raf becoming army!
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A couple of briefs points.
As per usual we are deployed in very small numbers. The techies on my unit do guard duties but in between shifts on the line. This is a flight safety hazard. Its not a case of sending more guys out to theatre, we dont have them.
The SH force are more lined with the army than the RAF these days and we seem to manage with their rules.
If your on guard its for a reason, do the job stop whinging. Some rules are trivial but you have to draw a line somewhere, keep the bloody bar open though!!
As per usual we are deployed in very small numbers. The techies on my unit do guard duties but in between shifts on the line. This is a flight safety hazard. Its not a case of sending more guys out to theatre, we dont have them.
The SH force are more lined with the army than the RAF these days and we seem to manage with their rules.
If your on guard its for a reason, do the job stop whinging. Some rules are trivial but you have to draw a line somewhere, keep the bloody bar open though!!
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Hey ho! and with the Techies taking huge cuts at the moment who's going to do the guard duties then? Maybe we could stop em having to work on those stupid flying things! Oh we might as well call ourselves the Army then.
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... Try putting more blokes on guard...
ummmm, retires to the corner of the bar and doesn't really care anymore!!
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I have to ask again why is the RAF Regiment not in theatre providing for the defence of RAF assets? This is the sole reason they exist. To say they are all in the UK is to say they are no longer needed. I will be suggesting to my MP that if they cannot guard the RAF on ops then perhaps they should be at the top of the list of defence cuts as there is clearly no need for them.
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Vortex,
A Sqn of RAF Reg is at BAS and its duties are to provide force protection to the perimeter and outside the wire also provide an ARF. The internal guard posts are manned by other station chaps and girls.
A Sqn of RAF Reg is at BAS and its duties are to provide force protection to the perimeter and outside the wire also provide an ARF. The internal guard posts are manned by other station chaps and girls.
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I am amazed at the number of posters here that don't seem to have a clue about todays RAF manning and who and what people are doing in BAS 
Many must surely be either not in the RAF, never been to BAS or just sit around on their fat ar$es all day without a clue what the coalface are up to (i.e. their Airships!).
As has been said, the RAF Regiment ARE in theatre, with an area of several thousand square miles to patrol securing the perimeter and the countryside around the airfield - and they do a bloody good job too!! The internal guardforce is made up from those deployed there to do other primary tasks. Taking someone away from their primary task increases the workload on those left to carry out that task. Getting more people out there to do the extra duties that are needed - who? This bunch of Muppetts that call themselves our Government have cut the forces to the bare bone, with more reductions still to take effect! We are stretched already and it will only get worse when all the announced reduncies are made
MadMark!!!
Many must surely be either not in the RAF, never been to BAS or just sit around on their fat ar$es all day without a clue what the coalface are up to (i.e. their Airships!).As has been said, the RAF Regiment ARE in theatre, with an area of several thousand square miles to patrol securing the perimeter and the countryside around the airfield - and they do a bloody good job too!! The internal guardforce is made up from those deployed there to do other primary tasks. Taking someone away from their primary task increases the workload on those left to carry out that task. Getting more people out there to do the extra duties that are needed - who? This bunch of Muppetts that call themselves our Government have cut the forces to the bare bone, with more reductions still to take effect! We are stretched already and it will only get worse when all the announced reduncies are made
MadMark!!!
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Mad Mark,
And who did you vote for in the elections since '97?
All,
As ever, when your Airships start to impose petty (but sometimes appropriate) regulations it is the first signs that they are bored with nothing to do all day but kick morale in the slats.
Therefore, as my experience of other secret airbases in the desert in the past few years proves, this is an early indication that the job has been done and surely it is time to go home?
Sadly not in this case. One guesses that Mr Bliar must hang on to Mr Blushes coat tails a wee while longer.
Work hard troops and play hard. Whilst the jobs you do in the desert go unseen by the masses (Mssrs Public et al), the few who know the score take off our caps and doff them in your hard working direction.
ISITD
And who did you vote for in the elections since '97?
All,
As ever, when your Airships start to impose petty (but sometimes appropriate) regulations it is the first signs that they are bored with nothing to do all day but kick morale in the slats.
Therefore, as my experience of other secret airbases in the desert in the past few years proves, this is an early indication that the job has been done and surely it is time to go home?
Sadly not in this case. One guesses that Mr Bliar must hang on to Mr Blushes coat tails a wee while longer.
