Guards on Parade!

[SASless]

Nothing to do with Aviation but darn funny to watch!

Ceremonial Guard Bloopers (http://www.flixxy.com/ceremonial-guard-bloopers.htm)

[gr4techie]

The second one was a good catch.

[Tankertrashnav]

Poor sods. I remember as a very junior pilot officer marching up a cobbled hill to Durham Cathedral on some church parade or other and being terrified I was going to fall on my backside in front of my flight. You have to feel sorry for the guys concerned!

[500N]

Tanker

Agree, I do feel sorry for them.

I was a JO in charge of a Parade for ANZAC day through Williamstown
here in Aus, march down the street went OK, standing on parade on the grass
roundabout, started feeling sick as a dog and I knew I would throw up.
My OC was sitting in a chair next to the mayor and the council.

Decided best course of action was to hand over to my Pl Sgt which I did
in an military manner, he went to the front, I marched off, threw up behind
a hedge and marched back onto the parade and took over from him.

Went and apologised to the OC at the end, expecting a severe bollocking
and his only comment was "you must have done it well as I never noticed
anything !!!"

Relief was an understatement :O

[goudie]

Schadenfreude is alive and well

[barnstormer1968]

As far as the Brit clips go I suppose you either know about ammo boots or you don't.

They are treacherous things, and can unseat you on the grippiest of surfaces.
I have seen friends just slip and fall on gravel as well as Tarmac. As I used to often do parades on wooden floors (where ammo boots are banned) so also had a pair of rubber soled 'doubles' that were very safe :)


My fake ammo boots :)
http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx9/barnstormer1968/ParadeBootIMG_0433.jpg

[Tankertrashnav]

Barnstormer - I remember as junior Regiment officers under training we were very impressed with our corporal instructor's boots (which resembled yours) and asked him how we could reproduce the effect. He told us he used "magic circles" and that we could get them from the NAAFI.

We soon discovered they came in the same category as left handed screwdrivers and striped paint :O

[ACW418]

I'm with TTN. I recall being parade adjutant on a pretty large parade and got very nervous. Suddenly I could not remember which arm I was supposed to salute with. Fortunately I guessed the correct one. How can you forget which arm?

ACW

[500N]

I remember when the first patent leather type boots were available here in Aus,
unless everyone wore them they stood out like dogs balls on parade !

Re the "magic circles", my first 2IC was an Ex RSM, he had boots like
patent leather done by hand :rolleyes:

[Old-Duffer]

At Sleaford, near Cranwell, I commanded the BofB parade in the town in 1981.


I was supposed to lay a wreath on the War Memorial, which is surrounded by a wrought iron fence with a gate. Having been presented with my wreath, I marched smartly to the gate - only to discover the bl?@$dy thing was locked.


Plan B involved laying the wreath beside the gate. The band which played at the wrong pace is another story.


O-D


PS The gate was locked, I discovered, because the overtime bill to have a man unlock the gate had not been approved by the town council!!!!!!

[Guernsey Girl II]

OD
You will be glad to know that the gate and iron fence have gone as well as the flower beds at the foot of the Memorial. Now it has a iron posts and iron chain surrounding stone steps at the foot, but not as many steps as it had in the 50's by the look of an old photo in the Library.

[RedhillPhil]

As far as the Brit clips go I suppose you either know about ammo boots or you don't.

They are treacherous things, and can unseat you on the grippiest of surfaces.
I have seen friends just slip and fall on gravel as well as Tarmac. As I used to often do parades on wooden floors (where ammo boots are banned) so also had a pair of rubber soled 'doubles' that were very safe :)


My fake ammo boots :)
http://i736.photobucket.com/albums/xx9/barnstormer1968/ParadeBootIMG_0433.jpg

Holey-Moley, how do you get a shine like that?

[goudie]

I'm always impressed by the sure footedness of Her Majesty, when she lays her wreath at the Cenotaph, and the old Duke as well for that matter.

Regarding bulled up boots, I wonder when that first came into fashion?

