RAF at Rucker

[EESDL]

If any RAF Puma crews at Rucker fancy getting their hands on a possible replacement 'contender' this weekend - and a slice of Alabama hospitality then please PM me and I'll put you in touch. Open invite

[PPRuNeUser0211]

EESDL - might be worth posting on the mil aircrew forum, quite a few lurkers hang out over there but less frequently in rotorheads. Sounds like an interesting project whatever you've got going on!

[[email protected]]

Sounds like a thinly disguised p&ssup:ok:

[nomorehelosforme]

Sounds like a thinly disguised p&ssup:ok:

Crab, it probably is, but doubt you will make it seeing as its 4500 miles from home, plus you would then have a language problem if you ever go to Alabama or anywhere in the Deep South ..... firstly even with the finest middle class British accent 75% of people I meet ask if I’m from Australia and the other 25& generally reply “what did you just say” all that aside huge respect over here for the British Military that work side by side with American forces.

[chopper2004]

If any RAF Puma crews at Rucker fancy getting their hands on a possible replacement 'contender' this weekend - and a slice of Alabama hospitality then please PM me and I'll put you in touch. Open invite

At this time they are at NAF El Centro for Exercise Imperial Leather sorry Zephyr


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cheers

[[email protected]]

Nomorehelos - I know what you mean, on our last holiday in the USA we stopped for a coffee before crossing Death Valley and I asked for a Mocha (pronouncing it mocker) - the lady behind the counter looked absolutely blank and after a couple more tries I pronounced it mowker and she instantly understood:)

So shouting 'Make way, British Officer' doesn't work then?

[teeteringhead]

Once after a long pax trip on a VC10 to Washington, self and team were (despite the efforts of InFlight Catering!) starving, so having picked up hire car we stopped at the first fast food - Wendy's IIRC - for a massive order.

Order acknowledged then: "EE dinner Go" from the burger flipper.

After much repeating and speaking slowly, we discovered it was a question, asking if we wished to partake of the culinary delights on the premises, or have it as a takeaway.

Got it yet? "Eat in or go?"

[MPN11]

Divided by a common language, as nomorehelosforme observes. I've had the good fortune to spend time in a dozen or more States over the last 25 years, and have quite a few friends over there too. Greatest exposure time has been in Virginia, Arizona and Arkansas with very few communication difficulties. Not to mention many years controlling USAFE ac in UK/East Anglia! Perhaps my ears are more attuned to US accents? My most common reaction when speaking what one might call 'proper English' seems to be "I love your accent", which is quite sweet! :)

[ShyTorque]

The biggest confusion (and great mirth) I encountered was when trying to explain how I wanted my breakfast eggs cooking!

(In Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Just wanted to name drop that one.... It was a hard life, but someone had to do it at the time ;) ).

[Edit: Oops, just remembered...I'd actually just left the RAF by then but was still on a government payroll :8]

[Runaway Gun]

Shytalk, was your answer "Bay you lurvey, at six ayum like, wit you where'n me socks an yo 'air inna bun, anna cuppa tea."?

[Lyneham Lad]

Divided by a common language, as nomorehelosforme observes.

Never made it across the pond whist serving. However, in my second career I had cause to make numerous trips to exciting locations such as Iowa, Minnesota and N Dakota. On my very first sortie, jet-lagged to the eyebrows and in deepest Iowa the waitress rattled off a list of accompaniments and hearing the word "chips' I nodded. Somewhat discombobulated to find a large pile of crisps alongside my steak - doh!

The only other time that I found significant differences in social offerings etc was in South Carolina. Iced tea instead of a cold beer - come on!

[The Nr Fairy]

In a diner in Portsmouth, NH, with an Australian mate, having flown with him from Sydney and arrived in BOS the night before...

Waitress: "Where you from?"

Us: "We've come from Australia."

W: "They've had some real nasty avalanches over there, ain't they?"

U: "Well, that's Austria"...

And I also presented a world map once to the head of the HQ support centre, so the team could work out where Austria was in relation to Australia and allocate support tickets to.

[[email protected]]

Brits can be a bit challenged geographically too - I was on the Canadian Waterbirds course in Halifax back on 2004 and the big story on the local news was the newlywed Brit couple who hadn't checked properly on their honeymoon tickets which Sydney they were travelling to - and ended up in Sydney, Nova Scotia:)

How was the short flight time not a clue???

[BEagle]

Chums at the Ramada Inn, Bellevue during an Offutt Ranger were engaging the barmaid in conversation....
"Where ya from?"
"Lincoln, Engand"
"Wow - did they name the town after our president?"

