In another lifetime I was an RAF fire officer (Seletar and Kai Tak 1967 - 69). In those days the Fire School at Catterick was churning out firemen on a regular basis, a new course starting as the last one graduated. Nowadays with the much reduced RAF and many fire sections (as I understand it) now civilianised, just how many firemen could the RAF put into the civvy fire services should the need arise? I'm assuming the Navy and Army are in a similar position so I'm guessing the answer would be precious few.
The trouble is the people of this country still have this vague notion that there are thousands of spare troops sitting around doing nothing but whitewashing coal and polishing buttons, just waiting to help out when some crisis occurs. Someone should tell them, and at the same time make industrial action in the fire services on a par with the police - ie illegal.
Last edited by Tankertrashnav; 29th Aug 2013 at 21:03.