downsizer
Lets be fair,
as someone else once said, you have to fail a lot of flying training to end up as a pilot on hercs....
That was possibly me.
I first wrote this excellent piece of banter in the Akrotiri Station Mag in the early nineties in the "Scorpion's Sting" It followed an op where 2 or 3 Wessex helicopters went to the Bekka Valley to bring out some trapped Palestinians. I was irked that news reports failed to mention the groundcrew who had worked 24hrs through the night to get the aircraft ready. Having waved the master race off, we all went to a well earned free breakfast in the JRM where I got a phone call reminding me that I was on Orderly Corporal (for a further 24 hrs) Also, in the race to return home for tea & medals, the aircrew left 3 groundcrew behind in Beirut. They had to hitch a lift back on a Louis Line ferry, in uniform.
I have unleashed this banter a few times at Top Table speeches, and possibly a couple of times on this website and it was always received well.
My era on Hercs followed my Cyprus tour - so 1995 onwards - later than most of the posters on this thread.
I was considering dusting off this old gem, as I have seen Smudge state several times that he was a "mere GE", and it would lead me to remind Smudge that he was at the absolute top of his game....unlike the rest of the crew etc.
For those who got excited, I offer another gem:-
If you long for the taste of a standard NATO cup of tea on Albert, and your wife can't seem to get it quite right...
1. Paper cup
2. NAAFI Yorkshire Tea
3. A little bit of Loadmaster or GE urine