Sounds and Smells of Deutschland

Jim

As you . Stephen and others have hinted junior officers are well advised to listen and earn from their NCOs I quickly learned the need to keep the Staff Clerks on side in HQ 1 (BR) Corps, it was remarkable what information off the record could be passed quietly to save one's particular skin

Brum.
I was with A Sqn QOH about Sep 70 to Jun 72. I was a WO2 at the time and left on posting to 617 Tk Tptr Wksp after being promoted to WO1 in May 72.

Bob

At around that time the Regt was coming together again in Hohne, wasn't it ? I was "B" Sqn and then a humble Cpl in Recce Tp. leaving the Regt in mid - '71.
(People like "Trunky" Howard were around then).

Regards,

brum

JPW wrote:

Jim

As you . Stephen and others have hinted junior officers are well advised to listen and earn from their NCOs I quickly learned the need to keep the Staff Clerks on side in HQ 1 (BR) Corps, it was remarkable what information off the record could be passed quietly to save one's particular skin

Well, there you go then! :-)

Your average NCO was usually someone who had come up through the ranks, was an "older" guy (30's or 40's as opposed to 19 or 20), usually shouldered various responsibilities of various descriptions, had a handle on day-to-day operations and knew how 'things should be done' as opposed to what The Book (as in 'by the book') said and had a wealth of practical information and experience.

While respectful of the chain of command (whatever his private views might have been!), he also usually could not abide decisions or situations that were clearly...well, silly, stupid, or would inevitably result in what he knew, based on experience, would be a poor outcome. Gosh, sounds like a resume!!

So, yes, a young, inexperienced, junior officer would do well to enlist the assistance of his NCOs, even take one or two on as mentors, for they would seldom steer him wrong. It was even not unheard of for an NCO to 'allow' (for lack of a better word) his Lieutenant or Captain to take credit for something he himself proposed....so long as the officer didn't go behind is back, so to speak, to get that credit.

A smart junior officer soon learned to treat NCOs with respect, seek their counsel, and give credit where credit was due. Do that, and the NCOs would go to the ends of the earth for him. Piss them off and he'd find himself twisting in the wind with his superiors as well as those under him seeing him as a total twit.

An NCO could either make a junior officer look really good or screw him royally!

I was very lucky I think, All the officers I served under were excellent bar one. Sadly he was my own corps as well. The greater majority of Inf and Tankie officers were fantastic to work for and seemed hugely impressed with us. Certainly I got great annual reports and formed a strong bond with them. Many I feel were sad when the went back to their respective regiments. Certainly as I progressed through the ranks from "Young F" to CPL F, SGT F, Chief, Q and Mr I thoroughly enjoyed myself and every posting that was offered.

I was attached to a unit (now no longer listed) that seemed to be a dumping ground for some officers who didn't really have it all together. But there were, thank goodness, some officers who more than made up for these. Example of one command I received once was, " Cpl run that remote into my van. It's in CW sir. What's CW Cpl? Morse code sir. Of what use is Morse code Cpl? We use it when the voice side on the HF (C11) is bad. Why's it so noisy Cpl? Because it's HF sir. What's HF Cpl? High Frequency as compared to Very High Frequency on the 45 or 42 set sir. " So the donkey gets his remote handset, puts it in the desk drawer because it's noisy. Strange people some officers. Incidentally this officer did not trust any interpretation of what we wrote down from a CW circuit. Seemed to think we made it all up.

Hah, reminds me of a certain Major The Honourable David Cook RA. He was a marvellous bloke but by god he was thick. LOL He was a POM and I was really surprised he ever made it into a Staff Officers role, still he was RA liaison within AQ Ops.

Hardrations wrote:

I was attached to a unit (now no longer listed) that seemed to be a dumping ground for some officers who didn't really have it all together. But there were, thank goodness, some officers who more than made up for these. Example of one command I received once was, " Cpl run that remote into my van. It's in CW sir. What's CW Cpl? Morse code sir. Of what use is Morse code Cpl? We use it when the voice side on the HF (C11) is bad. Why's it so noisy Cpl? Because it's HF sir. What's HF Cpl? High Frequency as compared to Very High Frequency on the 45 or 42 set sir. " So the donkey gets his remote handset, puts it in the desk drawer because it's noisy. Strange people some officers. Incidentally this officer did not trust any interpretation of what we wrote down from a CW circuit. Seemed to think we made it all up.

Was he a signals officer? Should have been locked up if he was. In my experience, if they couldn't use a telephone they didn't like it.

Drummed into us that we were in charge of radio's and could pull an officer up if he compromised security. Had an argument with the Brigadier once and the OC nearly had kittens when I told him. Only doing my job!