Work hard troops and play hard. Whilst the jobs you do in the desert go unseen by the masses (Mssrs Public et al), the few who know the score take off our caps and doff them in your hard working direction.
ISITD
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Vortex what...ouch! - I have to ask again why is the RAF Regiment not in theatre providing for the defence of RAF assets? This is the sole reason they exist. To say they are all in the UK is to say they are no longer needed.
You obviously have another axe to grind, if so come out and say it, don't try and hide it by posting misleading information.
Vortex what...ouch! - I will be suggesting to my MP that if they cannot guard the RAF on ops then perhaps they should be at the top of the list of defence cuts as there is clearly no need for them.
Vortex what...ouch! - I am living in Sydney and need to renew my UK medical. Does anyone know of a medical examiner in Sydney who can do it for me. Its only a class 2.
Thanks
Thanks
I would suggest that if you are, as you state, living in Sydney, Australia, your MP might seem a little confused.Vortex what...ouch!........... seems to me that your name was well chosen.
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Go ahead and write to your MP I would suggest that if you are, as you state, living in Sydney, Australia, your MP might seem a little confused.
Vortex what...ouch!, I have to say that you obviously don't have a clue what you are talking about. As some previously enlightened posters have already pointed out the RAF Regt is already in theatre and have been right from the start.
If fact, during the war fighting phase (so what is going on now) around 90% of the Regt was deployed.
If there was 90% deployed then there clearly is not enough available to do the job. But that does not fit in with the above. Where are the rest?
You obviously have another axe to grind, if so come out and say it, don't try and hide it by posting misleading information.
And, of course, by inference, superior
Vortex what...ouch! - I am living in Sydney and need to renew my UK medical. Does anyone know of a medical examiner in Sydney who can do it for me. Its only a class 2.
I do indeed live in Sydney these days, very good it is too. And my medical requirements have nothing to do with the fact that the RAF Regt seem to be failing to do the job they were created to do. Move over need a little empire.......
Feeling inadequate or something?
Vortex what...ouch!........... seems to me that your name was well chosen.
Edited because I am as precocious as the guy before……
Last edited by Vortex what...ouch!; 12th Jan 2005 at 12:33.
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I shouldn't would think 'your' MP would pay much notice to a letter from an overseas voter, so you'll forgive me if I don't start queuing for my P45 just yet.
Anyway, there is actually much more than a whole sqn in that particular theatre, but this is not the place to discuss that, and obviously there is a little thing called roulement, unless of course you are suggesting we all just stay out there?
You are right about one thing though, there are not enough VHR field sqns at the moment to fill current commitments. But we are aiming at changing that.
The aim of the Sydney post was merely to highlight your location, not to cause you any embarrassment. Perhaps I shouldn't have included the whole of your post, but I don't know what a 'class 2' medical is, so wouldn't have known it would touch a nerve.
Aaah, you were in the Army, had I known that I probably wouldn't have bitten at your orginal posts, as the 'axe' angle would have been clear to see
So, I think we have cleared up your misapprehension that all of us Regiment types just sit in the UK and drink tea. Like many other branches in the RAF, we go where we are sent and do the best that we can when we get there. Toodle Pip.
Anyway, there is actually much more than a whole sqn in that particular theatre, but this is not the place to discuss that, and obviously there is a little thing called roulement, unless of course you are suggesting we all just stay out there?
You are right about one thing though, there are not enough VHR field sqns at the moment to fill current commitments. But we are aiming at changing that.
The aim of the Sydney post was merely to highlight your location, not to cause you any embarrassment. Perhaps I shouldn't have included the whole of your post, but I don't know what a 'class 2' medical is, so wouldn't have known it would touch a nerve.
Aaah, you were in the Army, had I known that I probably wouldn't have bitten at your orginal posts, as the 'axe' angle would have been clear to see
So, I think we have cleared up your misapprehension that all of us Regiment types just sit in the UK and drink tea. Like many other branches in the RAF, we go where we are sent and do the best that we can when we get there. Toodle Pip.
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Having read this whole thread I am now just curling up in a ball and hoping the ground will swallow me up. How embarrassing; knowing full well that many people from around the world read this we act like spoilt children in a playground.
Get a grip and do the job. Yes, we all know how hard done by HM Forces are with this government but we have to work with what we are given. If you don't like it then walk - simple.
