national service

[b]I done my national service with the 7th Hussars at Fallingbostel mid 1951-1953 I was in "C" squadron and would like to hear from anyone who was there the same time.
Talking about extra time, I was born 12 months late as I caught the extra 12 months schooling and the extra 6 months NS.
"Sandy"

I bet you could tell some stories Sandy,

welcome to the board mate.

Jim,
I could tell a few, I worked in the Officers Mess as a batman for over twelve months inc living in for the 2 i/c.

But I remember when we first got posted Dec 1951 the 7th had just moved to Fallingbostel from Luneburg and us squadies were doing a lot of cleaning up. The barracks were three storey's with an attic which later on was used as a social room, well there was one chap from Swindon who was sweeping up outside the attic and he was missing for a long time. On investigation the corporal found him sitting outside the attic door pissed to the eyeballs drinking a bottle of gin he had found under rubbish.
That story stood out in my mind.

Sandy

Sandy,

Can you confirm that it was Lumsden Barracks you were in whilst at Fallingbostel. And was it Wyvern Barracks in Luneberg?

Paul.

LOL, nice one sandy. That made me laugh.

Paul,
It was definitly Lumsden Barracks in Fallinbostel next to Wessex where the Queens Bays were in 1951 I do not know about the Luneberg barracks because I was not there, but I remember hearing that the 8th Hussars took over our barracks in Luneberg after returning from Korea.

Sandy wrote:

Paul,
It was definitly Lumsden Barracks in Fallinbostel next to Wessex where the Queens Bays were in 1951 I do not know about the Luneberg barracks because I was not there, but I remember hearing that the 8th Hussars took over our barracks in Luneberg after returning from Korea.

Many thanks for that Sandy, they will be added to the page on the main site, as wil the Bays to Wessex.

Paul.

I spent one night in Fallingbostel in 1962 while on the way to Sennelager with the 16/5th. I recall sleeping on a straw-filled palliasse in some old German barrack block. Not very comfortable at all.

One way I benefited from national serviice was promotion. When I was posted to 112 Coy RASC Wksp REME from the 8 KRIH I was the only regular junior rank in the wksp, in a matter of weeks I was promoted to LCpl, six months later I had two tapes, after two years and aged 21 I was ASgt. Went on Tiffy course aged 23 and never looked back. So thank you national service and being in the right place at the right time.

Bob

Hi all,

National Service should never have been stopped; it sorted out the hard cases and the mummies boys; all in the same uniform and same rank; took less than 48 hours to sort out most. Only handful of trouble makers left; 37 AER got rid of thiers when Korea started.

Many of us got a trade which enabled us to get good jobs when we were demobbed; not too many of us got "A" trade qualifications with increased pay

BAOR was the very best place to be even, better than UK:
We had central heating and double glazing; how many had that at home in 1951!!!
Harwich to Hook could be a bit rough in Winter, but those meals on the train another luxury!!
Food not as good as home cooking but we eat well in Osnabruck

Little story:
I went from Osnabruck to Chatham for a trade test in 1951; and as per usual Saturday evening was big nosh up night; so I went to Chatham NAAFI and ordered a meal then asked for three fried eggs on top [normal BAOR practice] the woman behind the counter said "where have you come from"; I said "Germany"; she said "I thought we won the war." [A lot of stuff still rationed in those days]

Good old days, no complaints from me.

Tony
Royal Engineers

My Father always believed he gained by being a regular during National service, he certainly got promoted quickly in the early days.

Hi,

Some interesting remarks/comments concerning the above. But would todays Army realy survive with NS? Can you imagine some of the toe rags around today making the grade? I dont think so. Todays soldiers are a lot different from the peace time Army of yesteryear. Maybe some would say we could send them to the infantry, but toays inf soldier has some some high tech equipment that requires a high level of intelligence to use. Besides I could not trust some of them to back me up. Know some of you guys are ex NS what do you think?

Hi again,

I understand that today's army is a lot more technical and some of the training more intense
And also most should be much fitter

But who is doing the labouring, cleaning, batman and other unskilled jobs?
Drivers do they have to have other skills

I well remember Sennalager once a year, 1 weeks training, all we had was a 303 and firing from the hip at the cardboard cutouts in windows of doorways. Very hard in milliseconds to decide between a woman holding a baby or a soldier holding a gun!! Shoot at anything that moved was the general rule!!!

You see the recruiting adverts, but everybody cant reach these goals?

