blunt or not

[serf]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/08/06/nafg106.xml
Is he a bluntie?

[Ali Barber]

Technically, yes - but not in a disrespectful way! Wonder if the lads pay ever got sorted out?

[Wrathmonk]

Most definately not - a credit to the AGC and a performance I would hope would be forthcoming from all those adminers within the RAF who were put in a similar position. Of course now we (ie the RAF) have the delights of JPA to contend with the chances of such visits are becoming less and less (as are the personnel numbers in the aforementioned admin branch) - can't see whatever faceless corporation who won the JPA contract ever making a routine 2-day visit to a base in UK let alone anywhere else to sort out (one of the many) salary problems ... :E

Be interesting to see whether he is given any recognition in the next Op Honours List - but more importantly how many of the 30 others (for who such events may be considered the normal day job!) will also be singled out.

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

Following the age old principle that "it takes one to know one"; he was a Bluntie. Fair dos, he found himself at the sharp end but that was not his prime purpose nor objective. The mention of Zulu was interesting in that, as RE, Lt Chard was Bluntie but took command of a Sharp Unit. It comes down to what the day job is. Is the Appointment held directly concerned with the projection of offensive force? I would argue that Cpt Ehlen was 3rd Line support forced into a defensive position. That, of course, raises the question of whether the South Wales Borderers, hemmed in at Rorke’s Drift, were an offensive FE operating in a defensive role.

[Two's in]

"The troops are having a fantastic tour," said one senior officer. "Their morale is very high because they are doing what they joined the Army to do - taking part in demanding operations and using their skills to kill the enemy.

Although this person later acknowledges the fatigue element, this was clearly written by someone who is not on the wrong end of a Range Day every day, or has not routinely been helping Wahzid zero in his 81mm mortar.

'Fantastic' is not a valid adjective to describe getting the $hit shot out of you every day, by the same players, with no obvious way to break the cycle. I thought this nonsense went out with the Somme.

:\

[BellEndBob]

Stupid question

Stupid thread

Stupid Tw@t

[South Bound]

Bloody good example of why us RAF Blunties have to do IDT/FP though, isn't it....?

[Cumbrian Fell]

After all the (tired old) arguments about what is a Bluntie are routinely trotted out on PPrune, the question has to be asked is anyone on OOA ops a bluntie now (in the sense of being out of harm's way)?

Our Pay Captain definitely isn't blunt (although, to be fair, he has received considerably more inf training than a typical RAF adminer) but there are legions of stories of stackers, scribblies and gingers manning the barricades, defending convoys and leading rescue missions on TELIC and HERRICK. Even on Op ANGRY KOALA in Kosovo and Macedonia there were some pretty hairy moments for the 'remfs'; to be confronted by Boskovski's 'Lions' was a salutory lesson in holding ground and not waivering in the face of AK-Ms, knives and rocket launchers - and guys with a history of slitting throats as a pasttime.

Perhaps the Air defenders are blunt? Discuss...

[Talking Radalt]

Stupid question
Stupid thread
Stupid Tw@t
Bit harsh innit? I think it's a damn fine thread highlighting the accidental heroics many are now facing on Herrick/Telic without dwelling on the very real danger and, reading between the lines, I suspect this thread constitutes a very firm pat on the back for the aforementoined "blunty" from those who have no doubt found themselves equally devoid of a paddle when half way up Turd Inlet.

the question has to be asked is anyone on OOA ops a bluntie now (in the sense of being out of harm's way)?

Answer: No, just too many think they are.

[airborne_artist]

Worth noting that of the 3,500 HMG has sent to Helmand, only 700 odd can undertake offensive ground ops.

[Green Flash]

In contact for a week, sent over 8 mags worth down range?? i would say he WAS a blunty, but not anymore. Hats off to him and the others who fought their way out, don't forget those that didn't.

[Pontius Navigator]

and a performance I would hope would be forthcoming from all those adminers within the RAF who were put in a similar position.

Our man in East Timor was a bluntie and a fg off. Got his pic in the papers sitting in the door of a chopper, SA80 at the ready.

No jokes he did a cracking job and got deserved credit for it.

[Cumbrian Fell]

P-N I know the officer you mean - I think he was media ops or some such appointment on INTERFET - but I agree, did a v impressive job, for a ginger haired adminer!

[Talking Radalt]

Ginger and blunt?! :bored: