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'Mail getting through chaps?'

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'Mail getting through chaps?'

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Old 27th Apr 2006, 19:10
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Angry 'Mail getting through chaps?'

Chatting to a friend of mine who is based on Ascension Island today, and he said that if I want to post him a birthday card i'd better be quick as they are being abandoned by BFPO in about a months time. Yes, no more BFPO677!

I thought that the whole point of BFPO was to ensure that servicemen overseas could 'reliably' send and receive mail to loved ones back home.

How bl**dy desparate are we??
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Old 27th Apr 2006, 20:04
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Obvious question...how are they gonna get their mail then?
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Old 27th Apr 2006, 20:08
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Not defending the decision, but email?

I am, of course, assuming access is available, and I would suggest it ought to be by now.

STH
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Old 27th Apr 2006, 20:48
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What was it Julie Andrews sang about brown paper packages tied up with strings?
When away anywhere nothing beats the occasional Red Cross parcel with Marmite, brand new socks and some un-soiled "art reviews"
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Old 23rd May 2006, 00:40
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Fact Based Rumour

You couldn't make it up... Yep....it was all true for about a week or two. Fortunately the powers that be (for once) saw sense. Its hard enough to persuade anyone to come and live on a speck of dust in the middle of the SA, without isolating them even more! The postie enjoyed the kerfuffle that ensued, tho...
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Old 23rd May 2006, 07:06
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I've never been to AZI, but can't a few mail sacks be flung onto the regular flights from Brize?
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Old 23rd May 2006, 13:02
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I blame all this on the bored housewives on Asi who do the internet shopping and then wonder why we need to lease C5s from the US AF to get it all over from Blighty!
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Old 23rd May 2006, 15:36
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So......sorry being a bit thick this morning, BFPO is alive and well? and will remain so?
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Old 25th May 2006, 23:54
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Is the mail getting through........Is it hell

It's not the bored housewives internet shopping there are very few housewives, might have to share them round if there gets any less.........!!! It is the complete and utter incompetence of the BFPO and the Movers at BZN. We have just received our first batch of parcels for 13 weeks. Amongst the excuses have been:

there is no mail for ASI.......followed a week or so later by, we have found it now but you can't have it because your only allowed a certain weight.

the mail has been booted off for urgent operational reasons (spares) as a guy with the urgent spare the size of a biscuit tin happily strolls down the road at ASI and the 70 accumulated bags of mail sit for another week at BZN to be joined by 5 or 6 more.

you are only allocated one pallet and that's it...........but the adults in the falklands can have a lot more.......because they have all the guns.

there is no way to allocate more space on the aircraft..........yes there is it's a 747 and the charter operator will sell you more space and lets face it it's never full because the allocation is based on a Tristar, but you will have to pay...............ah I see a problem has anyone got a crow bar to prise the DTMA purse open.

You don't need 70 bags of mail............correct it's what has accumulated for weeks and weeks.

If you have your mail we will have to boot the food off............boot the one star and his mates off who are going fishing in the Falklands and we'll have both thanks.

Whoops the movers have hit another 747 and all flights are cancelled until we repair it...............never mind we can send you a Tristar in few weeks when it gets really critical and the boys can practice fixing it in some different places.

The other problem if you follow the Travellers Tale thread is that even the charter is unreliable. Last flight from the UK started with a 5 day stay in a luxurious Cotswold hotel called The Gateway.......sounds great......... and has yet to come back through ASI. The previous one to that left a week and a half ago. Not so bad if you're in the UK but a bit of a bugger for the guys down south who have reached tourex.


Still it beats the hell out of being in the UK and freezing to death
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Old 26th May 2006, 00:07
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Wind yer neck in scribbly git

Movers have no say on mail on the SA run as it is all contracted out by excel (for security) at LHR so get yer facts right before you start spouting bollox (to$$er)..

Look forward to seeing you on my next ASI det...(not)

MM
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Old 26th May 2006, 00:17
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Muppet........yes..........did you choose that or was it chosen for you?

If the movers spent less time stoofing the steps in to the 747 and backing in to it with their airfield ice cream vans then the flights allocated would come and the mail might not back up.......!!!

whos the to$$ers now
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Old 26th May 2006, 00:20
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too many spice rums tonight scribbly...

shame we all know who you are otherwise this would be funny..... :-)

MM

PS I promise to make sure all your porn.. oh sorry mail gets out to you on the next aircraft.... stop whinging..
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Old 26th May 2006, 07:59
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Now come on scribbly, you did'nt really think you were going to get the Movers to take the rap for not moving something........never going to happen as you must realise by now it's aways someone elses fault

Just a thought though but do you reckon the movers in Asi have any problems getting their own mail/parcels etc delivered....

all spelling mistakes are "df" alcohol induced
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Old 26th May 2006, 08:27
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The 'kick the mail off' nonsense was going on some years ago when I had a short 5 week sentence in HQ Fuerza Aerea Malvinas. The main reason being that the effects of forecast pressure and temperature had been miscalculated, leading to an overly optimistic ZFW being planned by the muppetry. Come the day and the crew realise that the RTOW is limiting, the fuel has to stay but the ZFW has to be reduced. Last thing on is first thing off - and that's the mail. This happened 3 times in a row just before Christmas; until you've seen the effect on morale which that causes, you can STFU about mail contracts etc!

But the visiting MPs and wheels on fishing trips who inevitably appear just before Christmas when the weather is at its least awful cause nothing but angst. You never see them in the depths of the S Atlantic winter, only around Christmas time whe they think that their presence is somehow going to 'cheer up the troops'.... So it's yet another rentacrowd dinner in the Deathstar, standing around your unit whilst inane questions are asked "Boots fit?" Yes "Food OK?" Outstandingly good "Mail getting through" No - some timewaster and his entourage coming here meant that it had to be kicked off the TriShaw - yet again! "Hmm, must move on, so many people to see......"
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Old 26th May 2006, 19:27
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AQhhh... Those would be the same pricks that came to Kosovo to see how the hardened accommodation was getting on....while we all lived in tents through the winter (£100M it cost) and then gave it away 2months after it was built to the Italians. Same idiots who whilst on £75/day allowances wouldnt entertain £10 or £20 a day for the 5000 servicemen for the 2 years we were supposed to be there that would have cost £75M (@20/day)(and instead of a bunch of happy eyeties there would have been 5000 grinning Servicemen!)
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Old 26th May 2006, 19:38
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Movers have no say on mail on the SA run as it is all contracted out by excel (for security) at LHR so get yer facts right before you start spouting bollox (to$$er)..
Apart from (not) loading the mail pallets to the ac of course... and correct me if I'm wrong (which of course you will....loud and long) but it only goes to LHR for X-ray. The loading of the ac is still down to the glorified stackers at Brize.
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Old 26th May 2006, 19:44
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Does the e-Bluey still work?
Yes. But they go to the BFPO postie who prints them off to deliver. So we would go round in circles
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