Good evening,
I am currently employed to provide assistance to military passengers, their families, and MOD employees at the major London airports.
The main reason for our existence as a section is to help with passengers travelling as Compassionate Alpha or Bravo cases (despite popular and widespread belief there is NO SUCH thing as Comp Charlie in the British military)
The service we offer is, in my opinion, first class, and something the military should take great pride in. No matter whether you are a General or a Private soldier, you get the same treatment. Not many areas we can say that happens in are there? I sincerely hope none of you will ever have reason to use the system, or, if you have, you were impressed with the service given.
Other duties at these airports include contract monitoring of civilian airlines handling military pax, and PROVIDING HELP AND ASSISTANCE TO MILITARY PAX ENCOUNTERING PROBLEMS AT THE AIRPORT.
These problems are many and various. Sometimes it is not the passengers fault (the Unit or FMCC if in theatre could have let the passenger down for instance). More commonplace is Johnny Pongo being a fu*ckwit and not having a clue of basic details like the correct day he is flying, or even with which airline.
However, this is a seperate discussion. This topic is about uniform in UK civil airports. So lets have a look at the reasons why this policy exists.
As has already been stated, the first and foremost reason is because the JSP 800 states it. Which, to be honest, should be the end of discussion. The policy was approved at Sqn Ldr level (no doubt having been staffed a little higher than that). However, this is a discussion forum so lets ask why?
Despite posts here stating differently, it is not the case that BAA have enforced this policy on us. Or that ALL of the airlines that operate out of the UK insist on no uniform. But some of them have.
So, how do you legislate for that? If Johnny Pongo has a booking with, for instance, British Midland, his booking confirmation (if he ever got one) could state it is ok to travel in full uniform, but if he is booked through British Airways then he must travel in civvies? Impractical.
So, there is one good reason why there is a blanket ban on uniform. Wouldn't you feel more aggrieved if you got refused a flight on the basis of what you were wearing and got stranded at the airport just because of airline policy? Who would you blame? The airline? The movers at Brize who didn't tell you? The movers at your APOE? Your movements clerk? The FMCC? Yourself?
So that's now 2 legitimate reasons for not turning up in uniform. Not convinced yet? Ok lets carry on.
I think there is a tendancy here to believe that ALL military personnel are as 'well turned out' as yourself. By this I mean this is a forum primarily for Aircrew, visited by a lot of Officers and 'older' members of the military, or ex-military. Not sure how many young airman, soldiers or seaman are giving their opinions here. But, and I can assure you I am telling you the truth here, not everyone takes as much pride in their appearance in uniform as you do. Some of the sights I have seen wandering through the airport have to be seen to be believed.
Young guys in desert DPM, shirts unbuttoned, t-shirts smeared with salty sweat marks, boots still containing half the Iraqi desert, no headgear (who wears berets right?) and generally just looking a shambles. Not really the 'advert for the military' some of you believe we are portraying. Quite frankly I've seen better turned out homeless people. Admittedley, sometimes this isn't necessarily the passengers fault. After all, if you've spent 4/6 months washing your uniform in a bucket, or getting it wet in the Jingly laundry then its bound to look a bit shabby.
So, its not aesthetically pleasing to see someone in such a state. But we could live with that right? No need to stop him getting on his flight? Correct. But what about the complaint received by the military by the civilian passenger who has to sit next to the guy in question, who stinks and looks a bag of **** because he has been wearing the same clothes for weeks on end? In some cases the uniform could walk through the airport on its own without any need for a body inside it...
Ok, so the civvy shouldn't be complaining, after all the guy is a war-hero isn't he? Bloody moaners, should be buying the guy a beer on the flight, not moaning about the smell. Not in real-life sunshine. In an ideal world maybe.
Ah, that reminds me. War Heroes. Returning War Hero syndrome is probably the main reason we get passengers in uniform turning up at the airports and disregarding advice to the contrary at all stage of their journey. Nobody wants to slope back home to wives/ girlfriends/ mothers/ fathers/ brothers/ husbands in jeans and a sweatshirt do they? They want to come back looking like John Rambo. Why?
Pride? A sense of achievement? To look 'hard'? All of these. And I'm not saying that its wrong. You SHOULD be able to return in uniform looking all these things. But is it REALLY that important? I mean REALLY? Or are you suffering from being a bit 'Army Barmy'. Does what you are wearing really detract from the job you've done? Will your family forget where you've been unless you look the part in the Arrivals Hall?
