I recall a bunch of us having a go at the 'Families Officer' in the OM over 20 years ago about the dreadful state of the housing at the Covert Oxonian Aerodrome. Many pre-fabs in use as AMQs - they'd been flown in by the US in the mid-60s with an assumed 10 year life span. I see from the photos that they're still in use. The OMQ patch was an eyesore - all the Families Officer would say was "It's to scale".
In the OM, brown, tepid water dripped from the taps. Many of the 'transit' rooms still bore the irremovable stains 23 years later. At one Mess Meeting we were told to shut up when we objected to proposals to spend hundreds on new curtains for the 'Ladies Room' (virtually never used) - we said that we wanted the single rooms fixed first! Fortunately I moved out to a local town as soon as I could!
At one of his Waddington briefings, ACM Sir John Allison told us of some difficulties he'd had with DHE and its 'customer service'. "Chaps - I'm not saying that I deserve any special treatment, but if that's the way they treat people in general, I hate to think what it must be like for those just starting their time!"
Let's hope we see those who defend our country's interests being given the homes-for-heroes they all deserve. No 'key performance indicators', 'targets' or other 'pseudo biz-speak' - just money and tangible action!
Last edited by BEagle; 4th Jan 2007 at 08:44.