Compo Favourites

recce83 wrote:

I never realized the problem with the compo can openers until someone pointed out one day: "Ever see a left-handed guy try to use one of these?" He was quite right.

A cynical person may suggest that, in many cases, those who couldn't open the tims were the lucky ones.

Had to chuckle over this comment...being a life-long Southpaw I am frequently frustrated by having to use everyday implements designed for a right-handed world. Scissors (used upside down works and I have long since just got used to using them however it is I use them; I don't even think about it anymore).

Screwdrivers and screws...a constant challenge; I always -- always -- have to 'test' which way to tighten or loosen a screw before actually getting down to doing it.

Watches, believe it or not, especially the older style ones that you had to wind (oh gosh, am I dating myself on that???). I wear mine on my right wrist, of course, but if I am have to reset it (twice a year re Spring Forward/Fall Back for Daylight Savings), the watch has to come off and be transferred from one hand to the other in order to monkey around with the little stud-thingy and the face is upside down. Over the years I have learned to not do the hand-to-hand transfer thing as much and not have to have the face upside down, using my right hand to twiddle the what-ever-it-is-called stem. Again, I never think of it I just go ahead and do it and it's not until some right-hander comments on how I'm doing it that I am even aware I am doing it bassackwards.

My favourite story about being a Southpaw in a Northpaw world...when I was working back in Soest in '73 I rented a couple of rooms in a house on Lendringser Weg, not far from the PMQs. Very nice family (German Poles).

One day I was downstairs filling out my rent cheque for the frau and her husband and having coffee with them. As I filled out the cheque, she nudged her husband and said "Kookmah....!" (Look....!) and commented on how I was writing with my left hand.

I am not sure what the culture is now in Germany, but even in the 70's German left-handed children were made to switch over to using their right hand when writing. My mother, also a Southpaw, went through the same thing as a young girl in the 1930's in Canada.

Her husband immediately shushed her, as if my using my left hand to write was akin to my whipping off my shoe and socks and using my foot to write something. His reaction to her observation was very much along the lines of "Shhhh....he can't help it. Don't call attention to his disability!" LOL

Turns out their son, who occupied the bedroom of the what would have been my flat (I rented the kitchen and living room area as a bedsitter and he and I basically shared the bathroom) and was about the same age as me, was also a Lefty and while he used his right hand to write, continued to always use his left hand for everything else. She found it fascinating I'd write with my left hand and I found it fascinating she found it so fascinating!

Again, an example of adaptation....shirt buttons are, for me, on the wrong side of the shirt. I of course have long since adapted to buttoning up my shirts with no assistance (I am not yet that far gone, thank god/dess), but if I stop and think of it such as when writing stuff like this, it occurs to me that women's shirts, with their buttons on the left and the button holes on the right (which I could never figure out why) rather than the other way around as is found on men's shirts were just easier to do up...not that I wear a lot of women's shirts, I hasten to add Honestly, I hardly ever do, really...no, no , really!!! Once, okay, once...geez!! (tried a shirt on not realizing it was a woman's shirt and was half-way through buttoning it up when I realized how much easier it was...and why!).

No doubt there are other examples which escape me at the moment. Certainly these compo openers are a prime example...oh! Yes, and ordinary day-to-day can openers, the butterfly type. They are a royal pain, even still.

I am also a LH writer but do many things still RH.

I have been a life long scrappy writer, caused in the earlier days of pushing the old ink fountain pen forwards, instead a RH writer who would pull it, additionally, RH writers can see what they have written, not so a LH writer!

Despite being a LH writer, I do not cock my LH hand like many!

I have also a distinct advantage in my house, that being my wife sleeps on my right. Say no more!

I still carry a compo tin opener in my wallet. Not bad for something thirty plus years old. Have been asked if "anyone got a tin opener ha ha" a couple of times and amazed none military personnel on production.

Makes you feel very smug!

I know Reme were issued with the Clasp Knive (still got mine).
Did all army guys receive one as standard issue?

alan8376 wrote:

I know Reme were issued with the Clasp Knive (still got mine).
Did all army guys receive one as standard issue?

As far as I know, yes! Wish I had one now!

My initial issue was the knive with the 'Marlin Spike.' The spike enabled a person to platt ropes sisal (spelling!) or steel wire.

