Op Banner

Shelldrake wrote:

The Charwallahs provided an excellent 24/7 service, the downside of their presence, initially, was that they brought their "Tick Books" from Cyprus with them, having had the foresight that they might, one day, meet up with their creditors - which they did!!

Somebody broke into the Charwallah shop when we were in Cyprus. All that was taken was their "Tick" book, obviously the burglar was heavily in debt to them.
Made no difference though, the buggers had a duplicate copy !

pete26 wrote:

[

We had orders for the 'towers' guard duties to shoot any dog that was attacking it's handler - immediately !

What !? A squaddy shooting a dog off its handler ?

Remembering some of the crosseyed buggers we had I'd rather take my chances with the dog !

brum wrote:

pete26 wrote:

[

We had orders for the 'towers' guard duties to shoot any dog that was attacking it's handler - immediately !

What !? A squaddy shooting a dog off its handler ?

Remembering some of the crosseyed buggers we had I'd rather take my chances with the dog !

pete26 wrote:

Some of the conditions for squaddies in the early years were diabolical.

I have seen pics of them sleeping under not much more than a poncho on the rooftops of what I can only describe as old mills.

When we first got posted to HMP Maze in early 1974, for the first couple of weeks they still had the old dreadful and downright dirty showers. And there were very few of them.

They then put in new Portacabins which were a brilliant contrast. Visiting squaddies were amazed at the new cookhouse and living conditions/shower blocks/toilets.

In '72 we were based in Anderstonstown bus station, living in all sorts of nooks and crannies.
'73 in The Kesh, we were quite comfortable in portacabins. (I wonder where you were Pete ?).
'75 we started our tour of Londonderry living on HMS Rame Head, then moved ashore, into various warehouses and things in Fort George.
'77, (my final tour), found us in various little rooms in the Kitchen Hill factory in Lurgan.
So I suppose, accom-wise The Kesh was the most comfortable.
At the end of the day, whatever part of the world you were in, home was where your bed was !

Brian, remind me again, which regt were you with on that '69 tour ?

42nd Medium Regiment, Brum. We had an excellent posting in Lippstadt from '64 then we were warned that the Regt was to be posted to Devizes as part of the Strategic Reserve, deployable anywhere in the world. Places such as Cyprus, Malta, Gibralter etc sprang to mind, NI kicked of in 69 and the rest, as they say, is history.

brum wrote:

pete26 wrote:

Some of the conditions for squaddies in the early years were diabolical.

I have seen pics of them sleeping under not much more than a poncho on the rooftops of what I can only describe as old mills.

When we first got posted to HMP Maze in early 1974, for the first couple of weeks they still had the old dreadful and downright dirty showers. And there were very few of them.

They then put in new Portacabins which were a brilliant contrast. Visiting squaddies were amazed at the new cookhouse and living conditions/shower blocks/toilets.

In '72 we were based in Anderstonstown bus station, living in all sorts of nooks and crannies.
'73 in The Kesh, we were quite comfortable in portacabins. (I wonder where you were Pete ?).
'75 we started our tour of Londonderry living on HMS Rame Head, then moved ashore, into various warehouses and things in Fort George.
'77, (my final tour), found us in various little rooms in the Kitchen Hill factory in Lurgan.
So I suppose, accom-wise The Kesh was the most comfortable.
At the end of the day, whatever part of the world you were in, home was where your bed was !

Brian, remind me again, which regt were you with on that '69 tour ?

Yes the portacabins were already there in Jan 74 but the showers hadn't been improved they came slightly later.

Everyone had the same 'cabins' for kipping and moved when you went on such as Standby 1.

Now you mention it mate, the showers were somewhat crap during our stay.

"Standby One" ? That was for the lower orders. We in Main Gate Tp danced to a different tune. (The RSM's actually !).

Shelldrake wrote:

42nd Medium Regiment, Brum. We had an excellent posting in Lippstadt from '64 then we were warned that the Regt was to be posted to Devizes as part of the Strategic Reserve, deployable anywhere in the world. Places such as Cyprus, Malta, Gibralter etc sprang to mind, NI kicked of in 69 and the rest, as they say, is history.

We were 19 Bde in Colchester and airportable for Strat Reserve.
Where did we go ? Otterburn and a brigade exercise in N Ireland.
We were there for Churchill's funeral though !

Here's one for the historians.
The Mods & Rockers were performing in Clacton and other seaside towns. We were called in to camp (Kirkee McMunn), and told to standby, with steel helmets & pick helves, to assist the police in sorting them out.
It never came to fruition, I suppose someone in Brigade bottled out.
Imagine if it had !

brum wrote:

Now you mention it mate, the showers were somewhat crap during our stay.

"Standby One" ? That was for the lower orders. We in Main Gate Tp danced to a different tune. (The RSM's actually !).

Showers!! At the risk of going off thread (Sorry Cartav), anyone remember the old showers built inside Nissen huts in Reinsehlen Camp? They were the Dogs, the shower heads were the size of dinner plates, best showers ever, and as they do when "Progress" beckons, they knocked them down and replaced them with a large communal shower block!!



