What was your most rubbish det so far?

[heights good]

I am on det myself and I was just thinking about some of the truly terrible places that we as armed forces personnel find ourselves. So to (hopefully) make me feel better about my lot, what is the worst place you have found yourself and why?

HG

p.s Yes I am very bored ;)

[Geehovah]

Ironically I think the Falklands takes first and last place.

Professionally probably the most challenging and demanding . Just after the war some of the "initiatives" to provide things like running water were a sight to behold. The wildlife was amazing but Island Fever set in after about 4 weeks on both occasions. Loved every minute in retrospect but boy was I glad to leave.

[VinRouge]

Basrah.

I know some will have a different view on this. Personally, having 30+ rockets a week thrown at us, in tents designed to last 18 months (4 years after they were set up) with air con that did little to move around 55 degree heat. No real mortar protection in our pods, I absolutely hated every minute there I have to be honest.

Flying was boring, monotonous, and at times, pretty dangerous.

Brize Norton never looked so pretty on our return. Day trips to the deid felt like we were visiting the maldives.

[bakseetblatherer]

Definitely when I was in Shaw, South Carolina. A couple of us were 'attached' to a CAOC for a big exercise, nobody knew what we were supposed to do. As in there was nothing for us to do, we mostly sat around on our arses being bored whilst the Sqn flew big sorties against all sorts of fun opposition from some other base.

South Carolina sucks and sumpter is a hole, it was hot and muggy, poured down every afternoon without fail. Our hotel was on a dual carriageway and when we used to walk down the wide (10') grassy strip at the side to get to the pub, the charming fat Sth Carolinese used to beep their horns and hurl abuse ' get off the road' and 'use a ****en car' etc. They could get into their heads that people can walk further from the couch to the fridge and back.

Admittedly it was not mortars and tents, but the fact it was a couple of weeks in the States I was looking forward to made it worse. At least we got leathered and watched 'dodgeball' I suppose.

I really feel sorry for the F16 exchange guys posted to that crap corner of the world.

[Jayand]

I concur with Vin rouge, in fact anywhere sandy = ****sville.
Except RED FLAG of course.

[SirPeterHardingsLovechild]

Karachi was a bit poo.

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/55427-id-rather-stay-here-karachi.html

Ascoteers Multiple Choice post # 77 / 79

You are tasked with setting up a Forward Base for resupplying the ISAF Brit contingent in Kabul. Do you choose...

a) Bahrain

b) Dubai

c) Muscat

d) Karachi, Pakistan. In a derelict 'hotel' where the e-coli (raw sewage) count in the water is 1000 times the permitted level and you are advised to keep your eyes shut in the shower...which fills up with the contents of your toilet when you flush. Where malaria and dysentry are rife. Where suicide bombers are active and have publicly annonunced your presence as their main target, but go for the softer target of some French ex-pats. Where the security guards are paid about a quid a day, supplemented by money from blackmail, drugs and prostitution...and are insufficiently trained to be allowed live ammo. Where home made mortar bombs fly over the site when you are sat in the pool (the only saving grace)...until the pool man accidentally back flushes the filter contents back into the pool, making it unfit for use. Using an airfield which flight path takes you close to a large refugee camp full of, wait for it, Afghanistanis who have fled over the border. Where the airport security guards relentlessly question you about your take off time, POB, destination etc. (very suspicious) Where your destination base, Kabul, is safer than your operating base. Where you have to wear long trousers to avoid offending the locals..whereas they think nothing of crapping in the streets. Where your Belgian, Greek and Portugese colleages are on $50 a day UN pay and you are on a few quid LSSA and a phonecard. (And the Greeks aren't flying having been shot at)

And where the overall cost of your stay is more than that at a), b) or c)
_____________________________


...and at this time, India and Pakistan are threatening to go to war. Well known and published analysis states that any war will involve India destroying Pakistans main port, that is, a first strike, possibly nuclear, on KARACHI. And another thing, (more importantly) the Army that are running the place only allow the self run bar to be open for a couple of hours in the evening. Seeing as you take off at dusk, every night, you are unable to enjoy a relaxing beer, made all the worse as you brought the bonded store over in the first place.

