Married quarters, the damning film. [Archive]

Ninthace

27th Oct 2021, 14:22

The MOD said in a statement: "Providing high quality accommodation is a top priority and we regret any issues faced by service personnel and their families.

"Over the last two years, the repair service has significantly improved and key performance targets are consistently met."
In that case, the targets must be set very low and have little to do with quality of workmanship if my daughter's quarter is anything to go by. Son-in-law tells me that in the RAF, living in quarters is no longer encouraged.

I can tell horror stories of my time in quarters and since then, while the quality of quarters may have improved, it has not kept pace with modern standards.

rogerk

27th Oct 2021, 14:42

Anyone remember being posted to Germany in the 70's and finding the married pads being complete luxury compaired to he cr** in the UK ?

Wetstart Dryrun

27th Oct 2021, 14:56

I read the thread title, and assumed it was about the RAF plod who was watching a porno film and recognised the furniture and architecture, triggering a heavy duty investigation that led to Marham...

...Allegedly

Sorry for salacious thoughts.

Metal framed windows were unspeakable.

Back to the crossword

Ninthace

27th Oct 2021, 15:01

Anyone remember being posted to Gernany in the 70's and finding the married pads being complete luxury compaired to he cr** in the UK ?
Especially if you got one that had been built for the German market rather than an on-base quarter.

Best quarter I ever had was at Innsworth which were bought off plan rather than designed to meet the parsimonious MoD requirement.

Worst quarter, hard to say but I would single out Halton for special mention, My first quarter in Halton had metal framed windows, no insulation and a spare front door in the lounge which should have been a window. It had an open fireplace that we were not allowed to light as no-one knew the state of the back boiler. Twenty years later I returned to Halton to find the same quarter now only had one front door, the fireplace issue had been resolved and it was double glazed. Unfortunately, the perks of a higher rank meant I was now allocated a much bigger version of first version, the only differences I recall were there was no spare front door and the open fire place now had a painted piece of hardboard in it. There may have been double glazing and it was impossible to keep warm but at least it didn't have fleas, which the first Halton quarter did.

My daughter has had some real doozies in her time though, far worse than any we had.

cliver029

27th Oct 2021, 15:34

[QUOTE=Wetstart Dryrun;11133071]I read the thread title, and assumed it was about the RAF plod who was watching a porno film and recognised the furniture and architecture, triggering a heavy duty investigation that led to Marham...

Burnthouse Crescent if my failing memory still serves me, made the "News Of the Sc**ws" as was.
first posted tp Marham and straight into Grange Crescent, small did not cut it, bad windows and damp,
just some of its better features, went back some years later but it had been pulled down.
the inlaws drove up from Devon with a cabinet on the roof of the car and took it back with them as there was
no room for it. we moved out asap to Swaffham and into a new build opposite Brocks Fireworks.

Warmtoast

27th Oct 2021, 15:36

Anyone remember being posted to Germany in the 70's and finding the married pads being complete luxury compaired to he cr** in the UK ?
You mean like our OMQ at Monchengladbach in 1973 - as below:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1396x947/59_pna_lounge_1_aa833b0a192fa56c15fac134ab79770da891fb53.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1396x947/59_pna_lounge_2_0cc0fd1d6b996394e1e9893d167c59e7839a8304.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1396x937/59_pna_dining_room_d9d2aa91655b428408b8e1b185d8a3f900ef6586. jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1333/59_pna_bedroom_518580194b414ab4afa53bbb3aa24817d6901e91.jpg

Nigerian Expat Outlaw

27th Oct 2021, 15:37

Middle Wallop 1985. Because students on the Army Pilot course were viewed as temporary and treated worse than recruits we were allocated an end of terrace on the "patch". The lino tiles in the kitchen were nailed to the floor but because they were on concrete they protruded by about half an inch. There were two floorboards missing out of the main bedroom upstairs. Two missing panes of glass had been replaced by plywood sheets nailed to the mildewed wooden frames. The front door lock was one taken from a toilet door and held in place by carpet tacks.

We had two young sons, one of whom was at crawling age. They had to be watched 24/7 in case they hurt themselves. Mrs NEO had her hands full while I slogged through the course, a year of constant alertness keeping the kids safe. Never got a single thing repaired/replaced.

My son joined up in 2003 and the stories he told me about life in barracks, no heating or hot water, doors entirely missing, smashed windows etc. Nothing had changed.

NEO

diginagain

27th Oct 2021, 16:07

Middle Wallop 1985. Nothing improved by 88. Daughter neatly opened the web of her hand between thumb and forefinger on the exposed edge of the sink. Previous occupant had found a couple of tins of Pusser's Battleship Grey and applied it liberally around the house in order to fill gaps and cracks. Lounge window held in with wooden chocks.

