Exercise Reforger 1988; as CAAC's personal taxi driver (in a Gazelle) I was to take him to any location in NORTHAG (his area of responsibility/authority) during daylight hours. He went on to become the first ever "home grown" DAAC (later DAAvn).
In practice this entailed flying him and whoever he had invited along for the ride from one C.P. to another for briefings and "refreshments" which routinely resulted in me dropping him at HQ fairly sozzled before returning to Fassberg each afternoon.
One day I was given an 8 figure grid reference to meet up with a moving C.P. and he told me that would fly; this was unusual because he hadn't flown for years and was totally un-current. It was made all the more challenging because he and his guest (my own C.O.) were both p**sed. At first I refused on currency and tech log grounds, but after much threatening I stupidly capitulated.
The aircraft was parked on a tennis court in a confined area and entailed a vertical departure. The red over-torque light illuminated solidly as he pulled pitch, despite my pressing down on the L.H. collective.
We arrived at the grid reference to find an empty space. After circling for a couple of minutes I was told in no uncertain terms that I had gotten lost as we were clearly in the wrong place. Things deteriorated rapidly when my C.O. (who was as pi**ed as a fart) started slapping me on the back of my helmet and shouting that I was finished, an embarrassment etc.
At this point I completely lost the plot. I took control with some extremely forceful words and decided to return to H.Q. En route the berating and helmet slapping increased until I could no longer stand it; I landed in a lay-by, stopped the blades and told them to get out. They were incredulous but eventually exited the aircraft. They were picked up by the Corps Commander's Lynx about an hour later.
I was grounded immediately upon landing at Fassberg and the next day given a vehicle to return home. A week later I was summoned to CAAC's office at Bielefeld and told I was to be court-martialled. This threat didn't surprise me since nothing had happened, no charges, escalation etc prior to the summons. So I responded by telling him that would be fine as there are two sides to every story and the huge number of people who had seen him stagger out of the aircraft day after day would all be called as witnesses.
I was told I would never serve in the same theatre as him, marched out, sent to Northern Ireland 10 days later and posted to Hong Kong/Brunei while I was there. It did occur to me that if I hit my O.C. in Hong Kong I may have gotten an exchange posting or somewhere else exotic ! But I signed off instead and after a very pleasant few months at Middle Wallop doing my ATPL(H) went to sunny Aberdeen.
After a couple of years I was contacted by the M.O.D. to ask if I would undergo a medical examination on my knee as I could be entitled to compensation for an injury I had sustained during my 15 years in the Army. Of course I agreed, who wouldn't ? The doctor who turned up at my house was a retired Colonel who, when he discovered I had been an Army pilot, asked me if I knew ****St J L***e, who had been DAAC. I told him I had and was about to launch into a huge tirade about what an ********** he'd been when the doctor told me they were great friends. I kept my mouth shut and got the War Pension.
I was told years later that the ********** in question, once retired, had taken a shotgun out to his gazebo and blown his own brains out. Never found out why. Tragic.
Over the next 25 years I was asked on numerous occasions whether I was the same guy who "threw the Brigadier out in a lay-by"; while never confirming or denying it I got many free beers !
NEO