Correction to previous post - The Greeks stopped flying because the Belgians got shot at.

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/91383-ascoteers-multiple-choice-4.html

When PPRuNe was more fun

[Cows getting bigger]

In order:

Albania, specifically Tirana
Tashkent
Spending 4 days (for a trip that should have taken 8 hours) sharing the inside of a friggin' C130 with a ship's engine, never being allowed to move more than a wingspan away from the aircraft (wrong country!!)
An arbitrary bit of North Western Greece
Cairo West AB


Comparatively, Basra and Bagram were rather nice (you know - food, water, ablutions etc)

[dallas]

The Deid.

And yes, I know it is/was(?) relatively speaking the Maldives, but on my list of 'where was I when...' moments I vividly remember being sat in Ops (which sounds much grander than a knackered portakabin at the edge of the vast US 'Ops Town') one morning at 0330 and thinking there was more to life than this.

Whilst not in any way dangerous, The Deid was the haunt of many a thrusting JO who was given a simple but essentially non-job brief, but was close enough to the resident 1* to think that a 4-month surge of wankerism would help achieve promotion. Many of these sycophants tours could be plotted on a 4-month timeline as they glided from initial 'stupid/unrealistic ideas' phase through to 'leave the replacement a crap job I started' just before taking their career and integrity vacuum back home.

Faced with more of this sort of bolleaux in future, but with the very real likelihood that the same morons might be in a warzone one day - perhaps even on promotion - I took the safe route and put my notice in at the start of the economic downturn.

Haven't looked back :ok:

[peterprobe]

Dallas, hahahaha you nailed it in one. Beauty!!!

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

The movers in the Falklands (it's about time somebody had a go at the movers, isn't it?) used to hold up large banners saying 'Welcome to Hell' as the airbridge taxied in and the pax disembarked. They certainly got hell as a result - on the same flight as me were some of the luminaries of the Falklands Govt, who weren't at all impressed and communicated their displeasure to CBFFI. The katabatic flow of brown stuff was rapid and large!

[LateArmLive]

the haunt of many a thrusting JO who was given a simple but essentially non-job brief, but was close enough to the resident 1* to think that a 4-month surge of wankerism would help achieve promotion.

Absolutely bloody brilliant! That sums up much of what is wrong with the shambles of an organisation we work for. :D

Can I vote for you for CDS?

[iRaven]

Backseat

Definitely when I was in Shaw, South Carolina.

Then you didn't discover "Shag Club" in Sumter then? :ok:

My worst place has got to FOB Robinson - at that point I thought I would never moan about an Air Force Det ever again!

iRaven

[SRENNAPS]

p.s Yes I am very bored
Imagine how bored you would be without internet access and pprune…….could be worse mate!:eek:

PS, My most horrible detachment was……..I never had one, they were always brill in their own way. As long as you had a bit of banter none of them were bad. :ok:

PPS, Dallas, Cracking post:D

[Green Flash]

Prilep.

F***ing hot tent, Ops room was a toilet (a real one) and bored out of my tiny mind. We gave it to the Canadians and laughed all the way to Skopje. Another crap place. Heaven was an Irish registered A310 going home and the hosties were uniformly pphhwwaarrrrrrrrrrrrr! (Are there any ugly Irish girls? I don't think so.)

Anyone remember the Tupolev departure at Skopje? We called him the MiG driver because as he lifted on an Northerly departure he slammed it into a 90 right with the gear still travelling going like snot.

And I echo Vin's words re Basrah. Especially the specialy armoured tents:rolleyes: Now I know we wern't getting it as bad as the folks downtown but no one slept much on camp; I felt better at work as at least it was concrete. Got bracketed one night by 107's, got a tent near us. Not a good place at all. Eventually it messed with my mind a bit, delayed action wibble at home; Doc was brilliant, got me de-fused quick and been out for more since.

