you won't believe this
 

This may make you laugh, or it may make you cry..... The reason why blunties are a flight safety hazard.

At a flying unit in the south of England.
"Admin Wg blunties will not be providing an Ord Off on Christmas day because nobody has.volunteered "



:confused:

We have a JEngO here at Lyneham who has asked for a volunteer SNCO to be in charge of a Barrack Block.

No takers so far.

The Wiltshire transport base's intranet is asking for a volunteer (any branch) to fly out to Gander and 'guard' the ac overnight before flying straight home the next day....not sure if we have any takers yet?

Mind you it's probably safer than a night in Reflections with the local lovelies...;)

Writing from a base that has 2 of its three Admin Sqn's run by Civil Servants...I believe it.:(

Back in the days when we had an air force, at RAF Brawdy there were very few OMQs on base. So when it came to the question of Christmas Day SDO, the Stn Cdr said that rather than ask for volunteers, or draw names out of a hat, he would nominate someone and there were to be no arguments.

Which he duly did.

Who did he nominate?

Himself. A fine example of leadership and much appreciated by everyone.

Question for you all: can you guess which section has been tasked with providing th Christmas Day SDO at an AT/AAR base near Oxford?

Answer: That's right- the one with 3 crews in Bahrain for Christmas Day, one in the Falklands, one on QRA and (I think) two on standby. (And a further 3 covering New Year for the same tasks).

Cue self righteous blunty telling us how hard they're all working and how doing Christmas Day SDO is a duty blah blah blah......

We do, and this is most definately a prod to the other section not volunteering. Seeing as the section that is busy has volunteered for most of the tasking it has received, and the Duty Adminer, thats right the one duty adminer who only has to be on the end of a phone, can drink and enjoy the festivities, unlike the nice volunteer for tansor who has to stay stone cold. I like the idea that it is Harry's train set and why shouldn't a young thruster do his bit for his Ojar.

I personnelly like the last time I visited said section, and the sign on the door was ' Closed on Wed for Admin '

Hmmm, thought that was your job. Can we please have a day off just for catching up.

p.s I like what you have done with the place as well. Moving everything around just to slight confuse us all

Go with the back lash from Captain Darling.... :ok:

But why?
 

I never could understand the requirement for an SDO at BZZ. The SDO's just a glorified switchboard; if anything happens, you go to the magic file/bag and phone the required trade/duty bod to sort it out.
Why do we need this when there's a 24hr DOC in Stn Ops with a full team around him/her?

As for the Xmas day saga - maybe we'll all get into a room, hold hands, talk about our personal grievances and opt that SDO is a breach of our human rights and thus an illegal order ;) and just not do it?

Merry Christmas. :ok:

Uncle G

Was SDO at one of Auntie Mary's Transport bases some years ago - 'twas a Sunday and the first day of April. Usual hours of sod-all happening and then a 'phone call!!
"This is the (something or other) at The Sun. We would like to deliver a large bag of budgerigar seed to the troops in the Falklands. Can you meet our vehicle at the main gate and arrange for the transfer to the aircraft?" ...........
I suspect you will be truly amazed that my reply contained some deletable expletives:mad: and some timely advice for novel use of said seed. :E Job done!!:ok:
Back to work on Monday to be informed that the request had been for real and was being processed.:oh: :oh:
Presumably higher authority realised that England's premier comic had been less than intelligent to try to initiate yet another publicity stunt on that particular day!!
Oh I do miss it - not ;)

"Was SDO at one of Auntie Mary's Transport bases some years ago "

Auntie Mary? - that WAS a bally long time ago!!

SDO isnt the only person working over the grant. Get over it!

Jesus Christ.

We've got a bloody good Civilian doc doing ours - unpaid and unappreciated.
For the love of god, is this really important?
The blunties are by no means the only job 's worth arses in HMF. Aircrew are getting worse by the hour.

Get on with it, smile, there are folk much worse off.

Mr Wippy and Seven, don't lose sight of the thread, I guess you should look to the very first line. People are working hard and over the grant, its the fact that the blunties don't want to volunteer to help out.

Yes there are, thanks for pointing out the obvious. But why shouldn't said section volunteer, as the flying sections have had to for duty crew trips, dets, tansor etc....

Do you count yourself in the job's worth bit. Tell you what, lets get rid of all the aircrew to the airlines by chasing them out due to poor quality of life, which includes doing another duty, at the most important family time of the year, after you have been away for most of the weekends in the year and on det for 4 months of the year. :oh: (takes deep breath)

Personnelly I volunteered for a det over Xmas, helps out some bod with kids and stuff. I challenge a bluntie to what they have volunteered for over the grant. You see I may be wrong and they may be doing stuff, like unloading santa's paper clips. Two lorry loads I think. :ok:

Im surprised these bases are open over Christmas. Don't the RAF bases close for leave periods?

I think that's a bite.....

I do agree that there should be more volunteers, but in todays climate, End to End, Lean and cost cutting, why is there the need to have so many people on duty?

Duty Supplier
Duty Medic
Guards
Duty Technicians
Duty Squippers
Duty Cpl
Duty Sgt
RAF Police

etc etc etc

is it cost effective to have so many 'available'?

Certain camps have extended their grant periods purely as a cost cutting exercise, the less people you have on a camp, the cheaper it is to run. Less electricity being used, less food being eaten in the mess, less people being paid home to duty etc etc.

If people aren't needed, get rid of em and let them have their xmas and new year.

Over the entire grant period there will be:

QRA(I) crews and groundcrew on standby at Leuchars and Coningsby.
A TANSOR crew and groundcrew on standby at Brize Norton.
CAOC personnel on duty at High Wycombe.
Fighter Controllers and TG12 personnel on duty at Boulmer.
RAF Police, MPGS and RAF personnel guarding every RAF station.
PMRAFNS personnel on duty at various hospitals around the country.
Over 4,000 deployed personnel on duty around the world.

Many of these people will have to work for several days over this period. Some will have to face utter boredom, others will be actively working.

OO is a light duty that lasts for a day.

a. If the Adminers don't supply someone, it's up to the command chain to realise this and adjust their attitude.
b. If you've been nominated, be happy that as long as nothing happens on the quietest days of the year, all you'll need to do is salute the ensign and check on the guards.

Its not a bite. Why are they open? Why not close the base over Christmas? Will there be any flying / Operations over Christmas?

Dont forget cheery old Lyneham, home of Lean, 24/30,47/70 eng the many other duty staff that keep the RAF's only MEDA open 24/7. And to cap it all off you get the best Air Traffic service in the RAF. Before you all bite thats what the RAF think this year anyway. Winners of the 'Raytheon Falconer' trophy for the past 12 months.

tablet_eraser
To add to your AD-centric list. Lads and lasses both air and ground crew on all the RN and RAF SAR units, the stand-by Nimrod and the ARCC (yes, I know all very SAR-centric!) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all

GG II