Bruggen Barber

[sidewayspeak]

A bit of reminiscing... Anybody remember the German barber at RAF Bruggen in the 80/90s nicknamed Herman the German?

Started drinking mid-morning, so if you wanted a straight haircut, you booked early as a 3 pm cut was a bit squiffy.

Ex-tank driver from WWII who only knew how to cut hair in one style - short back and sides.

Instead of Auto-car and Railways Monthly, he had the most filthy porn magazines.

He HATED the Scottish with a passion. Something to do with being a POW in Scotland apparently.

[Motleycallsign]

Never served at Bruggen, but the one at Gutersloh was knicknamed
'Herr Cutz'

Sorry back to the chocolate eggs!!!!!!

[INT_QRU]

or 'Guy the spy' at FY in the early 80's

He always had the latest gen...

[Dark Helmet]

Yes, I remember Herman the German! A real character. People would sit in the queue winding him up without thinking about the fact that they would eventually have to get in the chair...and then he took his revenge!

Happy days!

[langleybaston]

The other Herman the German is/ was the massive statue at Porta Westfalica, who defied the Romans.

In WW II the aircrew within range used to give him a few rounds on the way home ........ when I was at Guetersloh early 70s the holes were very obvious.

Worse than a haircut.

[Alber Ratman]

I was leaving Bruggen and needed one more hair cut before I left. The german bank account was closed and I was getting rid of all the shrapnel I had from the romm. He got a handful of pfhenigs off me for the 5DM price of the cut. He went mental, not accepting it, so I had to go away and great some notes from my room.. "You want SWO cut?" "No, Herman I don't!" Frigging NAZI!

[SRENNAPS]

Yes I remember Herman very well. Cracking bloke and he hated the English if you were Scottish, Irish or Welsh and hated the Welsh if you were English, Irish or Scottish, and the rest; you get my drift.

Two hours before take off in our VC10 to the gulf, in uniform, me and my mrs went to the mally for a final coffee. I made some excuse about just popping to the Sparkie to get some money and then when straight to see Herman. Seeing me in the desert uniform he immediately gave me a number one. On returning to the mally and seeing my mrs, she took one look at me and said “you have four months to grow that back, or I leave you”. They were the days.

[Sloppy Link]

Wolfgang the brattie wagon on Bergen-Hohne. Knew where all the troops were, where they were going and when end-ex was. His blue Merc Brattie wagon would turn up in places that a Chieftan Tank couldn't get to, bratties mit pommes mayo and a yellow handbag......fantastic.

[NutLoose]

Yup I remember him, there were some real characters at Bruggen, the two old guys that ran the Ratty outside the main gate... Jäger schnitzel droooool, and my friend Silvia that waited in the OM.

[SRENNAPS]

So is he still there, in Javelin Barracks, and will he crack the record of:

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircrew/482053-17-station-commanders.html

Either way good luck to both of you and thanks for being part of something quite special in our lives.

[Al R]

I remember him with less affection than Nick; he would wreak his revenge by trashing a bloke's pulling power every day and was my motivation to buy my own clippers. The barber at Greenham Common was a retired AG, a cracking bloke, who called everyone 'penguin'.

[NutLoose]

Either way good luck to both of you and thanks for being part of something quite special in our lives.

Haaair haaair......

I'll get my coat

:O

[Wensleydale]

Joe's Barber's Shop in the NATO Base, Geilenkirchen in the 1980s. The girls did not seem to have been employed for their hair dressing skills but for their ability to look good while wearing baggy T-shirts that you could nearly see down in the mirror! It was difficult to concentrate on the conversation sometimes....("How much would you like me to take off?" etc).

If you were unlucky you got Joe, who used to chain smoke all over you while cutting instead of a blond lovely who would accidentally brush your ear with a delicate part of her anatomy....:O

[OKOC]

Slight thread drift...but what about the (female) dentist 1990's at EGDL that used to secure your head firmly twixt buzwams. I used to have fillings done every week whether I needed them or not.:ok:

[NutLoose]

And the poster on the ceiling at RAF Odious in the dental section where they gassed you, saying Wa**ing makes you blind :}

[Krystal n chips]

The barber / butcher in question was easily avoided by popping into Elmpt and the much more civilised barbers shop on the corner by the "S" bend and the road to Neiderkruchen....hair cut averse troops got the benefit of an almost civilian haircut....by two nice ladies....followed by a visit to the bratty wagon around the corner....all in works time of course.

On the subject of Bruggen dentists however, one in particular springs to mind...an individual whose "interpersonal skills" were, at best, non existent.

If he could have wired the chair to the mains, he probably would have.

A visit consisted of minimal treatment and maximum inspection / bollocking...NON were spared including the very grown ups....his tour was "shortened" I seem to recall.

[NutLoose]

I remember my, no thank you I go private, went down like Halitosis when replying to the you will turn up for your obligatory annual check up at Brize.
So much so that when I opened my medical records on being handed them ( and that went down the same ) upon discharge, it was all over my records!

I think it was at Halton that following a spate in the medical centre one lad got a solicitors letter drawn up and handed to the SMO stating he withdrew consent to be treated by service medical staff and to touch him would amount to assault and he would actively persue them personally through the courts... There was a huge fallout over it which I do not know if it was ever settled.

[insty66]

Herman was also dismissive of the Hairdressers on camp.

"Vimmin viz titz" was a common decription used.

[bosnich71]

Don't know if he's the same bloke but the barber at Bruggen in the early 60's was nicknamed 'Herr Kutt' and his offsider was 'Herr Kream'.
Herr Kutt could carry on a conversation in English using swear words for 99% of it.

[BBadanov]

I remember the O'Club barber at our airbase in South Vietnam.

His body was hanging off the perimeter fence one morning, dressed in black pajamas, after an attempted VC attack the previous night.

Didn't go to Vietnamese barbers again.

[Not Long Here]

After a free haircut in Diego Garcia the nice Philippino ladies would give you a very pleasant head massage :ok:

[endplay]

I remember Herman very well. Does anyone remember Ted the Bed who ran the bedding and station bike store next door to the barbers. Ted served with me and "Big Scouse" Revell in Salalah circa 1972. Huge characters both.

[Geezers of Nazareth]

Verrry much drifting away from the original post ... there used to be a barbers inside the terminal at Bangkok/Don Muang. It was 'upstairs' somewhere, and 'round the back of some shops and offices.

Apparently ('allegedly'!) you could get more than a 'head massage' if the premises were quiet!

[NutLoose]

You mean they trimmed your eyebrows as well ?

[30mRad]

I don't remember a German barber from my time at Bruggen. There was a hair salon within the SIF complex by SHQ. The staff were far easier on the eye than some crusty old German! More like the description of the Geilenkirchen shop IIRC!

Anyone remember the barber at Strike Command who used to answer the 'phone "Cheif of the Hair Staff". I seem to remember that he suffered from Parkinsons disease too, which must have made for an interesting shave or hair cut!

30mRad