[monkeymanagement]

(Slight drift) The deployment that never was:

Many moons ago, as a trainee at RAF Locking, a recall was initiated for a TACEVAL. We all reported to the trg hangar with 14 days kit at 'stupid' o'clock. Our 'role' was to defend St Mawgan and we were all to be bussed there. Only we weren't, the 100's of us sat on the hangar floor, in 2's, pretending we were on a coach to St Mawgan (a surreal moment). The only light relief was when the staff inspected everyone's kit only to find an SAC's kit bag filled with styrofoam.

[NutLoose]

Ahh simple..... Raf StAthans...... 1976.. middle of the night and the fires on the Breacon Beacons, sent up into the middle of nowhere where the tinder dry scrub was on fire and given beaters to put out any fires that came our way, as the fire approached we beat out any scrub that was on fire to see showers of sparks from the said beating spread far and wide in the wind resulting in 10 times the amount of fires we had before we started...

Reminds me of the Simpsons when I look back on it..... eventually we took up peeing on it and the sight of 30 odd trainees like abreast p*ssing on Wales to save it still gives me a chuckle.... I can safely say from a fire point of view we left that hill with more fires than when wee arrived........

Other highlights.......... Sennybridge in winter and raining......... I wouldn't wish that place on anyone.

[ShyTorque]

The one in Germany where we arrived in our Puma in June, only to find no-one there. Should have been a fairly major army exercise in progress.

Having exhausted all possibilities, including checking to see that they hadn't muddled up the RV grid ref. with the telephone number, we eventually had no other option but to start up and RTB.

The tasking cell said they would investigate. Eventually they fronted up and told us they had sent us a month early, should have been July. :ugh:

[C130 Techie]

Leck, Northern Germany 1988

The JEngO on Tatty Ton did a 'deal' with our rates so that we could use the conscripts faciliies:yuk::yuk:

Sixteen man rooms in the conscript block with triple deck bunk beds and blitz rations.

It threw it down for the entire week. Even the Oktoberfest was a washout.

Far worse and far more dangerous places out there now I know, but in the 'comfortable' pre Gulf War One days it was a bit of a culture shock.

[Airborne Aircrew]

The JEngO on Tatty Ton did a 'deal' with our rates so that we could use the conscripts faciliies

Oh my... We used to come in from the field to the luxury of the conscript barracks for a shower...

[C130 Techie]

I think it was the shock of losing a third of the 30 marks a day rates in return for cabbage soup and boiled fish heads.

[Plore]

Ever heard of Angola guys?

[ShyTorque]

Ever heard of Angola guys?

Didn't they come second on the X Factor?

[monkeymanagement]

Angola guys? No. Thai lady-boys, maybe!

[StopStart]

Ever heard of Angola guys?

Let me get comfy - it's not a scary story is it? If it is I'll leave the lights on...

:hmm:

[Out Of Trim]

Stornoway - I went twice; so it can't have been that bad! Sleeping in a Nissen Ht wasn't great though. I do however remember the park's
playground chained-up on a Sunday and only access to a bar on Sunday's was via the back-door! God fearing folk around there!

I do though remember some "Firewater" Whiskey called "As we get it" 100% proof and needed a quick pint of 70 shilling to put the fire out after consumption! :ok:

[Airborne Aircrew]

Sleeping in a Nissen Ht wasn't great though.

Oh yawn... Did your batman take a sick day? :rolleyes:

[BEagle]

Ever heard of Angola guys?

I had one of those at university - it was an awful old heap. 0-60 took 28 sec and it was blessed with all of 36 bhp, a 3-speed gearbox and drum brakes. Not one of Mr. Ford's finest cars...

Worst det.? Well, most were pretty good, but I do recall the accommodation on one 10-day det. in 1985 being not up to snuff. They'd booked us in to the Outrigger Malia on Kuhio Ave, rather than the Royal Hawaiian, so we had to use a public section of Waiikiki Beach rather than a private one....:eek: I mean, there are standards, you know :cool:

That was the det. where the SEngO was worried that there was no de-icing kit listed at the aerodrome....:\ He'd never heard of Hickam AFB, but the look on his face when we told him the alternative name, Honolulu International, was priceless!

