Marham - home of the F-35B.
It’s not as if we have a lot of front line air bases left to maintain, is it?
Hello mate, considering the channel 4 documentary following the RAF at Lossiemouth and how great it all is, I just thought I’d give an honest insight to what it’s like at Marham, if you do share this then please keep anonymous.
There hasn’t been any hot water across most the junior rank blocks, gym and messing facilities for over a month, this was due to annual boiler maintenance. The deadline has been and gone and now Vivo are claiming there is no time frame for a fix, but the rumours are it could be as far away as November which would mean nearly 3 months without hot water.
Temporary showers have been placed in a couple of carparks, but these are of shocking standard, covered in mould, not draining properly and running out of hot water themselves.
On top of this, occupants were told they would not have to pay for accommodation, but this promptly turned out to be complete bollocks and any mention of unpleasant living conditions or knocking off the accommodation charge are swiftly ignored.
The accommodation and infrastructure are a shambles with blocks that were “condemned” over 2/3 years ago still being used and not enough rooms for new postings in. The solution to this? Stick the lads and lasses coming out of training into hotels up to 20 miles away which is a great idea seeing as most are fresh out of training and can’t drive so therefor can’t get to unit.
Just in case you thought it was just the juniors getting shagged up the arse, the SNCO/WO mess has been closed for over a year, yet members are still being made to pay mess bills, despite not having access to any of the facilities.
Not to be outdone though, the junior ranks mess has been closed for the best part of 2 months without even a rough estimate as to when it may open.
Sounds like a lot of whinging but the extent of the problems and the lack of communication and progress is beyond a joke.
The RAF does its best to paint a nice rosy picture of putting its people first, but one of its largest bases is essentially a construction site that you have to pay for.