(Back to Op Banner).

Gordon. wrote:

Never having served in NI, this is an education for me..Keep it coming lads..

I'm with you here, Gordon. The only time we got to hear much about NI was when,
for instance, some squaddy loosed off his SLR when a road block was ignored and he was chucked inside because he might have hurt somebody who was trying to run him over..........

We did get a lecture from Lt.Col Blashford- Snell, which he was able to make amusing and, one weekend, we were invited to join the group acting as Paddies when the rest of the other unit in camp were playing the part of bold Brits. Must have been early days, it looked more like those trg films on policing the Empire.
No unfurled banners saying " Go Home ! Don't be naughty natives !", and no young subaltern calmly directing "One round at one in pink shirt", but similar. Squaddies in a marching line, banging on their circular shields in unison with big sticks, lots of smoke grenades, etc. Reminiscent of those black chaps in "Zulu" !

Looks like being an interesting thread, this one !

Quote :

Lt.Col Blashford- Snell,

Isn`t he the axplorer bloke,who did the Alaska to Cape Horn drive?

Gordon. wrote:

Quote :

Lt.Col Blashford- Snell,

Isn`t he the axplorer bloke,who did the Alaska to Cape Horn drive?

That's him Gordon. He was a mate of our CO and he had a sapper unit in NI.
For the price of a free meal he gave our Sqn. a talk on what NI was really like.
Expected he'd turn up in a solar topee with a fly whisk, but that didn't happen.
And he looked far too well fed & sleek to do half the things he's credited for.

Pith helmet?

No unfurled banners saying " Go Home ! Don't be naughty natives !", and no young subaltern calmly directing "One round at one in pink shirt", but similar.

Looks like being an interesting thread, this one ![/quote]



That is exactly how it was in those early days of Op Banner, I think that it was called Op Union then, could be wrong. Snatch squads, Banners, a Bugler, a man with a roll of Tape, Marking Minefield and two Stretcher Bearers. We became a bit more sophisticated as time went by!!

Shelldrake wrote:

Pith helmet?

Think you've got a lisp, there Shelldrake !!!!

I KNOW none of you like any of the items of top dressing which have been issued. but there's no need to be coarse...... There are some sensitive Scaleys on this net......

Pith and Helmet, nowt wrong with that.

brum wrote:

Now you mention it mate, the showers were somewhat crap during our stay.

"Standby One" ? That was for the lower orders. We in Main Gate to danced to a different tune. (The RSM's actually !).

Yes we used to whizz through the main gate to avoid the RSM, especially at night, as we were very prone to wearing

non -issue Doc Marten boots.

The RSM didn't approve for some strange reason.

I bet the only perk that main gate lads got was searching the young ladies that got coached in for the weekly disco ?

pete26 wrote:

Yes we used to whizz through the main gate to avoid the RSM, especially at night, as we were very prone to wearing non -issue Doc Marten boots.

The RSM didn't approve for some strange reason.

I bet the only perk that main gate lads got was searching the young ladies that got coached in for the weekly disco ?

Later, on our Lurgan area tour, one of our batteries managed to be allowed to wear Doc Martens. The blokes doing the Footsies thought they looked the biz.
Within a few weeks they were back in the old DMS, the Docs just fell apart under the strain.

Our RSM, right up to the time your mob arrived, had a little office that overlooked the search area. In this office he had a mic to a loudspeaker which he took to bellowing down whenever the fancy took him. One day he roared "you'd better get out here, quick !" Out we rushed, clutching our rifles and wearing our war faces, to find that the barrier had broken and had collapsed over the road. Bloody anti climax !

Searching the young ladies ? If only ! They did have to book in with us though, which was some consolation, some of them were stunners.

Was that Arthur Hood or the Beefeater, Brum?

It was indeed Arfer.
Did we discuss him before ?
(Sorry, my memory's crap !).

Doc Martens, weekly discos, fumbling young maidens ????? This is the sort of thing that never came out when the troubles were big news.......... All good stuff, well worth airing !

But weren't the girls taking a bit of a risk when they consorted with the common soldiers ? ............ from the community, that is, not from the attentions of randy squaddies, for it's well known the Brits always act like gentlemen in these situations..........

Has anyone ever written a book which includes references to the Army's relationship with the sympathetic element in NI rather than just being about the confrontation between hard line Republicans and the military ?

brum wrote:

It was indeed Arfer.
Did we discuss him before ?
(Sorry, my memory's crap !).

We did, you sent me a photograph of him "Directing operations". (For want of a better description)

cartav wrote:

Doc Martens, weekly discos, fumbling young maidens ????? This is the sort of thing that never came out when the troubles were big news.......... All good stuff, well worth airing !

Has anyone ever written a book which includes references to the Army's relationship with the sympathetic element in NI rather than just being about the confrontation between hard line Republicans and the military ?

They wouldn't dare!!

The girls thought that marrying a squaddie was an easy way to get away from the troubles.
It could explain the fact that they were `easy`.