[MPN11]

I enjoy the geograpically-challenged conversations!
Them: “Where you folks from.”
Us: “Jersey.”
Them: “Oh, I have a cousin in Trenton!”
<groan>
I produce a little map I carry for this specific purpose, with a tiny dot on it called Jersey, and explain how Noo Joysey got its name in the 1640s.
Cue glazed expressions, as this involved geography AND history.

[Mogwi]

Once met a charming young lady in Jax, who thought that Europe was a group of islands off the coast of Floorda.

Standard answer to the "Gee, I love your accent" conversation was to point out that I didn't actually have an accent.

Mog

[beardy]

With regard to ordering food in restaurants in the USA, we had crew competitions to see who could complete the order and avoid any of the long list of supplementary questions ( eg what sort of dressing would you like on that?)

There were times when even "I'll have what he's having" didn't work

[212man]

At the end of a meal in TGIF in Fort Worth (Bell factory), I filled in the 'Tip' section with "don't eat yellow snow" - cue very confused expressions. Conversely, when I wrote "mange pas de neige jaune" as the tip on the bill in the Sofitel bar, in Marignane (Eurocopter factory), the bar staff cracked up! (Both got real tips...)

[Wensleydale]

With regard to ordering food in restaurants in the USA, we had crew competitions to see who could complete the order and avoid any of the long list of supplementary questions ( eg what sort of dressing would you like on that?)

There were times when even "I'll have what he's having" didn't work

There was a similar competition running at the Burger King on Aviano Air Force Base in the 1990s. One chap thought that he had it licked and went into his five minute order only to be asked "Do you want to pay in Dollars or Lira?"

[LOMCEVAK]

A ‘no question’ competition in a bar in Fort Worth: “I’ll have a whiskey please, Scotch, single malt, Macallans, no ice, no water.” The smug look resulting from the assumption that this was totally unambiguous was met with: “Would that be 12 or 18 year old, sir?”. It really is not possible for a Brit to win!

[ExAscoteer2]

I’ll have a whiskey please, Scotch, single malt, Macallans, no ice, no water.

Point of order:

Whiskey is Irish, Whisky (no E) is Scotch.

[Lingo Dan]

A ‘no question’ competition in a bar in Fort Worth: “I’ll have a whiskey please, Scotch, single malt, Macallans, no ice, no water.” The smug look resulting from the assumption that this was totally unambiguous was met with: “Would that be 12 or 18 year old, sir?”. It really is not possible for a Brit to win!
You are winning in either case whether it was a Macallan 12 or an Macallan 18!

[LOMCEVAK]

Point of order:

Whiskey is Irish, Whisky (no E) is Scotch.

“Valid point, Reg”! Thanks for the correction:)

[chopper2004]

In a diner in Portsmouth, NH, with an Australian mate, having flown with him from Sydney and arrived in BOS the night before...

Waitress: "Where you from?"

Us: "We've come from Australia."

W: "They've had some real nasty avalanches over there, ain't they?"

U: "Well, that's Austria"...

And I also presented a world map once to the head of the HQ support centre, so the team could work out where Austria was in relation to Australia and allocate support tickets to.

Likewise I mention my other neck of the woods Osterreich to some friends stateside and I get asked about kangaroos. In saying this in Salzburg


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Anyhow apart from AAc exchange are there any RAF QHI on exchange duty at Mother Rucker?

cheers

[PlasticCabDriver]

With regard to ordering food in restaurants in the USA, we had crew competitions to see who could complete the order and avoid any of the long list of supplementary questions ( eg what sort of dressing would you like on that?)

There were times when even "I'll have what he's having" didn't work

All the way to the end successfully, including the coffees. “Regular or Decaf?” with a huge smile on her face knowing exactly what we were trying to do!

[Lyneham Lad]

All the way to the end successfully, including the coffees. “Regular or Decaf?” with a huge smile on her face knowing exactly what we were trying to do!

I did momentarily perplex a French waiter with a request for café sans plomb.

[stilton]

In a diner in Portsmouth, NH, with an Australian mate, having flown with him from Sydney and arrived in BOS the night before...

Waitress: "Where you from?"

Us: "We've come from Australia."

W: "They've had some real nasty avalanches over there, ain't they?"

U: "Well, that's Austria"...

And I also presented a world map once to the head of the HQ support centre, so the team could work out where Austria was in relation to Australia and allocate support tickets to.