An excuse we hear a lot when approaching passengers in uniform (yes, we have to stop and question why they are in uniform) is that they WERE TOLD SPECIFICALLY NOT TO DEPLOY WITH ANY CIVILIAN CLOTHING. Bull****. Everyone is told to take at least one set of civvys away with them. What if, God forbid, you had to travel back urgently as a Compassionate case? Do you honestly think ANY of the middle-east airlines would let you hop aboard dressed like GI Joe?
In the course of this posting I have handled and helped dozens and dozens or Comp cases. And do you know what? NOT ONE has EVER flown into the country in uniform. Hmm...weird that isn't it? So why do you have to on return from your detachment? Whats the difference? Ah, right, sorry, the returning war hero thing again.
I've just noticed I've only really spoken about people using Civ-Air on return from their tour. Not people flying out to commence their tour. Bit strange that as well when you think about it. So, when you fly back from, say, BSR to BZZ and then jump on the bus to fly LHR to HAJ its essential you wear full rig. But 6 months previously you flew HAJ-LHR and then from BZZ-BSR in jeans and t-shirt. What happened in those 6 months? Were you assimilated that month that you had your own personality stripped away from you?
Personally (and yes, in the last 15 years I have served in Bosnia, Zaire, Kosovo, Saudi, Sierra Leone and Iraq) the first thing I want when I fly in is to get out of my uniform. That and a cold beer. Why spend longer in uniform than you have to? I don't finish work in the UK and sit around my living room in my uniform. Or go down the pub in it. So why would I want to fly on a civil aircraft and spend hours at an airport in it?
That leads me onto my next point. Beer. Who hasn't craved a few pints of real watered down English beer after an operational tour? Not many of you i'd wager. But not everyone, after 6 months away on a two can rule can handle it. I bet you can guess where this is going? Yep, the phonecalls to our detachment because Johnny Pongo is leathered, in uniform, in Wetherspoons at the airport and is being abusive because he is not being 'respected'. Ho-hum. Here we go again. Now, nobody wants to stop this guy getting on his plane and back to his loved ones, but he is acting like a tool and won't behave himself. The fact he is sticking out like a sore thumb in his uniform is, yet again, not that 'advert for the military' you guys were banging on about earlier is it?
For the record, in my personal experience doing this job, NOBODY has ever been refused a flight for being in uniform. They are quietly advised to get changed into civvies. If they insist they have none and the particular airline they are flying with are happy to accept them then they fly in uniform. If the airline are not happy, then the passenger is advised to go and buy a pair of trackies and a t-shirt from a sports shop in the airport.
No big deal. Nobody gets a hard-on about it, least of all us. HOWEVER, one thing we do take very seriously is our own personal security. When a military passenger does encounter a problem in the airport we usually get called to assist. When said passenger is in uniform and therefore sticking out a mile, it compromises us to a certain extent. London airports have 'dickers' in them. We know it, BAA know it, the Met Police know it. We have to work in the airport all the time. The transitting passenger doesn't and therefore, it would be UNLIKELY (but not impossible) for him to be targeted unless it was an oportunist strike. However, 'they' have the time to target us, and that is a very real threat. A way around this, of course, would be to refuse to assist a passenger in uniform. But that's not realistic either is it? And not a road we would like to go down. It is quite staggering how many pax don't know their basic flight details as I mentioned before, therefore the assistance we can provide can be quite invaluable. I'd hate to go down the route just suggested...
As for the uniform itself, nobody has yet commented on the sensors and security at airports nowadays. BAA have some very good scanners and systems that are good at picking out 'trace explosives'. You know the kind, found on uniform, you've been carrying around loaded magazines at the very least for 4 months, jumping in and out of vehicles that have been carrying weapons of varying degrees of nastiness. Do you really need the hassle of being lit up like a Christmas tree at security? Not saying you'd be prevented from getting on your flight, or even missing it, but do you really want the hassle? Just for the sake of not being arsed to get changed? Your choice...
If you want my honest opinion, then I pretty much agree with you all here. You SHOULD be able to wear your uniform ANYWHERE you want in the UK. You SHOULD be given access to fast-track processing, access to Business Class lounges and SHOULD be bought beer and gifts by members of the public and walk around the airport preceded by a scantily clad young girlie scattering rose petals at your feet. You SHOULD be piped aboard the aircraft and have your hand shaken by the local Mayor. The pilot SHOULD invite you onto the flight deck and offer you your choice of stewardess to have your way with on your journey home.
All of the above SHOULD happen, but its not likely to happen anytime in the near future. In the meantime, is it really that much of a big deal to put some civvys on before you catch a plane home?