[Roadster280]

Barnstormer - Show Parade 2200 outside the Guardroom showing boots scraped clean of whatever it is that is on them (paint? Klear?).

Show parade tomorrow, 2200, showing boots correctly bulled!

On thread, I have to wonder how many extras or slabs got doled out!

[Tankertrashnav]

Holey-Moley, how do you get a shine like that?

I've already told you - Magic Circles ;)

[SASless]

During Army Warrant Officer Flight School, at Hunter Army Airfield, we had a daily Retreat Ceremony at 1700 hrs. That was when we formed the Regiment, fired off the 75mm Pack Howitzer with a Blank Round and lowered the Flag to the official music standard for the occasion.

Some of us thought adding some variety to this repetitious bit of Army Tradition would be good fun. One evening we spent hours cutting up Newspapers into Confetti then loaded the Cannon Barrel with the fruit of our labors.

The next afternoon, at 1700 on the Dot....off goes the Howitzer.....and a Million pieces of Confetti fly well into the air....to shower down in a most splendid manner.

The RSM being a wise old Dog....noticed only a half dozen or so of us were laughing while the rest of the Regiment had honest looks of surprise on their faces. Being able to add 2 and 2 together, he quickly did his Sums and came up with the answer...1st Squad, 1st Platoon, Bravo Company.

Do you know just how long it takes to pick up the same exact amount of Confetti that can be packed into a 75mm Howitzer?

At Graduation the RSM told us that he too owned Scissors and subscribed to the Newspaper....which I think may have explained why despite our most diligent efforts to remove all evidence of our youthful transgressions took so long....as we were not off Restriction until those efforts were done to perfection.

[charliegolf]

As far as the Brit clips go I suppose you either know about ammo boots or you don't.



An RSM regaled us with the tale of him gravel-crunching to a halt and falling flat on his bum in front of the assembled 'mob'. He said,

"The baskets all giggled. But I 'ad 'em right back- marched 'em 12 miles to the sea front, in up to their waists and back again! Buggers were laughing the other side otheir faces by the time we got back!"

CG

Edited to empathise with Sas's summary justice tale!

[Basil]

barnstormer1968,
Straw hat dye? :E


A black laquer.
If you paint your boots with it you have to keep using it or go to the trouble of stripping it before re-polishing.

[Union Jack]

Nothing to do with Aviation but darn funny to watch!

On a point of order, SAS, most of them seem to have gone "flying"....:D

Jack

[SilsoeSid]

My favourite at the moment is;

Get Off The Fence! (http://youtu.be/e65-wLp1yyI)

[SilsoeSid]

"It's all very well laughing at the military", but of course you couldn't have a thread like this without a look at;

Drill lesson (http://youtu.be/ucgU2DJlBiw)

[Tankertrashnav]

Or indeed this one

Monty Python's Camp Marching - YouTube

[Wensleydale]

Our drill instructor at Henlow was very impressed by the shiny parade boots DMS being proudly worn on our first parade by one of the "hairy" students* - I believe that they had been through paint shops to add the aircraft gloss finish. Unfortunately he "accidentally" stood on them with his hobnails and, with a knowing smile, instructed the student to get himself a new pair from stores and have them bulled up by the next parade.


(* for the uninitiated - a hairy was an RAF other rank undergoing officer training).

[GGR155]

Does anyone remember a floor cleaner called DUAL? We applied it to our already gleaming toecaps at RAF Swinderby in 1970 only to be discovered and suitably punished.

[parabellum]

Barnstormer - Those laces intrigue me! We had leather ones for parade boots and lengths of dyed black parachute chord for working boots!


What approx. year did those laces come in? They must have been a bugger if they got twisted!


Regarding the poor unfortunates who fell over outside the palace, they are the other units that get called upon for public duties from time to time, watch the Brigade of Guards when they do it, very careful about halts and turns!

[anotherthing]

GGR115

when I went through Dartmouth Kleer(?) was mentioned as a good way to make bulled boots really shine. Never tried it myself and believe that if it rained the polished finish became a complete mess