Mr N Nimrod

27th Oct 2021, 16:12

Looks like a useful thread on the CURRENT state of service accommodation has very quickly started the steady decline into a bore fest of stories about MQs past.

Ninthace

27th Oct 2021, 16:49

Ok current - Daughter has had scaffolding around her house for a year while the outside of the quarter was allegedly refurbished. She has had a contractor bring down part of the ceiling while attempting to fix a leak. The upstairs electrics were apparently unsafe but she did not know until a man turned and started lifting floorboards, When she moved in to the previous version, unbeknown to them, the quarter had been empty for 18 months. The water in the header tank had been sitting there all that time and was contaminated with a nasty bug,

Warren Peace

27th Oct 2021, 17:37

Ask the single living in staff at Leeming how long they have been without hot water in the blocks.

NRU74

27th Oct 2021, 19:51

[QUOTE=Wetstart Dryrun;11133071]I read the thread title, and assumed it was about the RAF plod who was watching a porno film and recognised the furniture and architecture, triggering a heavy duty investigation that led to Marham...

Burnthouse Crescent if my failing memory still serves me, made the "News Of the Sc**ws" as was..

I remember the Fg Off Equipment Officer (Charles C) who was tasked with going into Lynn - the town not the lady- in civilian clothes to locally purchase some blackout material to cover the windows in a room in Admin Wing so that a few of the 'wheels' could view the film !

NutLoose

27th Oct 2021, 20:19

Did they bring popcorn?

on a serious note a poor kid at Saints in 76 ran down the stairs tripped and went through a glass panel that was plain glass that should have been toughened, if I remember rightly the poor blighter had lots of stitches and was in a bad way.

I see you had a fitted carpet warmtoast…

langleybaston

27th Oct 2021, 21:03

You mean like our OMQ at Monchengladbach in 1973 - as below:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1396x947/59_pna_lounge_1_aa833b0a192fa56c15fac134ab79770da891fb53.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1396x947/59_pna_lounge_2_0cc0fd1d6b996394e1e9893d167c59e7839a8304.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1396x937/59_pna_dining_room_d9d2aa91655b428408b8e1b185d8a3f900ef6586. jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1333/59_pna_bedroom_518580194b414ab4afa53bbb3aa24817d6901e91.jpg
Oh Yes! Any colour you like so long as it is a shade of orange. Portadown Way JHQ, two tours, two different houses, Agent Orange all the way.
And German crappers with shelf for display and inspection of.

Countdown begins

27th Oct 2021, 21:33

Roll on the FAM.
FAM is coming, and by rumour, those in the South East are looking at £1000 buck shee, towards mortgages or rentals. Happy days.

trim it out

27th Oct 2021, 21:46

FAM is coming, and by rumour, those in the South East are looking at £1000 buck shee, towards mortgages or rentals. Happy days.
Excellent news, just need the FHTB to get extended and I will more than likely be retained!

28th Oct 2021, 01:50

You mean like our OMQ at Monchengladbach in 1973 - as below:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1396x947/59_pna_lounge_2_0cc0fd1d6b996394e1e9893d167c59e7839a8304.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1396x937/59_pna_dining_room_d9d2aa91655b428408b8e1b185d8a3f900ef6586. jpg

If that was Monchen Gladbach it looks remarkably like one I lived in as a kid in 64. Marrienburger Strasse by any chance?

Bob Viking

28th Oct 2021, 03:11

Nigerian Expat Outlaw

28th Oct 2021, 08:01

Looks like a useful thread on the CURRENT state of service accommodation has very quickly started the steady decline into a bore fest of stories about MQs past.

My post was intended to illustrate that nothing has changed in the past 36 years, not an attempt to start any sort of decline :ok:

NEO

FantomZorbin

28th Oct 2021, 08:34

This situation relates to the entire Defence Estate. It is little wonder that retention of new recruits is so poor ... the recruiting puff should be 'done' under the Trade Descriptions Act for lying.

Mr N Nimrod

28th Oct 2021, 09:30

I have to agree that this could be a good place to talk about current issues without just sharing stories of MQs past.

I watched the video and was genuinely saddened that there are people in charge of the quarters that clearly think it is acceptable to place families in such appalling conditions.

My abiding memory of the MQ experience will always be the heartless and unhelpful staff at the regional HQ that you have to deal with during the whole process.

Many people in such jobs seem to forget they are dealing with real people and have no humanity it seems.

Stn/base/garrison Cdrs need to be made aware and refuse to let their people live in such accommodation.