[biddedout]

Two ship two week Nimrod Royal SAR trips to Muscat were tough. How does it work now? how does one and ones family get to visit the colonies? No wonder there isn't any money left.:rolleyes:

[Diablo Rouge]

Purple Star circa '96 & Camp Tenko - USMC New River - NC - USA

Tenko was a TV series based upon a Japanese prisoner of war camp which puts it into perspective. The real bummer though was that the USMC offered the entire Det an empty OBQ accomodation for about 5$-person per day which the Comd hierarchy declined. Apparently SH mates like living in sh*t unquote.

Overnight (24 hr +) in Chigger Wood with no ground support whatsoever including food/water. Got one of them in my knee and sure knew about it.
Photo of a Chigger:
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/chigger-3.jpg

Also surprised by how many Beverly Hillbillies there are in mainland USA living is squallor with a brand new Dodge Ram pick-up outside.

[Belle and Sebastian]

I was on that same det.......ISTR that we weren't allowed to use the toilets unless we 'stopped at a service station on the motorway'.

[dallas]

Ever heard of Angola guys?
Sounds a bit luxurious for Britmil - we tend to use synthetic materials.

[Nomorefreetime]

Has to be the Falklands, where on arrival at the edge of the dispersal, all the SUPPLIERS turn out with welcome banners. Or the ENGINEERS by the Tristar hanger.

Never had a bad det, they are what you make them

[Diablo Rouge]

I didnt do it myself, but somebody must have been 'resident' in the tent-town submerged in sewerage knee deep in Bosnia. Do tell...

[Spanner Monkey63]

Hi New boy here!,
The worst Det? Bosnia `95.... Ploce Death Camp, Started out as a dust bowl then ended up as an aqua park!!!! Those who were there do not regularly speak of the place as there are some memories that are just to painful, foul, revolting, disgusting, etc etc. Needless to say it brought a whole new meaning to "Pooh Sticks"

Spanner Monkey 63

[glad rag]

Can't match that I'm afraid, although Grazzanise in '88 was interesting, live armed conscripts everywhere (they were allowed to take pot shots if it took their fancy) and at night the local monks in their "blocks" giving them spiritual nourishment was a bit of an eye opener for a young free kirk GR.....:suspect::hmm::hmm::hmm::hmm::suspect:

[Tashengurt]

Stornoway. Dull and desolate, living in a tin hut, washing in a communal trough! Made worse by the fact it was the world cup and I don't like football and I spent my 21st there.
The only highlight was looking for someone who vanished after mixing sleeping tablets and booze. Who was it? Only the det medic!

[sluf goat]

kalaikunda afb india what a sh@t hole, literally hot and cold running sewage! how did this place pass a site survey!!!:{

[glad rag]

Stornoway, requires the Stornoway wedge :E

[Squawk7143]

Decimomannu.......3 weeks every year.....what a dump!

[Tashengurt]

Stornoway, requires the Stornoway wedge

I'd forgotten about that!

[Blighter Pilot]

Anywhere where we have been there too long.

SWOs and RSM checking hats, badges and sunglasses

RAF over-ranking which sees Sqn Ldrs doing an SACs job (badly!)

Inflexibility and ****e rules which mean you can't actually to the job you are trained and equipped for - which the customer can't really understand as you could do it last year...

Ivory Tower W**kers who make decisions based purely on saving money and jumping one rung up the promotion ladder.

But I have to agree with SPHLC - Karachi:-

The drive to the airport in the minibus - last one there got the JFK seat bu the open door!

[Dan Winterland]

I would have to say it must have been the Falklands - can't quite make up my mind which of the nine was the worst. But I appreciated how bad things have got since I left when a mate on 99 told me that they thought the Falklands wasn't a bad trip - because they got to sleep in a real bed in a real room!

[Wensleydale]

Thread drift: not a deployment but a diversion.

Bootlace seal in Shackleton propellor assembly began leaking, so precautionary into Colt. Result was 2 days stuck on the ground awaiting spares. Even worse was that we were wearing Goon Suits and PMC (OC Admin need I say) refused permission for us to use public rooms in the mess - we even had to take meals at a different time to the Mess Members.

