I don't think its a wind up, flying farmers are one of the largest groups in UK GA, as they have plenty of space to put in a strip of their own.
I also don't think that his request was too harsh, it actually has an element of thin humour shared by the infantry (Farmer with a shovel is not much different to an infanteer without the shooting
)
14 years since I became a civvy, and I didn't know that we were producing such a snesitive group of souls in these days..
