Guidance for those reaching Age 55
I was recently sent the following guidance for those reaching Age 55.
For those of advanced years, statements shown below should be able to help identify that you are due a last tour of duty.
When obscure form numbers like 1369, 6442 and 252 could mean career-changing moments.
When you remember bizarre uniform items such as the thunderbird jacket and the flasher mac
When you remember the glorious anonymity of JTs, SACs and LACs before they introduced rank slides for airmen
When colleagues were posted to RAF stations that nobody knew existed (eg ‘Machrihanish? Never heard of it – are you sure it’s not a wind-up?’)
When the ’back of the bike sheds’ was considered an appropriate location for career counselling.
When wearing medals was considered the particular right of the lucky few silver jubilee recipients or the handful from the South Atlantic.
When OOA tours meant 4 months limited to communication by ambiguous means such as ASMA, the bluey or a cable and wireless phone card.
When the question ‘Where the hell is Decimomannu?’ at least stood a remote chance of being answered.
When crewrooms were occupied and people partook of unintelligible games like Uckers and ‘Hunt’
When an RAF aircraft recognition poster was larger than A4 size
When you remember curious anomalies such as male only stations (eg Wattisham)
When anything Soviet was ‘bad’ and anything NATO was ‘good’
When you drove around with BFG plates
When you witnessed a survival scramble or spent some time in an HPS.
When you remember QRA that involved ‘instant sunshine’ and the ‘two-man principle’ in the ‘no-lone zone’
When your NBC suit came with a detachable hood.
When being issued with DPM kit seemed quite exciting.
When Friday lunchtime (afternoon) was spent in the pub (in uniform)
When one enjoyed the pleasures of six-pint standby
When doughnuts on day 3 or 4 of an exercise had particular significance
When ‘AOC’s’ meant an enormous parade (and if you were lucky enough to be at Lossie, repeated 3 times)
When the GD branch pretty much meant you could do anything – including OC Admin’s job.
When some lucky people had the pleasure of being recruited as FLMs and TAGs.
When you had access to a variety of personal weapons that seemed to have come out of Battle Picture Library (303, SLR, SMG etc)