Not all training is the same
Pah, take some time off over Christmas and keep away from PPrune and it has taken me ages to catch up on what I have missed. Some of my periods with the Army fairly clearly demonstrated to me the difference between ‘their’ thought processes and ‘ours’ but also demonstrated the momentum that some training built up – it’s always been done that way. In the mid eighties I did the technical course on the Scimitar tank (ok the CVR(T)) which consisted mainly of the Rarden cannon and the co-axial GPMG. The course was excellent if a little noddy, aimed at someone not quite as skilful as your average RAF armourer, and we actually fired the Gimpy that we serviced – which the RAF never let trainees do, it concentrated the mind and made sure that you did a good job. A few years later I was due to go to Sek Kong and was told that I needed to do the Spartan course, also down at Bordon. It was supposed to consist of the 76mm cannon and the co-axial GPMG, which obviously I had already done. However, when I got there the Army had unilaterally taken the GPMG off the course as they knew that the RAF now taught it themselves at Cosford. In its place they taught general armament and I had a great course climbing over Chieftain and the new Challenger plus other exotic kit. The course was extremely well taught, if a little laid back. When the instructor was instructing the students were allowed to smoke (I had given up a few years earlier) and when it came to removing the turret of the Spartan we were just shown the kit and told to get on with it. In the RAF you would have needed a chit to check the kit and another one to use it and probably a fair amount of instruction.
When I got out to Sek Kong there were no Spartans, as expected, as the RAF had stopped using them a year or 2 earlier and I asked why I had to do the Spartan course. It was all due to the fact that the co-axial Gimpy with its mounting were not dissimilar to the Gimpy and its mounting on the Wessex that was used in Hong Kong. So I had to do a 4 week course (that I thoroughly enjoyed) for a weapon that the Army no longer taught to the RAF, all because they now taught it themselves. And where was I detached from to go on the course? It was Cosford, where, among other things, I taught the maintenance of the GPMG.
Some years later I was doing pre-employment training for the Falklands and had to do a couple of EOD courses – one of them with the RE down at Chatham. Once again a good course, if a little bit of an eye opener to a sheltered RAF lad into the mind of the average RE. They were very proud when they swamped the bed and when we had to go and blow kit up on the beach and had to book into a hotel they asked for rubber sheets so that they would not get charged for a new mattress in the morning.
They also made the training more realistic. One very cold December morning we were dealing with ‘chemical’ munitions. I was wearing full combats, plus NBC, plus a fuel suit with self contained breathing apparatus. I went forward and dealt with the problem with double sealed bags and plaster of Paris and then came back. I was a little on the warm side. At this point the RAF would have talked about decontamination – the Army had set up a decontam area and within about 2 minutes I was naked under a shower run from a stand pipe. I was then a little on the cold side. And this wasn’t just for the 2 RAF lads on the course – everyone was subjected to it during the exercise.
Once again, I enjoyed working with the Army, both REME and RE – but I am so glad I wore light blue in my normal day job.