A Recovery Mechanic, REME, pesuaded me to trade mine for his, which I believe had the 'tin opener.' He needed the 'Spike implement' which was adventageous for his job.

alan8376 wrote:

I know Reme were issued with the Clasp Knive (still got mine).
Did all army guys receive one as standard issue?

We sure did. In fact I've still got mine somewhere amongst 50+ years of accumulated clutter.

ciphers wrote:

Hot breakfast ... EASY ... every morning we had to run the trucks/lorries for 10-15 minutes ... pierce a hole in the compo tin and place it between the manifold of your truck .. 5 to 10 minutes and a hot meal was ready, the other alternative was to light the candle in the base of the tin and wait a month ... what retard thought that one up ...

Len (Ciphers)

Prior to going on scheme we used to buy tins of soup from the pads NAAFI. The exhaust manifold trick (Bedford RL) was how we heated them up when moving between locations.

Mike

alan8376 wrote:

My initial issue was the knive with the 'Marlin Spike.' The spike enabled a person to platt ropes siscal (spelling!) or stee wirel.

And all these years I thought it was for getting stones out of horses hooves!!

Mike

Quote :

alan8376 wrote:
My initial issue was the knive with the 'Marlin Spike.' The spike enabled a person to platt ropes siscal (spelling!) or stee wirel.


And all these years I thought it was for getting stones out of horses hooves!!

Mike

The correct terminology is "SPLICING"..Quite a skilled task according to my matelot friends..Mine, after a bit of modification,was used as a T-Key.

mjm34 wrote:

alan8376 wrote:

My initial issue was the knive with the 'Marlin Spike.' The spike enabled a person to platt ropes siscal (spelling!) or stee wirel.

And all these years I thought it was for getting stones out of horses hooves!!

Mike

No No No Its for getting Boy Scouts out of horses hoves. Did the not teech you anything

I had two of those old issue clasp knives. We generally got one on temporary issue during winter indoc. or exercise. Don't know why. Sent my last one over to an old Scally Back in the UK year or two back and the other is on display some where in Quebec.
The church key, ah yes every good man had one on the end of his lanyard. The can opener, I still have one on my key chain. Handy item at times. Another trick I forgot about until I was looking at my Web Belt 37 pattern (yup still have it) was the trick of sticking a bottle cap (preferably a beer one) between the looped end of the belt to keep your brass D in place. When I pensioned off in 82 they were still asking for it to be returned. Not a chance. Also still have one pair of boots, toe capped and showing signs of spit polishing. I came across a photo of my bed in the barracks with my boots beside it with putties in them.

alan8376 wrote:

I am also a LH writer but do many things still RH.

I have been a life long scrappy writer, caused in the earlier days of pushing the old ink fountain pen forwards, instead a RH writer who would pull it, additionally, RH writers can see what they have written, not so a LH writer!

Despite being a LH writer, I do not cock my LH hand like many!

I have also a distinct advantage in my house, that being my wife sleeps on my right. Say no more!

Oh yes, I missed the obvious....using pens!! Back in the day, I mean apart from having to walk uphill, both ways, in the winter, without shoes ehehehe, we used straight pens and ink...dip, write, dip, write. Ballpoints were NOT allowed! I have no idea why not.

Anyway, being a lefty I, like Alan, pushed my pen rather than pulled it as would a RHer. Of course I soon realized I was smearing the ink and started to cock my hand around the top of the line so that I was less likely to smear the ink but also so I could see what the hell I was writing. The alternative was to crimp my arm up against my torso which was awkward and uncomfortable and made for really atrocious and cramped looking handwriting. It wasn't until Grade 9 or so we were allowed to use ballpoint pens.

Also, back in elementary school, I recall my mom telling my teacher who during a parent-teacher conference mentioned I was a bit slow with my writing that of course I was as I had to stop every few words, lift my hand, and review what I'd written. On top of that I would slant the paper in the opposite direction of my classmates in order to get, or at least approximate, the proper slant. The teacher was always re-orienting my page and I would re-re-orient it. Mom mentioned to her here, as well, that sure as she (the teacher) stood at the head of the class she wanted to be able to look down the rows -- when classrooms had rows -- and see all the students busily scribbling away and forming the script letters correctly. With my page slanted in the opposite direction she couldn't see what I was doing from the head of the class. Having a lefty in your class sure threw a wrench into things LOL

We've gone completely off topic here,but who cares.

