What were you doing?
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Running my little retirement hotel in the Midlands meant that I could watch the BBC/CNN Gulf reports all day long. I felt 3 emotions:
1. Envy (believe it or not), as I never got to be a squadron boss, or even a squadron shag, doing the real thing. Kept seeing my old muckers on the tube.
2. Anguish, since every TV news report began with 'Another RAF Tornado has been lost in the Gulf.........' and the updates came thick and fast, so how quickly were we losing our aircraft? I reckoned about 48 at the end of Day 1, 96 by Day 2, etc. An 'information saturation situation' if ever there was one.
3. Admiration, for all those involved on our side. They done good.
1. Envy (believe it or not), as I never got to be a squadron boss, or even a squadron shag, doing the real thing. Kept seeing my old muckers on the tube.
2. Anguish, since every TV news report began with 'Another RAF Tornado has been lost in the Gulf.........' and the updates came thick and fast, so how quickly were we losing our aircraft? I reckoned about 48 at the end of Day 1, 96 by Day 2, etc. An 'information saturation situation' if ever there was one.
3. Admiration, for all those involved on our side. They done good.
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MG i remember being in a similar excavation to yours one row closer to the sea on a dark night with 3 others at least in the trench. your infamous sergeant major could be heard shouting "lights out, take a NAPS tablet, in fact take 2!!" i duly took one (only did take 1 other when the OC was stood next to me one time as NAPS time) and contemplated taking the other as well as atropine and morphine. after about 10 minutes in the dark it suddenly dawned on us all that turning the lights out, sitting in the dark was OTT when missiles were the only thing allowed cricket side!
do you remember the choggie camp janitor who would rip us off for using his telephone to make international calls? he didnt know i had a telephone in my bergen that i would connect up to other chalets that still had working phone lines in them. the electric shocks were well worth it.
he did do us one favour though. while trying to deal with some u/s marines they would only part with the desired equipment for a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of bacardi. as we had been dry for over a month, i wasnt sure how we were going to swing this one. on asking the choggie, he duly gave us a 2 litre bottle of clear liquid, with a toothless knowing smile and simple instructions of "very good stuff, cut 2 or 3 times minimum!" My father had told me when he worked out there, pour some into a spoon and set light to it, if it all burns, its good stuff. the choggie was right. we cut it, poured it into black plastic water bottles of 1 litre each and went to the rv down at the docks with the sgt bilko types. we watched in amazement as each in turn professed it to be the best bacardi/whiskey(irish spelling) they had ever tasted and immediately put an order for more.
memories of war:
its 98% very boring except for the 2% bit that makes you wish the director would say "cut luvvies".
gazelle pilots are excellent for passing the time.
lynx pilots have the best grass in their tent.
you get to know your mates very well, their good and bad parts.
biggest regret? only taking one photo through my nvg, i didnt know it was so easy, id have made a fortune.
claim to fame? being charged on active service somewhere in iraq.
most fun? souvenir hunting.
funniest sight? seeing a lynx at dusk lighting up in flames and then the american exchange officer come running out from under the CARM cover juggling a peak petrol stove.
most enlightening moment? finding out my true worth. 4 gold sovereigns and an IOU for £10,000 from HMG. i think my flight comd got 5 sovs.
thats enough tilly lamp swinging i think
[This message has been edited by Jeep (edited 21 January 2001).]
do you remember the choggie camp janitor who would rip us off for using his telephone to make international calls? he didnt know i had a telephone in my bergen that i would connect up to other chalets that still had working phone lines in them. the electric shocks were well worth it.
he did do us one favour though. while trying to deal with some u/s marines they would only part with the desired equipment for a bottle of whiskey and a bottle of bacardi. as we had been dry for over a month, i wasnt sure how we were going to swing this one. on asking the choggie, he duly gave us a 2 litre bottle of clear liquid, with a toothless knowing smile and simple instructions of "very good stuff, cut 2 or 3 times minimum!" My father had told me when he worked out there, pour some into a spoon and set light to it, if it all burns, its good stuff. the choggie was right. we cut it, poured it into black plastic water bottles of 1 litre each and went to the rv down at the docks with the sgt bilko types. we watched in amazement as each in turn professed it to be the best bacardi/whiskey(irish spelling) they had ever tasted and immediately put an order for more.
memories of war:
its 98% very boring except for the 2% bit that makes you wish the director would say "cut luvvies".
gazelle pilots are excellent for passing the time.
lynx pilots have the best grass in their tent.
you get to know your mates very well, their good and bad parts.
biggest regret? only taking one photo through my nvg, i didnt know it was so easy, id have made a fortune.
claim to fame? being charged on active service somewhere in iraq.
most fun? souvenir hunting.
funniest sight? seeing a lynx at dusk lighting up in flames and then the american exchange officer come running out from under the CARM cover juggling a peak petrol stove.
most enlightening moment? finding out my true worth. 4 gold sovereigns and an IOU for £10,000 from HMG. i think my flight comd got 5 sovs.
thats enough tilly lamp swinging i think
[This message has been edited by Jeep (edited 21 January 2001).]
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Laying on a couch, in my womans arms, when CNN breaks into the show with their reports..At first I'm thinking its a false alarm, all I saw were the tracers but no explosions...then I hear a HUGE explosion and fireball on TV and I'm at once happy and sad, Happy because I've been flying non-stop since 3 August building up the forces and happy Saddam was getting his due, sad cause I knew alot of guys there and knew I would be back within hours!!! Everyone should be proud to have been part of the greatest ass-whipping in the annals of military history!! and no matter what you did, feel proud of the fact that when the call came you went without hesitation.
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Remember being woken for school by my mother to be told - "that's the war started". Was keen before that day, single minded after it. Since had the pleasure of speaking with one or two of SH's short term guests - pride vastly increased by their refusal to admit to any achievment other than doing their job, even under conditions my contemporaries can only imagine.
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Mooching around the Muharraq Ops room counting them all out and counting them all back and feeling a tad nervous!! Because our 4-ship lead pilot had gone wibble a few days earlier our 4-ship had been grounded until a replacement was rushed out (top decision?!). Went on to do 18 missions, but plenty more since!!
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At my university halls of residence, very drunk and just back from the pub with a Fishhead mate who was trying to convince me to join the RAF (??).
We were wandering through the TV room on the way to try our drunken charms on the ladies, when for once, the TV news seemed far more important than getting laid (or blown out)! Put my application in a month later...
CW
We were wandering through the TV room on the way to try our drunken charms on the ladies, when for once, the TV news seemed far more important than getting laid (or blown out)! Put my application in a month later...
CW
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gave our sovereigns back after endex, along with our live rounds, then spent the rest of the evening burning several weeks accumulation of rubbish - including one 9mm round which had slipped through the net. Thinking s&*t, I can't get shot - they've called endex! close one though - it went somewhere under my armpit before whizzing off into the boonies, leaving sod all sympathy and several dead ant impressions from my erstwhile comrades-in-arms!
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Sat in on a briefing being told my OCU had reverted to a op sqn ready for war, watching all the old farts spines turn to yellow jelly and making some excuse why they coulndt go.
Next day being told we were no longer an operational sqn and just an OCU again.
Flying with the screen crew as their bitch dreading another student pilot solo when the course started again a month or two later.
student pilot = 3.5 G landing ouch!!!!!
Next day being told we were no longer an operational sqn and just an OCU again.
Flying with the screen crew as their bitch dreading another student pilot solo when the course started again a month or two later.
student pilot = 3.5 G landing ouch!!!!!
