Question for those in the sand pits

[ArthurR]

I was in Aden in the late 60's, now and again we used to get a free cigarette issue, ones that where confiscated by customs. Do you people still get this? or has this been baned as unhealthy.

Merry Christmas too all out there,
our thoughts are with you :ok:

[airborne_artist]

BBc - that'll cost him - wonder how many Dads have been out serving with sons?

[Pontius Navigator]

ArthurR, we got them in 1984 in Ascension.

[Green Flash]

Nowadays I think that all the fags, booze etc confiscated by HMRC is destroyed :sad:

[Wiretensioner]

Remember getting them in the Falklands in mid-1987. Even encouraged the non smokers to get them as well. Saved me buying 200 for coming home!

[Shack37]

Just like to add my best wishes to all you guys and girls out there in the sh1tpit. Have the best Christmas and New Year you can, come home soon and safe.
s37

[Magnersdrinker]

Well ive done many sandpit adventures since and there has been no fag allowance.Basrah and the Naafi do provide Duty free there but can be limited buying. Other places i been has been local buying where you can and you get at much cheapness but like everything you have to declare when coming back to UK :/ so like all you can kill for your country and do the impossible and be a hero but when you come through them gates at Brize you get no benefit and have option of declaration :)


Ill say no more

[topgas]

I'm pleased to say that the lads and lasses on MERT put together a green bag of goodies which they drop off whenever they pick up a casualty - as well as some med resupply, there are some cigs, mags, sweets, etc, which go down well in the FOBs and MOGs.

[Shack37]

Nothing changes Magners, I remember an incident in the 60's when customs boarded a flight from Aden and searched the bags of the non walking wounded as they waited to be disembarked by ambulance crews. As you can imagine, customs took a pasting in the press and lowered their profile considerably after that.
On the lighter side, arriving back at Ballykelly from somewhere the customs guy found a colourful cardboard tube containing 10 pairs of "see in the dark knickers" one of the guys had brought back as a present for his girl friend. No duty was charged as they were deemed to be for personal recreational use only. We didn't have any other night vision aids in those days.
s37

[Chugalug2]

Arthur, mid sixties Singapore, we were allowed to bring in the standard bottle plus two hundred every time we flew back from Borneo detachment, which was very nice as we went there quite often! :)
Only catch was that all the cigs in Kuching were stamped "HM Ships Only", and were duly confiscated by the Snowdrops at Changi as: "Singapore is not an HM Ship". Our pointing out to them that neither was Borneo was to no avail. In return for our Rothmans, or whatever, we were compensated with 200 Camel cigarettes. Within the laws of slander let me just say that they were not to my taste or anyone else's that I spoke to. Taste was the operative word as you finished up chewing as much of the loose packed leaf as you smoked. The whole affair was a NAAFI wheeze that had a wharehouse full of the stuff that they couldn't move otherwise. I'm surprised that each pack didn't come with the caption "What's good for M&M is good for you"! Word was that the confiscated cigs went back from whence they came to be sold to the next mugs!

[ArthurR]

Chugalug, you know the only snowdrops that have brains, have 4 legs and on the other end of the lead..:E

[Shack37]

Contraband in the autolycus (de)ionising chamber, NOBODY opened it and the source gave an added buzz.:rolleyes: Might be why I have three ears, six toes and no kids.
Happy days.
s37

[ArthurR]

Seems to me, that the powers to be have deemed that smoking is hazardous to your health, but being in a war zone isn't :mad:

[cornish-stormrider]

Even the mighty F3 has plenty of hiding places for booze and the like. Last time I came back from Aki we were lined up on the pan for a custoims inspection that did all but body cavity and they found nothing. Little did they know that an F3 sqn doesn't need 5 crypto lacons and a 12 jets worth of sidewinder nitrogen (cooling lau bottles ??) on pallets. Why were all the bottles on pallets with the aquisition heads? coz the rails had been filled with bottles.


Does anyone know the truth behind the old story of the guy who imported a nice car beack via herc and it had to be sent for a swim??

[Never Alert]

Hope there are no customs guys reading the above post!

[Unchecked]

I've never heard it from the horses mouth, or even the horse's best mate's mother's mouth, but I did hear it was a shiny new Jaguar from Gib.

[The Helpful Stacker]

Does anyone know the truth behind the old story of the guy who imported a nice car beack via herc and it had to be sent for a swim??

Wasn't it supposedly owned by a SEngO who was returning from RAF Akrotiri at the end of a tour who decided to pull rank and jump the usual lottery for Herc space? Depending on who you speak to it was either a Range Rover or a Jaguar that tumbled into the Med.

Of course it could all just be rumour..

[ArthurR]

I did hear a story about a certain senior officer, who whilst the pull out from Aden was going on, seconded a belfast (remember them) to fly his and his wife's car out. Wether true or not, I don't know.

[Pontius Navigator]

Armstrong Siddley Saphire, 1600 miles on the clock. BoB ace and Air Marshall cut no ice with HM Customs and Excise. As it had not been 'used' he was charged full import duty.

Anyway I heard it was an Argosy.

That wasn't the only think. He used to authorise Canberra trips to Nairobi, provided they brought a load of soil back in the bombbay.

[Pontius Navigator]

There was 100% deep poo at ISK in the late 70s early 80s when Customs found an undeclared 80oz bottle of Baccardi in one of the Lacons.

Sh1t hit fan big time.

No one owned up so heavy mob were called in. The bottle and all the lineys were fingerprinted and possibly all det personnel. No match.

Eventually someone over the pond found out and coughed. Seemed that the Mar Det had been such a great team the USN Guys decided to give them a home coming surprise and smuggled the bottle into the lacon back at Jax while it was waiting AT back to ISK.

I don't think they got to keep the bottle.