Originally Posted by
Krystal n chips
Not sure when your time was, but, clearly you never encountered M.U engineers whose dress code was (very) loosely associated with the rest of the RAF...apart from one Sgt who actually pressed his denims. You may also be amazed to learn, that, maintaining aircraft tends to get a bit messy and dirty, hence there's no reason to try and emulate the Guards and their ceremonial dress / parades.
But, about the last bit.
Having watched both programmes, thus far I've not seen any aspect that could meet your "complete lack of discipline " comment...feel free to exemplify what you consider to be such.
Tell that to the SWO on episode Two.. He muttered something about smartness and haircuts making Engineers better at their jobs and more dilligent in their approach to It...
My instant thought was bull****, keeping warm / cool and dry were more important than how your kit looked and what you wore, scarves, wooley hats and aquired bits and bobs were the norm, has he ever been out on a line?
Spend 12 hours crawling around an engine at night fixing it on an open apron in the middle of winter and a nice crease in your trousers and shiny shoes are the last thing you have on your mind, try shining a pair of shoes that have had engine oils, skydrol and a myriad of other fluids spilt on them. VC10 cabin compressor oil levels come to mind..
You often had parts of the RAF that were working against you, the storeman who wouldn't change my DMS boots that the soles were almost smooth on and slippy, they are dangerous when working on aircraft... You have safety boots for that comes the reply... so you expect me to change my boots out in the field everytime I need to work on a Puma top deck? It took my bosses interjection to get those changed.
Refusing to issue cold weather clothing, so we end up in Canada changing an engine out on an apron in mid winter wearing standard nylon cold weather kit.