Exercise Summer Sales

Does anybody else remember this Sig's exercise which was held up at Hameln called 'Ex SUMMER SALES' and did you also get jiffed to put up the tents? I remember one R SIGNALS WO2 who made us put tents up, take then down (as they weren't in line), put them back up again and take some down as they were a couple of inches out of line with the others. This went on from dusk til dawn . I got jiffed every bloody year for that. I wasn't even in the bloody SIGNALS.

Tents? What are they??Always had a nice comfy waggon or barn to sleep in.

Summer Sales wasn't just a Signals ex Rocky, it wa a 1 (Br) Corps exercise in comms and it was a TEWT, it was mentioned on another thread about Hameln I think?

If it was a TEWT why would they need tents LoL

Mike_2817 wrote:

If it was a TEWT why would they need tents LoL

For the orficers of course. Did Summer sales once but can't remember a thing about it. They all seem to blend into one these days. Might have been the none tac one which was brilliant. Lots of lights and no cam. Just Brigade HQ of course.

They do say the Royal Signals are more bullshitty than a lot of others. We did have one guy seconded to one of the guards battalions on exercise once. Never again he said. Even the trenches they dug had to be just so.

We always had tents that we connected to the backs of our landrovers and in the armoured brigade we had those cruciform (sp?) things that you connected multiple APC's to. Made a complex for the HQ.

Best I saw was the RAF with their RIC detachment. Four tonners that all interlocked and were allegedly sealed against gas.

Digressing slightly (not like me lol) Once a Harrier photo aircraft overflew us to try and spot where we where cammed up. Amazing photo's showed our masts in the trees and various other give aways. Clever stuff.

We used the 'Command Post' Tent that laced onto the back of a ¾ton Landrover in RAOC Stores Sections as well Teabag as an office tent. Stores Sections tended to have 3 x 4 Tonner Binned Bedford MK's and an AEC 10 Tonner Bulk Lorry as well as a L/R & Trailer, and were dispersed into their own locations to minimise damage if attacked. Normally attached to REME Workshops with Regiments.

Lining the tents up. Now there's memory bulb jogged. They called on the Survey Section once in Rheinselen to line the tents up with their theodolites. All the guy ropes just so as to match. Good to know that all that survey training was put to good use.

There was a time, in the late 70s, when a large working party of us, having nothing else to do, had to erect a tented area which apparently was for a Brigade-level "do". The title "Summer sales" rings a faint bell. (TEWT - good !).
180 pounders were lined up to Hardration's accuracy, wooden floors (luxury !) were installed and, for the Brigadier's convenience, a canvas - lined corridor led to a solitary Elsan crapper. This convenience had a light hanging above it, presumably so that the great man could do his Daily Mirror crossword whatever the time of day.
The day after this great constuction was completed I was summoned to the aforementioned thunderbox. Outraged fingers drew my attention to a bluebottle - encrusted turd that some squaddie had dumped inside, pre-empting the Brigadier's bowel movement.
The spirit of the Western Front lives on !

Quote :

Outraged fingers drew my attention to a bluebottle - encrusted turd that some squaddie had dumped inside

And.... what did you do with it?

Ah! So the singnals had the 'Phantom Crapper' as well LoL

brum wrote:

There was a time, in the late 70s, when a large working party of us, having nothing else to do, had to erect a tented area which apparently was for a Brigade-level "do". The title "Summer sales" rings a faint bell. (TEWT - good !).
180 pounders were lined up to Hardration's accuracy, wooden floors (luxury !) were installed and, for the Brigadier's convenience, a canvas - lined corridor led to a solitary Elsan crapper. This convenience had a light hanging above it, presumably so that the great man could do his Daily Mirror crossword whatever the time of day.
The day after this great constuction was completed I was summoned to the aforementioned thunderbox. Outraged fingers drew my attention to a bluebottle - encrusted turd that some squaddie had dumped inside, pre-empting the Brigadier's bowel movement.
The spirit of the Western Front lives on !

Obviously a made up story. No Brigadier was capable of doing the Mirror crossword!

Not one I remember. Wooden floors and private crappers?

Funny isn't it, you accept the story of the Insubordinate Turd quite happily, Teabag but doubt the existence of wooden flooring for tents ? Such was the madness of army humour.
The story was a true one on all counts though, (except the Daily Mirror).
We were in a semi - permanent tented camp not long afterwards, with the same kind of wooden floors, lighting too. Apparently this was because there was no room in Trauen. I bet them Canadians got there before us !
I daresay one of the HOLDFAST contributors to this site could comment on the flooring.
(I think this would've been in '78, by the way).

brum

Gordon. wrote:

Quote :

Outraged fingers drew my attention to a bluebottle - encrusted turd that some squaddie had dumped inside

And.... what did you do with it?

Why,... I had it placed under close arrest, of course !

brum wrote:

Gordon. wrote:

Quote :

Outraged fingers drew my attention to a bluebottle - encrusted turd that some squaddie had dumped inside

And.... what did you do with it?

Why,... I had it placed under close arrest, of course !

The bluebottle or the turd?

Keep up that man !!

The Turd escaped.....

I've seen the wooden flooring for tents, and carpet on top of them for senior officers.

We had tents on the back of out 432's and formed them up in a cruciform on 20 bde exercises, we also had large canvas lean too's on the sides of the 432's for us to sleep in. Pure luxury.

jim wrote:

I've seen the wooden flooring for tents, and carpet on top of them for senior officers.

We had tents on the back of out 432's and formed them up in a cruciform on 20 bde exercises, we also had large canvas lean too's on the sides of the 432's for us to sleep in. Pure luxury.

Stinky, dirty, diesel soaked things those cruciform fingys. Steel poles instead of aluminium as well. 12 x 12's were sheer luxury to handle compared to them although I doubt they were big enough to use them with a 432?

Got me thinking now Jim, where did we sleep? Certainly the officers wouldn't want us clogging up their nice HQ with camp beds etc. Think we must have had a lean to as well?

We had little metal houses (can't think of another word) made to fit on top of the 432's to put all our gear in. Never used mortars so it didn't matter that the mortar hatch was blocked. Signals and Mortars, what a recipe for disaster! Just as well we never had them then.

Most of the filed officers had their own LWB land rovers caravan thingies, Captains and below had to rough it in a lean too, same as us lads. Teabag