Hospitality? Not here.

[NST]

Bicester in 1992 for a Projectionist Course. Really useful when you work in Flight Planning that. God only knows why I was sent.

Five days as the only RAF suit on a camp full of the Pioneer Corps. Barracks were straight out of the 1930's, the natives were hostile, the food was not bad but patrolled like the slop jockeys themselves had paid for for it .. "ONE sausage you greed crab ****" .. nice. Room door was kicked in two nights and a black eye gained from being head butted while half asleep. Took my life in my hands just going to the NAAFI for a choclate bar. Then fell foul of the RSM. No clue why, he just beasted me round the square for a bit. Uniform was pressed, shoes shined and beret was on. I think he was bored. Got my own back by zapping the nice shiny guardroom bell with an extremely crude sticker on handing in my bedding. Fatherless wastes of skin, blood and organs the lot of them.

Course was crap too, run by a guy who looked older than time and mumbled and drooled like a drunk toddler.

When I got back to Scampton I later found out that the course was "required" so I could operate the projector in the main briefing room. Which was never used. And on arriving back on the Saturday morning I found that I had to cover for Reds Flight Planning that day and Sunday. And on the Monday Sqn Ldr Ops, who didn't like anyone from north of Watford and especially not Scottish folk like me, tried to charge me for the black eye.

[Brian 48nav]

To get away from West Drayton and hopefully get the posting of my choice, I volunteered for a 3 year posting there. What a bloody dump! The only thing that kept me sane was becoming mates with OC 112 Signals Unit/RAF unit, one Flt Lt John Parker,an eng off. Sadly he died of leukaemia about 9 years ago aged 51.

Strangely over the time I was there quite a few ex Herc mates passed through in one guise or another.

I remember a Vulcan diverting in with a double engine failure after hitting a cormorant. Did the RAF send something to collect them? Did they hell!The poor sods had to get to the mainland by BEA, Inverness I guess, and then by train to London and then back to Lincoln,(IIRC), all in their smelly rompers!

[Brian 48nav]

Obviously my previous posting was as a result of seeing Stornoway mentioned; back to the thread.

Pisa November 1971; Low-level support Lyneham det;9 Hercs,25 crews,5 each from the 5 Sqns.

First sortie, a 9 ship with take-off at 0400 local,each a/c with 40 or so Italian paras to be dropped at dawn over Sardinia. 4 of the captains straight out of the OCU. What idiot had the idea of flying the most difficult sortie first I never found out. Instead of starting with day singletons,followed by night singletons; 3 ship day etc eventually finishing with 9 ship night - which would have been the logical sensible way to run a det'.

As we were reversing off the stand the loadie yelled stop; a troop of paras were marching behind us on their way to their a/c!

Eventually because the troops were late arriving only 6 of us got airborne. Take off was on RW04 followed by a right turn onto about 230 over the coast. First turning point an island about 25 miles away.Once on track I stood up and almost immediately there was a big red flash in our 11 o'clock. 'Someone's flown into a hill' yells my skipper, Geoff H, looking at me accusingly. 'We're over the sea,look at the radar,there's nothing there' says I.

We then realised one of the formation ahead us had either flown into the sea or had a collision. A radio check revealed that No 3 in the formation was not answering. We ploughed on,heavy of heart and completed the sortie.

Later one of the other skippers said that the dead captain had said to him,after the briefing 'I don't know what's going on'.

B of E decided cause could not be found; we, the lads,decided that the skipper, in trying to keep an eye on Nos 1 & 2 had got disorientated in the turn after t/o and with an inexperienced crew just got lower and lower until they hit the sea.

Suffice to say the Italian press had a field day; the RAF and we in particular were not very popular in Pisa. The deaths of 42 Italian paras,1 RAF pji
and 5 crew was so tragic and with decent planning, so unnecessary!

Some detachment!!

[SRENNAPS]

Decimomannu.......3 weeks every year.....what a dump!