Re left handers-What about firing a rifle, was that a problem?

The first ,and only time, using a .303 rifle on the range we were wearing tin hats (1952). The guy firing next to me had somehow got his back- sight or his hat, in violent contact with his nose. I looked up,blood everywhere and I thought he had shot himself.

Happy days

breakfast,compo sausages egg fried bread and beans. lunch,usually a sandwich if you were lucky and not on the move,dinner,,steak and kidney pudding pom andpeas/carrots, for afters,apple pudding with custard,happy days or what,dave.

Chemist wrote:

We've gone completely off topic here,but who cares.

Re left handers-What about firing a rifle, was that a problem?

The first ,and only time, using a .303 rifle on the range we were wearing tin hats (1952). The guy firing next to me had somehow got his back- sight or his hat, in violent contact with his nose. I looked up,blood everywhere and I thought he had shot himself.

Happy days

Only when we hold the rifle backwards....

Ok, we have the nosh. We know how to cook it. How about what with?

When I first joined the Army I thought what a lot of tosh these Mess Tins are! Yes, when in a fairly static location the alu or plastic plates, or even dog bowls were just fine, but on a hoofing, carry your own kit etc, etc exercise I found the mess tins were unbeatable...

One could carry kit in them when they were in a rucksack. They were so easy to cook stuff in and of course wash and shave out of..... And yes, you can carry 2 mess tins in one hand (main meal + pudding) by crossing the handles over (put the slice of bread on the handles), thus leaving your other hand to carry the mug of tea, now you could disappear to a quiet corner to eat your scran........ And when it came to putting the tins down on the ground the food didn't run out...

The only time I found mess tins a bind was during initial training, there was always the debris left around the handle rivets for the DS staff to pick up on.

Quote :

Re left handers-What about firing a rifle, was that a problem?

It was a bit hairy firing a Sterling SMG left handed.

During my time in BOAR I served in a Base Ammunition Depot (3 BAPD) and a Combat Supplies Company (44 RP Coy) but visited Germany many times on manoeuvres such as Crusader 80 and Lionheart 84. I never had to fend for myself and was mostly centrally feed by the ACC.

I think being in the RAOC actually meant we did our job on a day to day basis maintaining stocks for war, and transition to war, which is what we mostly practised was not that much different!

So. Like every other good BAOR Soldier we kept most of our kit packed 'Ready to Deploy' in my case in 58 Webbing.

I also maintained duplicate kit to use in the field, and if it was on the move we would be fed in mess tins, when in a fairly static location on tin plates.

We would be fed a combination of 10 Man Ration Packs or 24 Hour Ration Packs mainly cooked in bulk! Bearing in mind that we also maintained and issued the damn stuff....
See my other thread on 'Active Edge' kit

Its got to be the steak and kidney pudding, followed by sausage and beans and then compo cheese with the oatmeal blocks. Never though much of the puddings.
Mind you, on the final day of one exerise we had to have steak and kidney pudding for breakfast as it was all the cooks had left. It lost a bit of its magic at 6 in the morning.
Noch ein bier,
Norman.

its got to be the C pack with samon & the compo cheese , what about the soap for bathing in the south china sea. the spike was for opening the tined milk wasn't it ? arbor n,b the fruit puding was out of this word

Never found the need for 'Salt Water Soap' in Germany myself, but remember the White Windser Soap that was held by Store Platoons for use in Hospitals and Bath Units.

Why would you need a spike to open Tinned Milk if the Can Opener did it as well???

[quote="Mike_2817"]Never found the need for 'Salt Water Soap' in Germany myself, but remember the White Windser Soap that was held by Store Platoons for use in Hospitals and Bath Units.

Why would you need a spike to open Tinned Milk if the Can Opener did it as well???[/quote

There was also that sharp pointy thing we had to stick on the end of our rifle to.

I think the spikey bit opened Condensed Milk tins not Evaporated Milk ones, as the milk was a tracle consistency!

I always took the lid off, and used the plastic cover, as you could then spoon it out in the cold.