoted?

If so.

No modified great coats allowed.

Sgt Mjr...... Who's that idle man, looking warm and comfortable in a modified great coat.

Yay, welcome to the senior officers mess hardrations.

Wrinkles, which Norton Bks was that, the one I remember outside Worcester was all brick buildings in the '60's

I had a cut down great coat, it was erm.... great

jim wrote:

Yay, welcome to the senior officers mess hardrations.

Wrinkles, which Norton Bks was that, the one I remember outside Worcester was all brick buildings in the '60's

I had a cut down great coat, it was erm.... great

That would be THE Norton Barracks, Off Norton Road, Worcester. It is now, mostly, beneath a housing estate, However the Keep, housing the regimental museum, is still there.

In the early 60's up to at least '64 a large proportion was brick built but away beyond the square, roughly between what is now Salamanca Drive and Vimiera Close, or in that area, there were wooden spiders. I know they were there as I had the pleasure of residing in the one that was furthest building away from the NAAFI. which was about halfway between, what is now Gazala drive and the keep.

Should you wish to have a look at the site as it is today search "Norton Barracks (Worcester),UK" in google maps. You will be presented with a point on Crookbarrow road near the junction with Norton road, follow back along Crookbarrow, across the roundabout 'til it becomes Norton Road again. Opposite the junction with Gazala drive is the keep.

wrinkles wrote:

Ah! But it was a Great coat. Mine spent more time on top of my bed as an extra blanket when in the dreaded wooden spiders at Norton barrack in the winter. But yes a soaking wet greatcoat was to a squaddy the equivalent of a ball and chain. And Just how did you go about pressing one of those things. Soap was no good 'cos as soon as it rained you disappeared into a mass of bubbles.

Just to rub salt in the wound. We had a bullshitty CO who had the guard in Best BD, Best Boots and in the Winter, Greatcoat with a Blancoed belt round the outside to hold everything in. (Carrying a High Velocity Pick Helve, scraped white by the SUS.)
I'm sure Ivan had second thoughts about invading when he heard about it !

I was issued a great coat. They gave us buttons to sew on which as you probably know is a pain in the bum to do as the material was so thick. Took mine home to mummy and she did it. Then they got withdrawn. Such is life.

I quite liked them when it was cold.

We only got ordinary pick helves Brum. Think our SUS's were all picking up dog ends.

Hey lads!
We were issued BD's when I was in the ARES, they were hideously horrible during summer!

handler 69 wrote:

Hey lads!
We were issued BD's when I was in the ARES, they were hideously horrible during summer!

Did my email address reach you mate ?

brum

Yes mate expect a reply today...have been a tad crook. Thats why haven't been on of late.
Cheers
Troy

Wrinkles, we lived in a MQ on Norton road, just by the back of the BKS, near the Gym. That must have been pretty near your time, I'd be about 15 or 16 and going to Worcester Royal Grammar. It was the LF's in Norton then. Do you remember the NAAFI Manager, short fat little poof, he tried to seduce me when I worked there for a summer job. Judd his name was I think.

Jim, I didn't frequent the NAAFI at Norton Barracks except for morning NAAFI breaks so I don't believe I ever met that character. I do recall some MQ's in that area and they would have been fairly close

There was a line of about 12 of them on the Norton road, all '50's semi's mate.