Teabag wrote:

Hardrations wrote:

I was attached to a unit (now no longer listed) that seemed to be a dumping ground for some officers who didn't really have it all together. But there were, thank goodness, some officers who more than made up for these. Example of one command I received once was, " Cpl run that remote into my van. It's in CW sir. What's CW Cpl? Morse code sir. Of what use is Morse code Cpl? We use it when the voice side on the HF (C11) is bad. Why's it so noisy Cpl? Because it's HF sir. What's HF Cpl? High Frequency as compared to Very High Frequency on the 45 or 42 set sir. " So the donkey gets his remote handset, puts it in the desk drawer because it's noisy. Strange people some officers. Incidentally this officer did not trust any interpretation of what we wrote down from a CW circuit. Seemed to think we made it all up.

Was he a signals officer? Should have been locked up if he was. In my experience, if they couldn't use a telephone they didn't like it.

Drummed into us that we were in charge of radio's and could pull an officer up if he compromised security. Had an argument with the Brigadier once and the OC nearly had kittens when I told him. Only doing my job!

Nar... He was RCA. As like Jim mentioned RA in his case. Junior Artillery officers seemed a bit thicker in some cases. In our case our Sigs Officer backed me up with the same officer when I had told him to talk into the ear piece, using sound power on his TA/43 Field telephone until I got batteries for him. Again how could a lowly Cpl know more than a high ranking, Troop Commander. But then when he saw it worked, he couldn't wait to share this wondrous event with his fellow officers. Thoma Edison he wasn't.

Well Hardrations I think I can honestly that the most inept officers I ever came across were in a very senior Hussar regt. I don't think the cap badge had much to do with it.

Quote :

Drummed into us that we were in charge of radio's and could pull an officer up if he compromised security.

Didn`t only apply to radio Teabag.I can remember switchboard (comcen) ops pulling the plug on staff officers at rear corps for breaching security on R/R links..

Don't even get me started on security and Officers, being the Cosmic/Atomal clerk in Corp HQ. I once threatened to have a fairly senior officer strip searched on leaving the building. I did get told off for it, but only because of my tone and not because I had done wrong. The officer was tabbed in front of the GOC and severely reprimanded. The rule is no files marked Secret or above leaves the building, simples.

Security...... The U.N. has to be the worst for that. When I was posted to U.N. HQ,s in Ismaliah, their encryption gear (tinny looking crap) was left out for all and sundry to observe being used and discussed openly. I never saw it being secured after use or even before use. Strange people those U.N. folks.

I hope there are no former officers on the list!! ehehehe...

As pointed out, there were some decent officers but the ones who had no experience, still wet behind the ears? Yeah, those could make life pretty darn interesting, I'd say! Good story fodder :-)

I've mentioned my dad's opinion of jr officer's fresh out of ROTC. My mom's opinion of officers' wives wasn't much better!

Not sure what it was but I suspect it had something to do with young types tripping over their stripes and bars. Give a young'un a bit of authority and suddenly he figures he's Napoleon!

we had a young subbie in 20 bde Sig Sqn, he was called Yogi for some reason or other, his Sgt had him well under control. LOL.

Well I guess I was one of the lucky ones .. the majority of the officers I served under were first rate, the only 'gripe' we had were that some of them were too by the book .. two examples of top notch officers were a Major Jack Knowles. CSO Ciphers, MQ MELF and Lt Peter Fenn, W Troop Officer, HQ 20 Armd Bde Sig Sqn in Munster, now there was a great guy to work for.

Len (Ciphers)

We had an idiot at 7 Sigs .Straight off his Q course, who took a delight in lobbing thunder flashes into comms box bodies.He was a tad peeved when told to stop after setting the PBX alight..

He did however manage to reach the rank of Brig., so he must have improved

We had a young officer, on attachment from University. He was a real mummy's boy. That is until we took him on a weekend trip to Amsterdam. Come the following Monday morning he was a completely different guy,to the surprised of the EME.

Amsterdam...Dosn`t take much imagination to know what happened there.Shame on you Gallahad

Back to the sights and sounds of Germany, how come all the dog sh*t in the streets was white?

Gordon. wrote:

Amsterdam...Dosn`t take much imagination to know what happened there.Shame on you Gallahad

A load of lads went from our Squadron. I couldn't as missus was due (honest). Had to laugh when I got told that one of them tried to get a bulk discount for five of them.

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how come all the dog sh*t in the streets was white?

WAS it????

Not something i would say i took a great interest in..Perhaps they had jankers wallas or their equivalent going around with buckets of white wash..

Well they used to say - "If it moves salute it, if it doesn't paint it white".
You can see how confusion might creep in !

LOL, I was thinking of the streets of Hamburg and Berlin in the early '50's. Maybe as a kid playing on the street you noticed stuff more.

Jim, Maybe it was a poor diet they were on during rationing? LoL