Sorry Squawk, but I loved Deci. I went 24 times and every one had its moment. A few reminders:

Block 131 – corridors, water and skating/sliding at silly o’clock
Nags Head – Nuraghe…..old and new.
Deci wall and the more modern Deci path.
Tortoise heads – bread roles
Old American bar – before the Brits took over and turned it into our messes; can’t complain at that accommodation.
Dodgy barber down at the small yank BX.
German Bar – fabulous for food and beer.
Italian bar – On a Sunday afternoon, how drunk on amaretto coffee????
Poetto beach
Pula beach
Cags
Via Roma
Alghero
Corsica for the famous five…..we know who you were!!!!!!!
Deci Shifts
Midnight swimming in the pool near the roundabout and some how never being caught.
Bombead cannons made out of coke cans and OM11 cans.
If you were a spotter, the aircraft were fantastic: Widowmakers, Phantoms, F5s with Soviet Stars on and all sorts of others that I really cant remember their names.

I am sure I could go on. Deci….I would drop everything and go tomorrow if I could.

[Jayand]

Ah Deci, Fine memories, Mrs migins pie shop, deci red, and the end of night can fight in the bar.

[sidewayspeak]

Ahem. Ummm. :O I was told that. Ahem. Rosie's Tea Garden in Belize made for. Ahem, A jolly fine detachment. Perhaps it was the clotted cream with the scones?? :eek:

[larssnowpharter]

Long story but summed up by cr"p weather, expensive beer and bloody cold.

Closely followed by time spent on the ground doing some training up north of Bardufoos.

Much the same reasons really.

[stiknruda]

Op Chantress, Angola - bit of a wheeze for the Brits in Lobito. Several S Americans blown up (IEDs) on the road to Luanda. In the capital, knife fights amongst the W Africans and some mad Near East £ucker giving it large with an AK caused a little death and destruction. The RTA casualty rate incidentally not far behind those mentioned above.

[Jumping_Jack]

Got to be Basra in 2007 around the time of the Basra Palace 'withdrawal'. My splat map shows 763 rockets in the 4 months I was there. Not a pleasant place to be. That said as another poster pointed out the dets are what you make them. The thirteen months I spent in the FI were brill, good job, great people and fab scenery/wildlife.

[NutLoose]

Ahh Deci, if that was your worst, I'd hate to think what the others were like......

5 gallons of Deci Red from the pumps behind the German Bar, Drinking the same stuff..... waking in the night with a mouth dryer than a badgers a**, wandering down the hall lights off, getting as big cup of water from the fountain and downing it in one to find someone has replaced the water with Deci Red... upping it quicker than downing it.

Same water fountain after arrival, everyone goes down with the squirts..... no one knows why, replacing empty fountain water bottle to find late remains of a decomposing cooked chicken leg placed under the bottle by the departing squadron! Nice.

Trying to nick the F-15 detachment sign off an American Van at night drunk, opening another to see if I can find some tools.... found one, but it was attached to some US Airman going at it on top of some US Airwoman who was lying there eating Popcorn!!!!!!!! Think of an excuse...Think of an excuse...... Hi, have you seen Dave???? No she splutters, thanks I says and shuts the doors...... Two of the USA's finest members depart rapidly leaving behind said PopCorn, so leave with said Popcorn........priceless.

Meal down Cags, then all having a discussion if we should attempt to get on a Russian Ship in port to nick the flag of the backend..... Sense ruled.

[F3sRBest]

Ahhh Deci.....


Thanks for all the reminders.. :) .. great times!

[jayteeto]

By far the worst det ever was disaster relief in Columbia in 1985. We flew 2 Pumas from Belize all the way through Central America. It started great, Honduras was a breeze, Nicaragua was interesting as the rebels were shooting down helicopters at the time using US Stingers. Costa Rica and Panama were acceptable, then we arrived in hell. The officers and SNCOs were ok in the messes, we were put in with the conscripts and were treated as such. The food would have been rejected in a vietnamese POW camp and we were ordered to eat it so as to avoid 'insulting' our hosts, there were maggots in the food. We asked to eat our compo rations and it was refused. On day three, 2 of the lads were close to exhaustion as they hadn't eaten, permission for compo rats was refused again. One of the ALMs, who shall remain nameless (thanks Sweaters) distributed the compo against orders which caused hell with the det commander. I could write a book about other things that happened. I very nearly PVRd that year.