No mystery why Americans always say the name of the country after the city


Heading to Paris, France, just to be sure


In Gulf war 1 & 2 many thought those conflicts took place in the Gulf of Mexico

[12in95]

Soon after retirement was on holiday at a Sheraton on Fort Walton Beach, Florida gulf coast. Friday night Happy Hour with a difference - free food if buying a drink. As we were keen to save dollars, wife and I fill our boots from 1700 to 1880 when TV behind the bar shows President Reagan thanking the UK for supporting his F111s based in UK to go attack Libya. Wife and I wonder if this news may affect return home and I go to the bar and order a couple more drinks. Gent on bar stool asks the usual 'Gee are you English'; happy not to be thought Aussie, answer yes. Gent turns out to be a retired US Marine and insists (really insists) on taking us out elsewhere for a dinner. Overwhelmed by his generosity, we tried hard to hide our already full stomachs, and appeared to succeed. It was only during the meal that he discovered my Service past, and this generated more drinks. I have never experienced such open generosity, let alone for strangers, before or since. To my mind an example of the very best of American traits and based on a shared history (might call it a special relationship at a citizen level).

[huge72]

On a night stop in Bangor, Maine, all of my crew went to the Mall and popped into the bar for lunch. At the time I was 50 and definitely not young looking, yet I was still asked to prove I was over 21 to have a drink. Later that same day when visiting the transport museum near the Holiday Inn I was asked if I needed a Senior Citizen ticket. You have to laugh at the way they are expected to stick to the rules, rather than use their brains!

[Two's in]

On a night stop in Bangor, Maine, all of my crew went to the Mall and popped into the bar for lunch. At the time I was 50 and definitely not young looking, yet I was still asked to prove I was over 21 to have a drink. Later that same day when visiting the transport museum near the Holiday Inn I was asked if I needed a Senior Citizen ticket. You have to laugh at the way they are expected to stick to the rules, rather than use their brains!

Huge, we've all had the same thought process with the being carded routine, but actually it's the same reason that so many other things are completely insane - lawyers and lawsuits. If you rely on judgement and observation, it only takes one underage drinker to slip through and you are done in terms of liability etc. So to ensure you can't be sued, the safe way is to card 100% of people. Quite a lot of places let staff use judgement, like saying they will card anybody who appears to be 35 or under, but again, that is a judgement call, so isn't foolproof. It would be nice to think you are being asked because of your debonair and youthful looks, but it's actually so you wont end up in a lawsuit.

[spanners123]

Huge, we've all had the same thought process with the being carded routine, but actually it's the same reason that so many other things are completely insane - lawyers and lawsuits. If you rely on judgement and observation, it only takes one underage drinker to slip through and you are done in terms of liability etc. So to ensure you can't be sued, the safe way is to card 100% of people. Quite a lot of places let staff use judgement, like saying they will card anybody who appears to be 35 or under, but again, that is a judgement call, so isn't foolproof. It would be nice to think you are being asked because of your debonair and youthful looks, but it's actually so you wont end up in a lawsuit.

Whilst in the US I had the same experiences, I asked why ID was needed (they had just refused to serve a 70+ gentleman) and they said it was a State Law and in the case of any trouble, everyone will have ID and proof of who they really are.

What got me, was having to have every one at the bar when ordering a round of drinks to prove who they were for (that was Hawaii)

[ExAscoteer2]

I remember a trip to Mather AFB on Red Flag support to the Tankers.

We were accomodated in downtown Sacramento. The first bar we tried they wanted ID just to enter. Unfortunately they refused to accept the RAF F1250 Service ID as valid ID. Needless to say we took our custom elsewhere.

[Geezers of Nazareth]

With regard to ordering food in restaurants in the USA, we had crew competitions to see who could complete the order and avoid any of the long list of supplementary questions ( eg what sort of dressing would you like on that?)

There were times when even "I'll have what he's having" didn't work
Similar game, but the other way 'round ... I was part of a large group touring various parts of the USA, and on the last night we all met-up in Los Angeles for a final meal before our flight home the next day. Massive table for 25 I think it was. The lady came over to give us the menus ... as she handed a menu to each person, each person said 'thank you', and she replied 'you're welcome'. 25 times. She came back about 10 minutes later to take the orders from each person, each person said 'thank you', and she replied 'you're welcome'. 25 times! She came back with the drinks order and everyone individually said 'thank you' and she gave the standard reply. 25 times. Food was delivered, 'thank you', yadda, yadda yadda! More drinks, 'thank you', yadda, yadda yadda! When we'd finished she collected all the empty plates etc to another round of 'thank you', yadda, yadda yadda!
It was only when we were leaving that she realised we'd been doing it all deliberately! She did get a big tip though.