22 years served

I did my full stint...left 16 years ago...civi street is not all bad but i do miss the fitter section system!

Ted Stanford. REME 1960-1978. Started as an Ece but did a Radar Tiffy course. Left 1978 on Voluntary Redundancy, and regretted it ever since.

Hi Ted and welcome mate. I did my 22 and loved it.

Hello Jim,
I could see myself spending the rest of my service in the uk at training establishments etc, so when VR came up I put in for it. Thought it would be better for the family. Of course the money was useful and the job I got in civvy st was great at first but really missed the Army. When I look back on it now, 30 years later, it was a backward step. But there you go, can't change it now. Just retired so a man of leisure now, and the Army pension I get even though it's reduced to 16/22 of the full amount beats the civvy pensions I get.

Hi Guys
Served from 1977-2000. 15 Years i total in Germany. Vehicle Electrician. Still actively involved with the REME Golf Society so get to see old friends. On arrival in civvy street, had to explain terminology and sense of humour.
8 years on and still remember the good old days.

I ended up doing 27 years ,Infantry then RAOC,enjoyed every minute of it,funny how the bad times fade and the good times get stronger.
As one of my mates said,there are three types of people in the world,forces,ex forces and civvie barstewards,I reckon he's got a point.

Have you noticed than when you talk to a civvy about your time in the Army, they never really understand. Most of us have had experiences they'll never have.

tedstanford wrote:

Have you noticed than when you talk to a civvy about your time in the Army, they never really understand. Most of us have had experiences they'll never have.

And no matter the Regiment or Corps served in, there is always a little "something" that stays with you in what you do or say, or in how you lokk at things!

Paul.

I agree we who have served, all have something in common.

Why is this thread such a funny shape?

Bloody Staff Clerks been playing with it.(probably)

1967 to 1979. enjoyed it but that was enough. time for other adventures. used the stuff i learned there though to make sure the advetures carried on, owned a white water rafting business, ran a couple of parachute schools, then had kids and took up golf. Nobby was the 9 hole golf course at the back of the LAD in werl when you where there ? i didnt play in those days sadly. I agree though, civvies simply dont get it.

1967 to 1979. enjoyed it but that was enough. time for other adventures. used the stuff i learned there though to make sure the advetures carried on, owned a white water rafting business, ran a couple of parachute schools, then had kids and took up golf. Nobby was the 9 hole golf course at the back of the LAD in werl when you where there ? i didnt play in those days sadly. I agree though, civvies simply dont get it.

steve jones wrote:

1967 to 1979. enjoyed it but that was enough. time for other adventures. used the stuff i learned there though to make sure the advetures carried on, owned a white water rafting business, ran a couple of parachute schools, then had kids and took up golf. Nobby was the 9 hole golf course at the back of the LAD in werl when you where there ? i didnt play in those days sadly. I agree though, civvies simply dont get it.

Hi Steve. The Golf course was there. I didnt play Golf at the time, used to play Hockey & Skydiving. I visited Werl after they closed it down and the Golf course was still open.

Of my 23 years service I served 9 in BAOR. Hohne 4RTR LAD, Lemgo ASqn 4RTR & 1RNF LAD, Dortmund Napier Bks 36 Hy RA Wksp REME, Fallingbostel 16/5 Queens Royal Lancers LAD.
Loved every minute of it, both work and play, especially in a Sqn Fitter Section. The RAC looked after us well when we worked day and night.

jim wrote:

I agree we who have served, all have something in common.

Why is this thread such a funny shape?

Takes the REME to sort it out

It was connected to the user profile of one of the posters. If "Places Served" is written without spaces (xxx/xxx/xxx or xxx,xxx,xxx), it comes out in a continuous line and widens the page.

Editing the user profile, without loss of detail, brings the page back again. If you spot any more, let me know and i will do the needful.

Paul.

hi guys served RASC/RCT 1962 1988 was in leibenau, bahrain,
berlin, lubbecke, lisburn ni, osnabrucke, then long service at the dummersee yacht club had a great time i still miss the army and i hate civvy street.

jock aitken B.E.M.

Any body on this page know the whereabouts of Jim 'LOFTY' WATTS. Best man at my wedding in Detmold 1964.
He was 3rd DGs LAD
My Father in Law (Now deceased) was ASM Chas Morris with AAC and later transporter unit in Fallingbostel

After 17 years there are still things I miss.