[exmover_and_happy]

Detached to 16 MU, RAF Stafford mid 1977 to the DAC (Density Activity Complex), a huge horrible computerized warehouse full of small spare parts for just about everything. Arrived there on a Saturday evening to find nothing, literally nothing, on the station open except for the duty NCO who directed me to a TV room in one of the Airmens blocks where some w*nker was selling bottles of warm beer from a crate at the side of his armchair and 'loaning' blankets to sleep under.

I spent two miserable weeks there pulling bins out of racks and confirming the contents matched a computer printout. After one day of this torture we discovered it was funnier to confirm the right parts were in the right place and then move the bins to another location. It probably took years for the RAF supply system to recover from sending us there to help set up this wonderful place. The DAC was run by a bunch of miserable civvies who had been there forever and hated the influx of technology and the airmen sent there to "help" them.

Stafford itself was a dump and as I recall the whole town shut down sometime around 8 every night. Never seen so many empty pubs in my life. Thanks for bringing up the repressed memory of this nightmare.

[Lima Juliet]

Worst det???

24hrs+ at RAF Mount Batten with some very odd people who insisted on being really rude...

:}

[cazatou]

Brian48nav

Re your Post 46. The weather ship for the night stream assault was an Mk1 Andover of 46 Sqn flown by a very experienced pilot who had operated (albeit flying Spifires) in that area during WW2. He radioed back that the actual weather was unsuitable for a low level night stream assault. Tragically, no recall action was taken.

[LXXIV]

'24hrs+ at RAF Mount Batten with some very odd people who insisted on being really rude...'

Leon Jabachjabicz:

Thank you for reminding me of the rudest and most unpleasant bunch of people (permanent staff, that is), I ever met in an officers' mess. I was there doing the aircrew survival course in July 1987, (aged 58, and still going strong), and was still innocently under the impression that we were a 'band of brothers'. Never was I more disabused by the behaviour of the residents. What a shower!

LXXIV

[Squawk7143]

SRENNAPS

Block 131 – corridors, water and skating/sliding at silly o’clockJeez was that you ? :O I remember being kept up all night by a bunch who had just arrived they kept sliding down the stairs using the doors ...all night long!

They thought it was funny until they were real busy and we were on end of det party ! :ok:

You have to admit, when you are ankle deep in rubbish in Cagliari or sniffing evaporating poo outside Decimoputzu it ain't the best det in the airforce...now Akrotiri...that's different

[grizz]

I always found the natives very friendly-especially when the fishing fleet was out:ok:

[Biggus]

....you could say the same about Buckie, but I wouldn't want to go there on a det!!!

[glad rag]

I always found the natives very friendly-especially when the fishing fleet was outhttp://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/thumbs.gif

LOL, had a similar fate befall one of my/our lads, to cut an excellent story short he ended up on a night ferry to Newcastle as the noggie 'wimmen were on an M&S run and he ended up "tagging" along......

....AND he was back on shift on time on Monday morning.

But he was there BEFORE us LOL.

Great days when you were allowed a bit of slack now and then.:D:D:D

[fincastle84]

In January 1973 with the whole Nimrod crew living in a Quonset hut on the far side of the Little League football pitch.

The temp. was minus a lot & the wind was blowing at 50 kts. After one of our overnight Oedipus sorties it took 3 hours to taxi in as we were sliding all over the place on the taxiways. We were operating that museum piece, the Nimrod, RIP!

PS Kef at any time wasn't exactly a holiday camp. Discuss.

[Neptunus Rex]

Hi Fin,

In those conditions the 4 turboprops on my Orion made life a lot easier, 'cos you could select reverse pitch. Mind you, not too much call for it operating from Edinburgh (South Australia.)

[fincastle84]

Hi NR,

I guess that's why the USN operate P3s!

