Originally Posted by
Ninthace
The civilian members of the team could be a moveable feast, Some were quite chameleon like, happy to be pseudo military when it suited them, e.g. mess membership. but just as ready to play the civilian card when it suited them. Others played a full part and were welcome additions to the war effort.
Its a very odd, very British compromise when M o D civilians are [were?] posted / deployed outside UK, and not necessarily in a war zone.
Perhaps these days the rules have changed, but some [all?] UK civilians in RAFG were subject to the Air Force Act .......... [I never enquired too deeply what I had signed up for] and many had "Dormant Commissions" to be activated at TTW. The upside was mess membership, the downside was annual NBC training and traipsing off to stores to make sure your warrior outfit was still available. These gave the dubious protection of the Geneva Convention ....... our civvy ID passes would be swapped for RAF ones.
There really wasn't much of a "civilian card" to play .......... if you didn't wouldn't or couldn't fit in there were enough volunteers in the UK as replacements. The worst cases were those who failed to respect married quarters and regarded march out as a box-ticking exercise. These gave civvies such a bad name that I always ensured that they were black-listed as never to be sent overseas again
My last RAF serving contact retired a few years ago, and I expect the above is dinosaur waffle.