Working and Living on an Overseas Tour

[foormort]

Have been away from home for a good few months now, prune reminds me of the crewroom in a way. What views do fellow aviators have on overseas tours?

[cazatou]

Do you mean as they are today or as they were 40 years ago?

Then people on an "Accompanied Tour" in the Far East found themselves doing at least 9 months a year in Borneo. At the end of their Tour they found that it was their turn for an "Unaccompanied" tour in the Middle East.

You have to remember that a large percentage of these Aircrew had served in WW2 and/or Korea.

[foormort]

I'm talking present day, interested in how people are getting on flying with other nations and day to day living.

[santiago15]

Chance would be a fine thing!

[Blacksheep]

...found themselves doing at least 9 months a year in BorneoAnd what, pray, is wrong with that? I've been here for 25 years and apart from a certain lack of warm beer and half naked women, its OK.

On the other hand, during my own tour at Changi from '69 to '71, we had to force down loads of local beer at 7p a pint, just to ensure the duty free ration stayed at 3 million gallons a month. Then every night, we had to fight off hordes of half naked women, trying to relieve of us of all our money. It was tough going, but hell, somebody's got to do it... ;)

[D-IFF_ident]

Foormort,

I love it.

Your title suggest you are also on an overseas tour...

[foormort]

Yes, I am certainly on an exchange tour, in the USA. Just having a blast, great jet. Just seems to be so much change going on in the UK at the moment. Miss the sqn life back in the UK but enjoying the lack of trivia and stability.:ok:

[sled dog]

Black Sheep

In FEAF before you, but remember having the same old "problems" ............ Shame the young guys are missing all that :cool:

[teeteringhead]

hordes of half naked women ... IIRC that should surely be hordes of naked half women;)

[sled dog]

A Bugis Street veteran obviously :yuk:

[philrigger]

You have to remember that a large percentage of these Aircrew had served in WW2 and/or Korea.
Very few RAF aircrew in Korea. Sunderland crews and those on exchange with US/Oz/NZ forces only I believe.
Aah! Boogie Street. I can still smell those toilets! The cries of "You want exhibish?". The good food. Testing watches for being waterproof in glasses of Tiger beer. The young kids with the noughts and crosses pads.
I remember the stall that the squadron always dined at. It displayed a 9 Sqn Bat in day-glow. And they paid me about £14.00 a fortnight (Including overseas allowances). It was hard but we brave souls were willing to serve our country.
In 1964 my brother (Newly married) was posted on a 2 1/2 year unaccompanied tour to Tengah, Singapore at the age of 19. The age for being accompanied was over 21 (Other ranks) or 24 (Commissioned). After 6 months in Singapore he managed to get an exchange posting to a 12 month tour at Labuan , Borneo. His 6 months at Tengah counted as 2 1/2 months of his 12 month tour in Borneo. So he only had to do 15 1/2 months unaccompanied!
Being married under the age of 21/24 meant that the Service did not recognise the marriage for allowances and entitlement purposes. (Or should that be non-entitlements).
But I digress.
"We knew how to whinge but we kept it in the NAAFI bar."
;)

[Blacksheep]

Its all very well us old farts reminiscing about the good old days when there were six decent overseas tours in Germany alone and plenty of other at least fairly decent postings - like Singapore, Hong Kong, Nairobi, Malta or Cyprus. One neighbour in the patch was a cook who'd done a tour at the leave centre in Mombasa! Bloody hell, he'd even had the cheek to draw his pay!

Most of us had the opportunity to get our knees brown in some degree of comfort, some time during our service. The dreaded El Adem or Salalah were nothing compared to Basrah and even Khormaksar wasn't as bad as that until right at the end.

Don't our chaps have anywhere decent to compensate for their trips to the sand pit these days? It just doesn't seem fair, somehow. :(

[Solid Rust Twotter]

Try to get a trip to the TFDC at Overberg, just outside Cape Town.

You'll have to bring your own generator, though.....:(

[Pontius Navigator]

Sled Dog, if you were in Singapore you had it easy. Up at Butterworth we had to shift the Gurkha's duty free as well as being good muslims they were not issued any duty free.

We drank their ration and they had to buy duty paid. C'est la guerre, but somene had to do it.

[sled dog]

I once fell into a monsoon drain at Butterworth after helping out draining the Tiger / San Miguel " lake ".
Is the Sombrero Bar still open in Mombasa ?

[Thud_and_Blunder]

Pontius,

You had Moslem Gurkhas? Blimey, that's a first! Certainly every Gurk I've ever worked alongside wouldn't know his Allah from his armpit, and wouldn't care much either.

Anyone who thinks our Nepalese friends are teetotallers has never seen the damage they can do to the contents of a Kukri Rum bottle... Oh, and the NAAFI at Seria (our Gurkha garrison in Brunei) has a very well stocked duty free I can assure you.

[sled dog]

Most Nepalese are either Hindus or Budhists.
Some " interesting positional " carvings on the Hindu temples in Kathmandu if memory serves me right :ooh: :cool:

[nutcracker43]

Pontius Navigator. your post (#14) suggests that you are still pissed.

NC43

[GengisKhant]

Whilst I would consider the majority of Gurghas honest and law abiding..., there were many (merceneries, for that is what they are), who would not think twice about removing any oposition standing in the way of his extraneous and dubious activities....,

Just one case in question - in 1990, Capt Gurkha in Barracks, pulled his drawer open which was attached to a grenade..., result was one dead 4 severly injured.

Capt Gurkhas was closing in on a gold/drug smuggling ring within the barracks - gold smuggled to Katmandhu then on to india.., gold sold..., money purchased drugs in HKG..., drugs sold more gold purchased etc... etc... and round and round they went.....

A number of Gurkhas regulary caught smuggling HKG-KTM.