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do we ever learn??

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Old 27th Apr 2005, 09:38
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do we ever learn??

im sure this has been covered before, but not all may be aware...

when will we ever learn about flight safety?i speak of the hercs, but this relates to all the other aircrew out there too...

hot climate, poor food, very poor sleep cycles due to the varied waking hours, doubling up of crews in rooms and working long hours with relatively poor inflight catering...

it all seems a bit crazy when you think of the set up that the americans have, and yet, over 2 years on, we are living in tents past their sell by date, without air conditioning and now having to double up in rooms cos there isnt enough accommodation. i believe it will only be a matter of time before an accident occurs that we look back on and ask ' how was that allowed to happen?'

before anyone moans, im not talking about hotels or anything along those lines... just some money being spent to improve facilties and give an element of comfort to guys operating in unpleasant conditions.

dont even get me started on 12 internet terminals and 9 phones between hundreds...
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 10:00
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Im sorry guys...I tired to refrain but the pressure was too much.

12 Internet terminals...???????

9 Phones.....??????

Last ship I served on had 1 Internet terminal and 1 phone between 240. You got yr 10 mins call a week and if your slot just happened to fall at 0300am in the UK then that was it...tuff.

As for having tents with AC....open the flaps..!!

very poor sleep cycles due to the varied waking hours, doubling up of crews in rooms and working long hours with relatively poor inflight catering. They are all management issues which should be sorted by your CO. If your CO isn't sorting it out then tell him.
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 10:12
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And dont forget the most important member of the crew.....you know......the one who has to spoon feed the aircrew and then change their nappies!! For gods sake, please tell me that your post is a wind-up.
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 10:18
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yes, but this isn't a ship is it?space isnt an issue to the same extent. its a major base for operations and yet has not got the facilities that are deserved. to quote from a recent letter by my local mp '' the facilities are the envy of the united states army''... yeah, and there was me not wanting any use of their olympic size swimming pools, fully equipped(and air conditioned) gyms,permanent accommodation. point is, if you are going to be somewhere a long time, then you have to improve the facilities for the guys that are working hard.

open the flaps? obviously you have not been out in 50 degrees, but that doesn't help at all.

the point of the topic was to raise a flight safety issue...
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 10:18
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Reading between the lines and getting straight to the heart of the matter, I think the crabs are all upset 'cos they don't have a nice new shiny corporate identity badge to put on their ovies.....
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 10:43
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Can you Navy jokers not see that Truckiebloke is trying to raise a serious point?! I don't give a rat's @rse how many phones/internet terminals you have on a ship- I didn't sign up to serve on a ship.

Its a disgrace that our guys still haven't got any habitable accomodation after 2 years in theatre. And that's before you think of the flight safety aspect.

This govt doesn't give a to$$ for servicemen and women and understands little about how much we have to do with bu99er all resources. Maybe it would take an accident to uncover some of the 'gross negligence' of the government. Oh no, silly me, forgot they'd only cover it up and blame it on crew incompetance.

Truckie, I reckon you'd be better off claiming political asylum. Shiny new house, salary and no work. The elected representatives of the taxpayers obviously think higher of the unemployed and asylum seekers than they do of the people who undertake their poorly thought-out plans for world domination!
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 10:49
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Yes a serious point being raised here.
However, the conditions at Basrah are not that bad!! The tents are not too bad and the food could be alot worse. As for not having an olympic swimming pool dry your eyes.
The truckie fleet need a reality check, go tasking with SH for a few days then you may elect to keep quiet.
Yes the americans do have alot of cool kit and swimming pools but only at a few bases. Most of the ones I have spent weeks at a time at are far worse! Remember they spend a year there not a few weeks like you truckie chaps
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 10:51
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A true story sadly. I believe when it all began, a couple of years ago, TDA stood for Temporary Domestic Area; it now satnds for Tented Domestic Area. A quick change of title and it's all sorted then?
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 10:51
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Truckie Bloke, as well as wishing for life's little luxuries have you tried popping down to stores and see if they've got any spare capital letters on the shelves? Or maybe the Shift and the Caps Lock keys are broken on all of your 12 computers?
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 10:55
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And maybe you could join him Matt Skrossa and see if stores have got a bucketful of relevant comments you can use, to save you using up your own gems?
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 10:57
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Shouldn't that be relevant, not relevent?
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 11:04
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No one should be living in basic tented accommodation at an OOA operational base that has been established for 2 years. It is simply roughing it for the sake of roughting it. This is hardly a new problem in the Middle Eastern theatre. Look how long it took to bring Ali Al Salem Air Base up to a reasonable standard of habitation.