And as for the whole Army/RAF rivalry, well that is just getting a teeny bit tedious now so give it up.
As an ex-forces man myself now living abroad I like to look at this site to keep abreast of developments and all I get is this trash. Grow up people.
Get a grip and do the job. Yes, we all know how hard done by HM Forces are with this government but we have to work with what we are given. If you don't like it then walk - simple.
And as for the whole Army/RAF rivalry, well that is just getting a teeny bit tedious now so give it up.
As an ex-forces man myself now living abroad I like to look at this site to keep abreast of developments and all I get is this trash. Grow up people.
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If you don't like it, why bother reading the whole thread.
If you are not mil any more, then stop whingeing on a mil site on a subject you have no recent experience of.
P.S. Nottingham doesn't sound very overseas . . . . . .
If you are not mil any more, then stop whingeing on a mil site on a subject you have no recent experience of.
P.S. Nottingham doesn't sound very overseas . . . . . .
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I walked! This shower in power are shafting the armed forces and it is galling to see the focus on trivia (passing the "time of day" - what gratification it would have caused me as an officer) juxtaposed with the collossal stupidity of many major decisions taken in Whitehall or at command level.
The public need to know of military dissatisfaction.
The public need to know of military dissatisfaction.
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Difar69
Hope you don't mind me quoting you, 'The lives of my crew are in their hands, turning them into part time soldiers is dangerous and may be hazardous to my health in the long run.'
These people you are talking about are in the HM Forces (RAF) , if you don't want to play soldiers now and then, go and work for BA!
These people you are talking about are in the HM Forces (RAF) , if you don't want to play soldiers now and then, go and work for BA!
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thelynxeffect - as a pilot i dont want to play at soldiers at all, i am however happy to play at being aircrew. people are leaving to join BA, amongst others, as fast as they can. unfortunately some of us are tied in for a little while yet and so cant get out. in the mean time we have to put up with all the bolleaux that more often than not simply degrades our operational effectiveness.
Fat Albert
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thelynxeffect
These people you are talking about are in the HM Forces (RAF) , if you don't want to play soldiers now and then, go and work for BA!
Granted we are in HM Forces (RAF). However some of us are heavily tasked to fly or maintain complex aircraft, some of which carry lots of people or things that go bang.
If they want us to play soldiers as well fine but we cannot do both at the same time.
I suggest that the next time you have the pleasure to fly in one of her majesties finest fat alberts or shiny fleet aircraft just consider the possible consequences if one of the crew or groundcrew is seriously fatigued due to being p****d about or guarding during his rest periods...........
This sentiment also goes for the other non aircraft trades who have an equally important job to do in equally difficult conditions.
Ultimately Bliars desire to be a world statesman on a shoestring is to blame.
Oh and some of us are proud of what we do and are dedicated despite everything so BA is NOT an option!!
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Just found this thread.
Back in 1974, a Maj Keck, USAF Police, equivalent to the RAF Regt. He told how USAF guards used to stand until the new college grads said how they could do a better job, in a deck chair, under a shade, with shades and a cool pack. They could see UNDER the aircraft they were supposed to be guarding rather than standing with their backs to the kite.
By proper deployment they covered their 6 and stayed more alert. Needless to say he didn't take their word for it but tried it out. It worked.
In Malaya in 1964 the RMAux Police used to 'hide' too. Very effective.
Standing up as a target is a very good early warning of attack but not necessarily very bright.
As for ASI, as Beagle said, I had a Chevette but only CBFASI, OC Admn and Slops wore caps, oh an SLATS, SNO, and BASI.
Back in 1974, a Maj Keck, USAF Police, equivalent to the RAF Regt. He told how USAF guards used to stand until the new college grads said how they could do a better job, in a deck chair, under a shade, with shades and a cool pack. They could see UNDER the aircraft they were supposed to be guarding rather than standing with their backs to the kite.
By proper deployment they covered their 6 and stayed more alert. Needless to say he didn't take their word for it but tried it out. It worked.
In Malaya in 1964 the RMAux Police used to 'hide' too. Very effective.
Standing up as a target is a very good early warning of attack but not necessarily very bright.
As for ASI, as Beagle said, I had a Chevette but only CBFASI, OC Admn and Slops wore caps, oh an SLATS, SNO, and BASI.