[Trenchard Brat]

what a toilet this place is, its akin to living on the moon in more ways than one, no atmosphere, miles from anywhere and populated by people who look at you like you have got 2 heads:hmm:

[Brian 48nav]

Sorry,46 Andovers not on that detachment; Hercs only.My log book shows Nov 8th 1971 operated Lyneham to Pisa. The 9th was the low-level with the prang,no flying for a few days. Started again on the 13th,back to Blighty on the 19th.
Wx on the 13th was OK and not a factor in the accident as far as we could tell. Regards Brian Wildey.
PS do you live in Dept 46,Lot?

[NutLoose]

Engine change Gander VC10 outside winter.......... Refused cold weather kit by Brize Stores, so in minus 15 plus do engine change in normal UK dress.... Tw+ts...... Attempt to open engine bag that has sat outside all night in even lower temps and cold soaked, consistancy of bag is that of peanut brittle and simply falls apart in ones hands...... week later get call from engine bay Warrant Officer to tell me I am Tech Charged for destroying the £15,000 by now flexible bag that is sitting in his bay..... Flip my lid and tell him to go ahead, reels off the list of all the other t+ssers he can add, such as clothing stores then hang up on him............ never heard a another thing about it.

[Melchett01]

Pretty much any of my Basrah dets.

Awful, God forsaken dump with no redeeming features, with a Div HQ full of arrogant but ignorant army types (note, not all are like that, just the ones we seemed to get there), who thought that shouting a bit louder was the answer to everything.

And a SWO who had so little to do that he would mince up and down the main drag pulling people up for the colour of their T-shirts. Pre-det paperwork from BAS J1 provided direction on dress regs, but the SWO decided on his own interpretation and that white t-shirts were not allowed despite the written dress regs stating differently. Told him if he was so concerned he could go to stores himself, get me 7 brown T-shirts and bring them to my office by COP that day or I would continue to wear what I had and get on with ops. Never heard any more.

Add to numerous jobsworths and idiots the heat, crap accommodation, lack of air con for weeks on end some times and locals who were so pleased to see us they kept trying to kill us at every available opportunity. Not my happiest times in the military.

Contrast that with Bastion in 06 - admin and bull**** went out of the window and we got on with the job we had been sent to do. A det that turned boys to men and put hairs on your chest, but how an op tour should be.

[L J R]

Kangaroo 2 - Roeburn, Western Australia C1984...

Followed by Kangaroo 95 - Tindal 1995......

A TOTAL waste of time...

[Dunhovrin]

Anywhere that involved getting there by Shackleton.

What got me early on was sitting in crappy hotel bars, bored titless, listening to the old farts banging on "Do you remember the det to blah, where we all got mullered and blah blah blah." You assume you're just unlucky as all your dets so far are beyond boring as no one wants to do anything that involves leaving the aforementioned crappy bar.

A year later: another det, another craphole joint, now the same blokes banging on about the above det like it was the best one ever. God save me.

[jayteeto]

What about your 'dets' now Dunhovrin? The rear crew may just be a bit better looking, but the bars are the same? :ok:

[rusty_monkey]

Every time we went on that bl**dy aircraft career, RO5. Culminating in 4 months living underneath that ramp weird navy rules and taking a month to find out that the deck plates lifted up to stow your bags and finding the out of date beer the stokers had left for us as a joke (it still got drunk)
Watching fisheads mouth along to the words of cruel sea "another cup of cocca" Argh.. no wonder someone was stealing the bolts out of the main radar mounting 4 months of very cramped conditions were you couldn't turn over in your bunk because your shoulders would hit the bunk above...
Desert even Basra wasn't to bad and I can't think of any that I hated like that boat.

[PFMG]

Night stop in Pago Pago (120Sqn) had all the potential to be totally sh!te until we stumbled across the yacht club, American Samoa Olympic Commitee (no really), and the Duke.

[Buena Vista]

Embarked Lynx on Towed Array Patrol north of Arctic circle that goes tits up on day 2 of 35. Remainder of grey time wallowing at 4 Knots waving at Bears.