A Fitting Welcome Home to the RAF Regiment
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A Fitting Welcome Home to the RAF Regiment
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Excellent news, great coverage and a well-deserved return for the Sqn.
But...
I don't bemoan their welcome and parade at all - they deserved it, it should happen.
What about the rest of the guys and girls deploying as singletons and trickling in and out of the UK on their own? No parade, a solo trip to / from BZZ, no colleagues with them. Deploying as non formed units means they don't have a cohesive team around them and can often be more exposed to the mental aspects that are more and more common. What can we do for them? Parades and all of that is good stuff, but so many of the RAF (and the other Services) get nothing. Do we just accept that gulf of difference? I can't reconcile this one in my own head. What do you think?
But...
I don't bemoan their welcome and parade at all - they deserved it, it should happen.
What about the rest of the guys and girls deploying as singletons and trickling in and out of the UK on their own? No parade, a solo trip to / from BZZ, no colleagues with them. Deploying as non formed units means they don't have a cohesive team around them and can often be more exposed to the mental aspects that are more and more common. What can we do for them? Parades and all of that is good stuff, but so many of the RAF (and the other Services) get nothing. Do we just accept that gulf of difference? I can't reconcile this one in my own head. What do you think?
Al R,
Why??????????
Why??????????
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I agreed 100% with Hinecap's post.
Its all down to individual officers and SNCOs attitude and approach though, and in my (now outdated by a few years, admittadly) experience, many (not all) RAF ones sucked big time. And I regretably include Fireguard callsigns in that. Although one or two went the extra mile when confronted with a situation, that was because of personal qualities and levels of compassion that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere, and rarely little to do with a sense of duty or professionalism bought about through training or indoctrination, or actually caring for the men.
Its all down to individual officers and SNCOs attitude and approach though, and in my (now outdated by a few years, admittadly) experience, many (not all) RAF ones sucked big time. And I regretably include Fireguard callsigns in that. Although one or two went the extra mile when confronted with a situation, that was because of personal qualities and levels of compassion that you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere, and rarely little to do with a sense of duty or professionalism bought about through training or indoctrination, or actually caring for the men.
Last edited by Al R; 3rd Sep 2008 at 08:57.
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Originally Posted by Al R
I'm surprised the boys were allowed to parade in uniform. 
Originally Posted by pr00ne
Why??????????
Originally Posted by Al R
ICATQ 
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and wtf is that on his head
The lad is a little creative maybe, but it doesn't serve to make him the laughing stock of the British Military, (not quite anyway
).Well done to the lads of 3 Squadron.
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Too funny... For any non-Regiment person to criticize the beret of a Rock is, at best......
The 'Chief Tech Beret' is sadly not a form of headdress restricted to those smell faintly of wee and regaling all with 'war stories' from RAFG days.
Oh and by the looks of things his beret is pretty sun-bleached and knowing the non-Regiment units at Wittering he has probably spent a fair old amount of time gaining a few proper war stories.
Regarding the NFU personnel, perhaps other RAF Stations could do what RAF Odiham did earlier in the summer (that less cold part of the rainy period). Whilst the term "Heroes Parade" is probably a bit much, gathering together a broad range of ranks and trades, all of whom have deployed to one of the 2 main theatres, and have them march through the local town is certainly a very pleasant and touching gesture and engenders very good relations with the local community. Not sure if other stations do it too, but in my opinion, very worthwhile.
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"Countered by THIS."
....and the posting to Afghanistan of a certain female Croup Captain.
....and the posting to Afghanistan of a certain female Croup Captain.
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By far the most ridiculous berets in the entire Armed Forces, (except, perhaps, the Royal Navy), are to be found on the heads of non-Regiment RAF ranks... and, more often than not, they are to be found adorning the heads of officers.
I have been involved in some serious beret shaping in my time, this lad needs some help from good platoon sgt!