Sgts Mess life is one of them and my wife agrees.

jockaitken wrote:

hi guys served RASC/RCT 1962 1988 was in leibenau, bahrain,
berlin, lubbecke, lisburn ni, osnabrucke, then long service at the dummersee yacht club had a great time i still miss the army and i hate civvy street.

jock aitken B.E.M.

you forgot houndstone camp, yeovil jock.

1966-1982,1st 15/19 HUSSARS, thenAAC,would go back as bedding storeman tomorrow,if i could,[this is only my opinion,once the civvy is wrung out of you in training,it can never be put back],dave.

Even as a dependent I clearly see the difference between 'living army' and 'living civvie'.

When my dad retired in 1980-81 he got an excellent job with a computer design/software company, largely based around his past invovlement with the Dept of Defence's DEVIL program (Development of Internal Logistics) in the late 60's (as an aside I can remember him "writing" programs at the dining room table using a roll of army issue paper toweling -- the green stuff -- and designing programs for those massive, and slow!, computers one found towering in huge rooms in, back then, secure HQs and various 'hidden' buildings around Ottawa), he was happy but Mom hated it, having nothing in common with the other executive wives who had always lived that particular life. Unfortunately, dad died of a massive heart attack less than a year after joing Digital Inc. while on a business trip to Toronto.

For myself, I constantly come across civvies who, as mentioned by others, simply have no concept of anything military or what the Canadian military actually does (although with our involvement in Afghanistan, that's improved somewhat).

When I talk about having "grown up in what was then West Germany" I get blank stares (the "west Germany" throws them, for one thing) and I am inevitably met with "Oh...so you're German?" Further explanations about Canada's/NATO's role in the Cold War in Western Europe, specifically Germany, almost always stirs up Glazed Eye Syndrome in the civvie.

If I also happen to mention attending a Canadian army run but civilian school, that really confuses them. All they hear is "army school" and immediately assume I attended some sort of military academy! I've even had individuals argue with me about it!! Dolts....

Even members of our own family, well -- Mom's side, anyway (Dad's were all army) -- never quite 'got it.' My Nana, who was a genteel Englishwoman, and was known to sometimes put on airs would slip into a rather "posh" attitude when talking about her youngest daughter's time "in Europe." It was always "When she/the family lived in Europe". I don't ever recall Nana saying "lived in Germany"....she never forgave The Huns, you know LOL

She certainly never understood the conditions we sometimes lived under! She couldn't understand why my mother never took 'that lovely tea service' with her "to Europe." Yeah, right...Mom could have afternoon teas in the cold two-rooms above the chicken coop in some small village that had more cows per capita than people!

When we returned from Germany the first time (1963) we lived in Vancouver British Columbia, on Canada's west coast. I had a smart little grey and green "forester's" jacket...the type with the bone buttons one sees being worn at Schutzenfest's...and the matching little green felt fedora with the all the pins on it. No, I didn't have the lederhosen LOL. I would wear it occasionally to church or for special events and not think anything of it. I would have been about 7 or 8 years old. I stopped wearing it when some of the neighbourhood boys started calling me a Nazi....now, tell me how 8, 9, 10 year old boys would even know about such things? Right; the parents. Lovely people, I'm sure.... :p

To this day, I still come across people who have no idea Canadian troops, let alone families, were stationed in Germany or why. Some don't even know what "NATO" is!

And don't even get me started on the attending 12 or 14 different schools in 12 years vs attending the same schools with the same group of kids from your neighbourhood for years....that was really outside their sphere of understanding. Clealy, I must have been kicked out of every school I ever attended....

15years REME (58-73)and only went to Germany once on Firing Camp with 42RA.Had all the rough postings, Hong Kong,Cyprus and a brief time in Singapore. I still miss a lot about it but don't think I'd like it so much now. Oh yes and four tours in NI with 5 Lt RA.

Someone who is considerably more clever than I, said..."You can take the man out of the Army, but you can't take the Army out of the man."

23 years and 198 days....man and beast!

11 years here - 1974 to 1985 (1 year as a young soldier). REME Radar tech, served with 1 RHA LAD in Detmold (75-76), then RAR Hebrides (76-79), then 5 Armd Wksp (79-80), RA Sales & Demo Team (81-83) and finally back to 1 RHA LAD from 83-85 before my medical discharge. I would have served longer but for a serious knee injury. Almost 30 years ago now but I still miss it.