FFR

Be about right Paul, this was the 70's.

When I first went to BAOR in 1955 12 marks were worth
£1-0s-6d. A small beer in the NAAFI was 40 pfennigs, equal to 30 glasses for your £1-0-6. Just slightly dearer in town.
As we said in those days,
Noch ein beer.
Norman.

When I first went to Germany in 1970 I got 4 weeks pay in advance and had to open a German bank account as until that point I had been paid weekly in arrears over the table, and needed to be paid a month in arrears. This was paid back over 6 months if I remember rightly, but the FFR sort of cushioned this.

On leaving BOAR you had to close your German bank account and get the bank to stamp your leaving proforma.

On returning to UK you had to open a UK account as you were not permitted to go back to the old ways!

I think the UK started to change over around 1975 onwards. But UK based soldiers faced a few months of hardship and never seemed to benefit from the changeover.

yes Don what ever happened to BAFS Taylor was he put out to grass at tidworth or did he come to detmold

Now a bit of the Canadian Soldier's pay side of it.

When I went over in 1964 first time. We got 4.25 DM to the dollar. A glass of beer/pils was 45 pfn in the Gastohof. A 1 Ltr bottle of Iserlohn Pils in the Jnr Ranks was 1 DM. At first we would have to request how much pay we wanted per pay day (15th and 30th day of the month)Generally 100 DM's was sufficient. In 1966 the military brought in a big pay raise which was great for the single man as it brought our pay equal to a married rat. (Same work, same rank, same pay) The Cdn dollar started to drop when I left in Dec 68. When I returned in 71, OUCH the DM was really taking off, so special allowances were increased accordingly, but life (financially) was never like it was in the early 60's when I first came to Germany.

PS: Just last week while I was in the UK I noticed the difference in the GB pound each time I with drew money.

Arbor,
The name rings a bell,but the memory???????
------
Don

Don he had a pile of LS &GC stripes up to his armpit plus row of campain ribbons on his chest made L/cpl worked for QM i think mate of scabby willy the stables cpl. used to beg a BAFS of any one he could hence the name I first met him on a nato exercise near rheindahlen as a young soldier the old sod conned me and a few others of quite a bit of our hard earned bafs.

Think I now recall the guy,don't think he came to Detmold.He had another nickname,but it won't come to me at the moment,when it does will come back to you!
------
Don

In 1955, One mark was one and eightpence halfpenny. or 12 marks cost a pound and sixpence. Beer thirty pfgs a glass. Good old days.

Excuse me, but what is a BAFS?

Cheers,
Dan.

what is a BAFS?

Vouchers with which we were paid instead of real money! Though we could use them to purchase German currency.

Beer thirty pfgs a glass.

25 pfennigs in our favourite bar. 48 beers for a pound! Thursday night mayhem....

Dan M,

BAFS were British Armed Forces Special Vouchers and were only for use in the NAAFI or other service organisations found on camps and shopping centres. The were in various denominations from threepence upwards, if there was a coin there was a BAFS. Penny and halfpenny coins could be used. If you used German shops or bars they only took DMs (or cigarettes, blankets petrol etc!!). The system worked well enough apart that from having a pocketful of coins your pockets were filled with bits of coloured paper. You could draw your pay in part BAFS and part DM to suit your needs.

I don't quite know when the system was ended as I was only in Germany from January 1955 until July 1957. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Noch ein bier.

Norman.