I currently live in service families accommodation (4000 miles from the UK though!) and although we have our problems one thing I will say is that when we report stuff it gets fixed (to varying degrees!) almost immediately. It actually puts the UK system to shame.

BV
That the organisation as a whole, and individuals from top to bottom of the MoD, and Forces, whichever part they work in, allow this to happen on their watch is shameful. And then to see the Ministry of Truth trot out their usual meaningless platitudes just rubs salt in.

I never lived in MQs, but lived in some woeful single accommodation. But let’s not normalise it. Let’s not just talk about it how bad it has always been as if it’s some sort of badge of honour. The people who allow this to happen, today, in 2021, should be hanging their heads in shame.

BEagle

28th Oct 2021, 09:54

Whilst holding between courses once, about 4 of us were tasked by OC Admin to go round to a list of MQs which were on the list for maintenance / repair work and had been for some time! If I recall correctly, we each did 4 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon before summarising our day's work. The idea of doing so many in such a short time was so that DoE / MPBW / PSA / Doomwatch or whatever they were called at the time couldn't possibly catch up on their lack of progress.

Some of the MQs were truly shocking - Ty Croes springs to mind where families were in quarters with just a hardboard partition party wall. Yet on the same sight a 22 Sqn master navigator was living in some palatial ex-colonel's residence - lucky chap!!

We also exposed contractors who deliberately waited until 16:30 before reporting back to OC Bogs and Drains, so that they could claim mandatory minimum overtime payements.

Is today's problem that no-one is supervising the state of disrepair of the estate, or what? It was quite bad in some OM at one timr too - but at a Mess Meeting we voted out a proposal to spend money on new curtains for the 'Ladies Room', asking that perhaps the hot water in single rooms should be fixed first....

Darkmouse

28th Oct 2021, 11:07

What is this 'hot water' that some of you are going on about? I have become an unwilling disciple of a chap named Wim Hoff, although after 18 months the purported health benefits have yet to emerge.

DC10RealMan

28th Oct 2021, 14:39

If any son or daughter of mine said that they wanted to join the military I would break their legs first.

.

sycamore

28th Oct 2021, 19:45

Would have thought they should be able to make their own decisions.....with or without your agreement.....

Warmtoast

28th Oct 2021, 19:53

If that was Monchen Gladbach it looks remarkably like one I lived in as a kid in 64. Marrienburger Strasse by any chance?

Not Marrienburger Strasse, but Peter Nonnenmuhlen Allee.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1482x1080/59pna6_zpsfae0c3d8_4b81dd163843418a801404ec2656038c1c9d7862. jpg
59 PNA Back Garden

Nigerian Expat Outlaw

29th Oct 2021, 12:10

Let’s not just talk about it how bad it has always been as if it’s some sort of badge of honour. The people who allow this to happen, today, in 2021, should be hanging their heads in shame.

Far from being a badge of honour it's a shameful illustration of the place in the list of priorities the upkeep of service accommodation holds and has always held. Serve your country from a slum :mad:

NEO

Phil_R

30th Oct 2021, 08:22

I don't know how much it's changed in the last fifteen years, but I remember visiting Coltishall once, some time ago necessarily, and being tremendously late because we couldn't find the entrance.

We noticed some approach lights in some of the fields either side of the road, and concluded that we were somewhere near some sort of aviation facility, so kept driving and turning right. Past some more fields; oh, here's an emergency gate. Yes, that looks like a military airfield - oh, look, a Jaguar struggling valiantly into the air! Past some more fields. Past what appears to be a very poor-quality council housing estate. That's odd, why would they house people all the way out here. Hmm, still can't find the entrance to this facility used by our most dashing front-line gods of the sky. Past some more approach lights. Keep turning right, keep turning right, and hmm, we're back at the poorly-maintained council estate again.

Are you seriously...

Yes, that's a frontline RAF flying facility. Honestly, it looked like Pripyat, post-explosion.

Rigga

30th Oct 2021, 10:21

I believe that Colts ex-quarters are well envied within Norfolk now that they’re occupier owned.

I raised a Gen-App to leave Odiham's quarters in the mid 80s due to the cost of coal fired (ineffective) heating (Post miners strike we could only get Polish hard coal) and my baby daughters both getting Croup from the amount of Dampness. We bought two Calor-Gas heaters to combat the damp but brought their own problems with them. We were asked for typical heating bills over the past year.
Several others did similar Gen-Apps to my knowledge and the next year mains gas was laid in and we all got connected.

FantomZorbin

30th Oct 2021, 10:52

I understand the Station Commanders have little or no control on maintenance budgets .. all are centrally controlled by nfi empires!

