hey guys now i have my loggin sorted i thougt i would tell you of a few experiences i had with our finest RAFP , some good, most bad though.
First the good one, when i finishes recruit training at Halton my course was delayed three weeks so i was stiffed with a week of night shift guard, there was me 3 othe ACs and two RAFP corprals and a SGT RAFP. First night of guard the SNCO told us the next time we called them by rank we would be cleaning out the kennels and it was all first name terms, during the course of the week those three blokes were tops, sound as a pound , (they were all substansive) i took ill during that week the SNCO came round the block with some magazines for me , stuff like that like. So Yes I do appreciate there are RAFP out there who are sound like, now for the amusing stories......
when i finished the above guard i was on leave, the first time of my RAF career and i was full of the joys of life, all i had to do was go to stores and grab a new berret,(i was in my civies at this point)a group of maybe 5 SACs went through the gate flashed there IDs and customery "morning mate" i approached and showed him my 1250 the conversation went like this .......
Me :- "morning buddy, nice morning?"
18yr old RAFP:- "let me see your ID please"
i handed him the 1250,after about 20 seconds
RAFP:- are you on a course here?
Me:- no am on TDF waiting for my course to start at cosford
Pause as his brain tries to work
RAFP:- well MR ******, I am not your mate and the next time you call me mate i will have you sent to colchester, am going to see your boss later
I was slightly stunned at the guys atttitude and manor like
Me:- well look first of all cpl. my ID says am a AC not MR so address me by my rank please,second there is no way the RAF will let you throw me in the glass house for calling you mate , and thirdly go see my boss however as far as he is concerned i am on leave and when i get back ai leave the next morning.
RAFP :- bu bu but you cant talk to me like that,
Me:- Look your happy thats me on the 1250 am off to grab my bag and catch my train, have a good day
And i walked off, yes i was in the wrong , however he didnt need to speak to me in a way to make me feel as though i was something his brain left in its kennel, i was only trying to be civil. my second story involving happened a couple of year ago..
it was the 22nd of december, i had f
ked up , (i was five minutes late i think)so my "punishment" was to get some mince meat pies for the weapons desk, we had to dro some PSPs back to the bay, so i stayed in my overalls and my mate who drives threw on some blues we put the PSPs in the wagon, and the plan was i would take the PSPs back to the bay and sort the paperworkmy mate would go to the SPAR and get the pies, five minutes after am dropped off my mate returns minus pies "the SPAR has none we will need to nick into the village jump in" ON LEAVING CAMP WE WAVED TO THE RAFP AND HE WAVED BACK, so we toddle down to the village return sporting a dozen pies get to the gate, (am in overalls, hi-viz vest and ear defenders,in a service vehicle with someone in RAF uniform)
RAFP:- morning can i see your car pas
my mate:- yeah there its
RAFP:- your 1250s
my mate showed him his
Me:- Eh yeah I dont seem to have mines with me
RAFP:- where is it i can charge you for not having it
Me:- well its in my locker
RAFP:- why you should carry it at ALL time
ME:- But i cant, i was working a jet and its a FOD hazard
RAFP:- You arent on a jet now are you? How do you expect to get on MY camp?
Me:- yeah i didnt realise i would be off camp, we had to grab some pies from the village( trying to plead my case) and my mate here can vouch who i say i am
RAFP:-No he cant
Me:- Why?
RAFP:- because i dont believe him, go to the guard room,phone your section, get someone to come to come down from the Sqn to establish your identity and get a temporary ID!
I went in to guard room where my bosses wife unknown to me at the time worked explained my case and she came out and vouched for me, tyical copper full of xmass cheer, again he was right i was wrong but he could have shown a bit more tact. by getting me to get one of the sqn lads to come down he was trying to cause as much hassle for me at work as possible like for no reason.
My last story doesnt directly involve me however we sat with open jaws when we heard, one wedensdaynight 1am our phone goes, "this is
over on Q, are you using your wagon?" he asks "no why?". It transpired that A had driven over to the block in the QRA van (the QRA wagon has QRA all over it in, its so well known no one bothers to ID you in it) to pick up some stuff, parked up outside the block and left the keys in the ignition, not the brightest thing but no major biggie, he emerged from the block , to find the keys missing,phoned the the QRA commander, the QRA phoned the cops and advised them the lad was needed fo servicea Q jet, the cops told him there was no way the would give the keys back to the lad untill he presented himself for a meeting with FS police with all his documents and in blues , to disscuss "the need for service vehicle security", when the SNCO pointed out the lad was on QRA duty, the SNCO was told that the essentially that was not the RAFP fault and the lad should have thought about that before he left the keys, and there was no way he would get the keys back before 9am next morning. the QRA commander asked whether the RAFP wanted him to inform the strike that northen Q was off state, they told him "thats your call" At this point our JENGO got involved, a few phone calls later and one pissed off OC ENG, the keys were delivered eventually back to the lad, we heard later in the week the old OC police had every member of the the police flight in the crew room at attention to explain the importance of QRA, then had them go over to QRA for a tour to remind them of the reason the station is there (Nice one sir , where ever you are now!) O the new OC plod doesnt believe in visual recognition of people now so the guard force now have a 100% 1250 check and he has told them that he will charge any guard who doesnt ID him at the gate, wonder how long that will last!!!!!
Now i told youy theses anncedotes to amuse you and high light my experiences with coppers, now in every case we were in the wrong but its the coppers people skills that largely irritate the rest of the RAF, but lets not forget though its not just coppers in my abate limited experience the further people are from the aircraft the more bull**** you have to cut through to get stuff done,and i include techie bays in that too by the way. a LAC threatend to charge me for being late in the med centre for being 5mins late for the appointment,when i had a 15min wait at the runway traffic lights.PSF P1 who bollocked me out for whistling on my way to work , (as he leaned out a window smoking) and the PSF adminer who told me to come back on monday for my rail card(someone handed it in) as the lad who dealt with it went home for the wknd, at 11am on a friday.
terry mate chill out, if i had to throw my dummy out my cot every time ppl take the mick pout of plumbers i would be stir crazy at the minute, ok bud
anyways i awiat your replies and observations