It is too easy to blame the politicians. This is a failure by our commanders. If it is simply a case of them not being given the right resources, then they are failing to explain this to the people on the ground.

As for the 'operational welfare package', it seems to be honoured more in the breach than the observance. If you can't get reasonable access to internet and telephone facilities, the terminals might as well stay in their boxes back in the UK.
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 11:24
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So, as soon as you dislike your living conditions you raise your arm and lpead "flight safety". Please...just do your job and get airborne.

This is not a serious issue. Please, lets leave this thread and ignore its insignificance.

Now, can we get back to the much more relevant issue of the wearing of silly badges.
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 11:34
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Good post truckiebloke, you have exposed some of the attitudes that have stood in the way in the past and will continue to do so in the future. We've all heard the comments:

"we always do it that way on......."
"You should thank yourself lucky, when I was on xxxxxx, we never even had........."

and then there are the :
"if you couldn't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined up"
"that's life in the old blue suit" type of comments.

They are the attitudes borne by people who don't seem to want to see things improve, or would happily have everything reduced to the lowest common denominator, rather than striving to achieve higher standards. If conditions through absolute necessity are bad, then we should put up with them, but where it is possible to improve the situation, then surely we should do everything possible to do so, particulalry if flight safety is an issue. When I next climb aboard as a passenger, I sincerely hope that the crew (air and ground) are sufficiently rested and in the best frame of mind to do the job.

Safety_Helmut
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 11:42
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What happened to all the nice air conditioned porta kabins that were used in Thumrait? The perfect resting place for air/ground crew.
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 11:45
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thanks safety helmut. i hoped it might get a few points out. best one so far is

'' just do your job and get airborne''

yeah, next time im flying after a lack of decent sleep and decent food and feeling tired, i'll just get airborne, not worrying about who ive got down the back. but its ok, because in all the flight safety bulletins and reports, things like this never occur do they?

and for door slider... the sh world have always coped under worse conditions than us, and even in basra your crew rest periods are more demanding. (i did say in my first thread it was for all crews in theatre).. but just because you have always done it, it doesn't means its right and that things shoudn't change.
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 11:47
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It would appear that the U.K rewards the people that contribute the least to society with the most. It must be frustrating to be roughing it in the desert in tents while Kosovan asylum seekers are given 800 K townhouses on private estates in Richmond. (Source Sunday Express last week)
I sympathise with the above posters.If asylum seekers were housed in tents in the UK, they would be sueing HM Govt for breaching their human rights.
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 12:01
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I take it Truckies detractors here have never heard of the Flight Safety Chain?

sw
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 12:07
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I sympathise with the underlying sentiment of Truckie's initial post and can only agree whole heartedly with Safety Helmet.
I will (and have) happily live(d) in some utterly crap locations(including some of HM's larger war canoes) and I really don't mind, WHEN THERE'S NO ALTERNATIVE.
Thing is, when it comes to nice shiny badges or bright blue day-sacks bearing corporate logos (which aren't vastly different from the black day sacks we all got for Telic ), then there seems to be cash available.
I suspect it's not the reality of living in $hit that bothers folk, but the fact that it's (another thing on a list of many) brought about mostly by poor management, who then compound the frustration further by proclaiming just how far things have improved for those in the aforementioned $hit.

Plus there's always the Grass/Greener effect. Think the Spams are sorted with McDonalds and Pizza Hut?....
1 in 3 men of the US 1st Cav have now been killed or VSI in action since March 2003.
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Old 27th Apr 2005, 12:21
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I remember during GW1, getting shaken at some ungodly hour. I sat on my pit for a few seconds and I was so knackered I wondered..."Am I just getting up or just going to bed?" Sadly I was getting up.
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