Melchett01

30th Oct 2021, 14:48

Whether it’s quarters, Messes or blocks, we’ve done a brilliant job of showing our people just what we think of them - very very little. Frankly I’m surprised more hasn’t been made if this as an issue. It’s beyond incompetence and verging on negligence on the part of those whose job it is to manage contracts and deliver outputs.

As for the comment about Stn Cdrs have little say these days. True. It’s part of the reason my CO resigned his commission mid-tour a few years back (“what’s the point - all I can do is sign a leave pass”) and part of the reason I turned down the chance to run for such a post. All the stress and issues, and no levers, money or authority to do anything about them apart from make up embarrassingly bad excuses on behalf of a contemptuous system that treats people this way.

MPN11

30th Oct 2021, 17:21

kenparry

31st Oct 2021, 16:34

Just as Coltishall was turned down by the Home Office for use as a prison or detention centre - the standard of accommodation was too poor for the intended use. Oh dear.

Fortissimo

31st Oct 2021, 17:38

I recall the tale of the Airmen's Quarters at RAF West Drayton back in the 80s as the Station was starting to run down. Offered free to the local council, who declined to take them on as they were declared uninhabitable. The site was demolished instead.

There have been other local authorities who have declared sites as uninhabitable - absolutely nothing to do with the money to be made from redevelopment with a much higher density. The same happened at Bracknell, the whole site flattened despite the FQs being in good nick. A developer once admitted that when you have road access and utilities on site, every 3rd house you build is straight profit.

Much of the problem with the estate goes back to the sell-off under the Portillo regime, which was designed to save 1p on income tax; MOD received £100M at the time, compared with the £1.5Bn that went to the Treasury. The consortium that bought the stock has done rather well out of it. And the funding of maintenance was left with the single services for 10 years or more, during which time one service in particular treated accommodation as a savings pot.

As for throwing stones at the people trying to manage this, one of the biggest handicaps for them has been the contract, let some years ago by another part of MOD, which had a key performance target of 95% completion of works in the required timescale. If you are one of the occupants who fall into the 5%, you will not be happy, but try getting a tradesman to come out to your private home on Xmas Eve because your heating has failed. That is no excuse for trying to move people into properties that are clearly not fit for use. I was told at a media briefing some months ago that the new contract goes live in March, so hopefully that will fix some of the issues.

NutLoose

31st Oct 2021, 18:02

Just as Coltishall was turned down by the Home Office for use as a prison or detention centre - the standard of accommodation was too poor for the intended use. Oh dear.

But it is a prison.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-18273659

MPN11

31st Oct 2021, 18:56

Fortissimo … oh, yes, Bracknell was a lovely OMQ patch. Presenting the best of the RAF for all the Foreign students, perchance? Ours was lovely!

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1997x1544/2d419fdc_087a_4aac_bfa3_389c5c09173d_9b78712fbf7e1cb2b837604 2bbfad4502acef11c.jpeg

But we never had a “bad” OMQ in all our years occupying them until we retired. Perhaps we were lucky with where we were located?

Bill Macgillivray

31st Oct 2021, 21:23

Mellchett 01

How right you are! I can say no more!!

Bill

Melchett01

2nd Nov 2021, 22:15

Mellchett 01

How right you are! I can say no more!!

Bill

Bill,

As someone who idolised the RAF and all things air, space and Light Blue from a child, it gives me no pleasure to write such things. But boy, have the past few years been a disappointment. It’s only as I get more senior that I see things for what they are.

NutLoose

2nd Nov 2021, 22:31

Part of the problem is the military culture of being unable to complain publicly, so they are in effect gagged from showing the U.K. the state of play.

trim it out

2nd Nov 2021, 22:53

Part of the problem is the military culture of being unable to complain publicly, so they are in effect gagged from showing the U.K. the state of play.
Plenty of outlets on social media where SP vent publicly/anonymously. FYB, ratemysodexo et al.

ancientaviator62

3rd Nov 2021, 11:09

I recall one Stn Cdr at Lyneham saying to me that it was not until he was in post did he realise how little say or control did he have over what went on in his station. This was well over 25 years ago. Clearly nothing has change for the better.

NutLoose

3rd Nov 2021, 16:52

Staish at Brize wasn't allowed airside because his airside permit had expired, the guy on the gate had him turn around and go get it renewed, despite the Staishes protests that he was responsible for them being issued... He did point out that If he let him in he could charge him for failing to do his duty so stood firm, lots of disbelief in the queue as this was going on... He later phone the section to tell them to congratulate him on how he handled it. I wonder how E***s is these days :)