National Service did two jobs: Sort out the hard cases, and form a reserve force, which could still be useful

I must admit in my day we also had a few regulars who were pretty useless, and never got any promotion in over 5 years

Regards
Tony

Tony, you'd be hard pushed to find a Batman nowadays! Senior Officers are provided with a cleaner supplied from the Cleaning Company that has the contract for the Barracks. Room jobs are a thing of the past, most Soldiers have what is known as, Single Living Accommodation which is, in most cases, a room with en-suite facilities, communal tasks are carried out by the Cleaning Company. Also, not many Soldiers do Guard Duties, security is provided by the MOD Guard Service (a mix of ex servicemen and civilians) or the Military Provost Guard Staff, which is a sort of extended service. You don't see any Soldiers painting coal or wandering about with a Millboard anymore!!

one of the benefits of national servicemen in REME was that most of the NS tradesmen were time served apprentices and knew more about repairing equipments than most of the young regular tradesmen. I for one learnt a great deal from them as a young VM, vehicles in those days were uncomplicated and mostly easy to work on, the exception being A Vehs which were awkward and time consuming - 15 to 20 hrs for a cent engine change on a good day.

Bob

Shelldrake wrote:

You don't see any Soldiers painting coal or wandering about with a Millboard anymore!!

That's me nackered then

Hi Burges 750,

Yes ok I agree that there are some or should I say many tasks could be carried out by some of these toe rags. But as for them backing me up? Different story.

There again a bit of discipline would probably do them the world of good. I believe that the camaraderie in those days was second to none.

Hi Jerry

Dont worry I guess we are all knackered.

burgess720 wrote:

Hi all,

National Service should never have been stopped; it sorted out the hard cases and the mummies boys; all in the same uniform and same rank; took less than 48 hours to sort out most. Only handful of trouble makers left; 37 AER got rid of thiers when Korea started.

Many of us got a trade which enabled us to get good jobs when we were demobbed; not too many of us got "A" trade qualifications with increased pay

BAOR was the very best place to be even, better than UK:
We had central heating and double glazing; how many had that at home in 1951!!!
Harwich to Hook could be a bit rough in Winter, but those meals on the train another luxury!!
Food not as good as home cooking but we eat well in Osnabruck

Little story:
I went from Osnabruck to Chatham for a trade test in 1951; and as per usual Saturday evening was big nosh up night; so I went to Chatham NAAFI and ordered a meal then asked for three fried eggs on top [normal BAOR practice] the woman behind the counter said "where have you come from"; I said "Germany"; she said "I thought we won the war." [A lot of stuff still rationed in those days]

Good old days, no complaints from me.

Tony
Royal Engineers

The earlier days of my time in the army was spent among NS men. There had been a couple of generations of men who had "done their bit" and the majority of these lads just got their heads down and were resigned to doing their time, just like all those before them.
OK, they all had their "Days to Do" charts and couldn't wait for demob but most of them had a lot of fun and gained some self-respect from the time they spent in the forces before going back to their dreary old civvy jobs.
The army benefited from having NS men too, if you needed a signwriter, for example or a decorator you could be sure there was one among our ranks who's trade it was in civvy street.
On a course once, in the 70's, I was sitting in a British Legion club and the general conversation was generally about the useless scum that, at that time, were making life unpleasant for everybody. Heads traversed in my direction and the opinion was voiced that "they should all be put in the army, that'd sort 'em out". My reply was "why should the army have to do it, these gobshites are scum because society has been too weak to bring them up properly. People don't think they're responsible for their kids behaviour anymore."
It's worse now, my generation was used to being shouted at from our school days, these present-day plonkers would be seeking counselling if they got a mild bollocking !
Ooh, I'm so angry I could slap my Barbie doll !

Hi Brum

Still dont get three eggs at home now

Hi all,
Well said Brum

Why the army could control thos b----gers, was army law was tougher than outside
Plus kids are not controlled by parents or teachers anymore; so if ns was restarted there would be even more dropouts to control.

Roll on demob was a favourite cry; but when you get older you realise how good a couple of years in the army did for you

Pity I have lost contact with my army mates

Cheers
Tony

Tony Miller wrote:

Hi Brum

Still dont get three eggs at home now

I do Dusty

It should be remembered that we depended upon the NS lads to fight a couple of wars for us. Korea was known as the NS war and we would have had problems in Malaya without them. Whilst there were problems amongst them most got their heads down and made the best of the two years as had been previously stated.
Bob

Hi Burgess 720,

Well said matey every word you say is true

This is my brother 1953 Notice his shoes