By the same token, money spent on sport/recreation at the weekend in the UK is neither valuable nor necessary. After all, the taxpayer pays my salary and so the same principle applies doesnt it? :* . Sorry, I succumbed to emotion :p

Southside, old chap,

as I have pointed out on other threads previously, you have an incredible ability to disagree with any statement being made, regardless of how blatantly obvious and factual it is. I do not believe for one moment that any tax bucks were spent on skiing and what members of the armed forces choose to spend their salaries on when off duty is entirely their prerogative.
Therefore, pas de problem, non-story. QED.

Good, that settles that then. So there were definately no claims submitted for this trip then. Good. at last that one is cleared up then.

Is this guy just unbelievable?

Southside, you just will not let it go, will you?

I reckon it's about about 60 members 'FOR', and 2 'AGAINST' ...

That's over 95% 'FOR' ... overwhelming in anyone's book. And as we all know, there's always 'one' who doesn't 'fit in' on the sqn (and should maybe consider a career in critical journalism) ...

Southside
 

If we just ignore Southside and his intrusions onto otherwise very readable threads, he'd eventualy have to make his statements so outlandish that even he'd realise that he was a kn*b.

Hi everyone! I haven't been here for a long time, but when a builder friend brought me his Scum Rag to show me the article I knew there'd be some fun to be had here. One point that hasn't been raised (and I've just read all the posts), is the recruitment value of this story. Now I know that at the selection interview you would be well advised to say that you read one of the on-side broadsheets, but we all know that a few good men will have taken a glance at page 3 in their youth. I reckon a young blade/blade ess will think it's pretty cool to take some jets to the Alps for a bit of fun in the snow (more cred if the boys had been snowboarding).

There are very good posts here explaining the value of such excursions. I can only commend them to the doubters, and suggest they actually READ carefully what's been written. It's all there!

Southside. I don't believe we have met. I have considered your viewpoint and have read your replies to these posts. I respect the open debate opportunity afforded us all here.

I feel well qualified to have an opinion on the subject being discussed here, based on personal experience, not conjecture or rumour.

Southside, you are either wrong, misguided, or just have an axe to grind.

Salutations to the glorious 41sqn, the Jaguar that has served UKplc so well, and all those who have flown or supported them. We could all do worse in the UK than to actually celebrate those aspects of our little island which are worthy of our praise. We seem to have a culture of envy. Shame.

Probably against the rules being a civvy, but...


Southside......

If we want any more **** from you we'll squeeze your head....

Now, in the mean time, leave the thinking to those with brains.

Iain.

I can't stop replying!
 

Welcome back Watty! Long time no speak. Can you get me a job?

I have a 95% suspicion that Southside is a wind-up merchant, on the basis that nobody could be that stupid.

2 points:

1. Admin Guru was a better wind-up merchant, so either be better or give it up.

2. They tried to get on-base accommodation, but were denied by Aviano, so they had to stay in hotels somewhere, rather than on base. On Sunday, however, they chiselled their way into on-base acommodation in order to minimize the impact.

Is that good enough?

Thats ok then. At least they paid for the accomm themselves and there was no impact to the public purse.....

or was there....the plot thickens.

anyway, never mind all this conjecture...
I hope they all had a fab time. I've been on enough landaways to appreciate the training value they give and of course if you can manage to have a couple of beers in between sorties (without breaking the rules) then crack on lofty. Good on ya Jag blokes...nice to see.

How was the "pointless training exercise with your outdated jet", Bob. Manage to embarrass anyone flying more modern machines, or did you just die gloriously?

Blackjack
 

I, on the other hand, finished the det $1.25 up! Please don't tell the tax man, though...

Perhaps the Sqn has not done an OTF for ages, and as they are rapidly approaching the new financial year for their budget - they have to "use it or lose it"
Foreign landaways provide valuable planning and training and boost Sqn and Stn morale by getting the lads out of the rut for a weekend
Well done to get 6 Jags to Italy and back
In the good old days the STANEVAL/TACEVAL team would have been impressed
£30.000 will probably keep Prescotts office supplied with headed notepaper for a year
Maybe the Sqn got funded by a "loan" that we don't know about?
Love Many, Trust a Few, Watch the Sun, they're gunning for you!

Aaah yes, the office of the Deputy PM......... perhaps we could send Southside there - he could really do some damage:ok:

Bouy 15, bearing in mind that the OTF was allegedly reported to the Sun as a 'jolly' by a disgruntled member of the groundcrew I would question the idea of it raising Station morale. Maybe I could borrow your rose tinted spectacles?

... doubt if there's too much in the budget for anything for the Jags next year :( :(

I must apologise for my country's behaviour................
 

To the 95% of you on this thread:

Sorry. The whole RN is sorry. We will take ourselves away and sort ourselves out. SS is one of us and we pray forgiveness from the other services.

SS:
Have you ever heard the saying that if you think there are no w@nkers on your Squadron..........................it's you?

Anyway, back to the thread. OTFs, Landaways, Endaways or whatever your service call them. Even if the training benefit that we achieved from going foreign wasn't worth it (and I'm not saying for one minute that it isn't), the morale that is generated by going away for a weekend now and again must surely raise the OC on any unit. In these times of stretch and overstretch, we need to hold on to our people. The cost of training new personnel, both aircrew and ground crew is huge. If we can encourage (a few) people to stay by giving them something to look forward to (now and again), then the savings in the training budget must outweigh the small amounts we are talking about here.

Does anyone know the cost of training an ab initio pilot/obs/wso these days?

Hey, where does it say that Im against OTF, Landaways etc... Im all for them. Good training, good for morale and good for team building. However, in recent years the RN have taken OTF a little more seriously. We (generally) have a true justification for going there. When we get there we stay in Military accom (if available) and we (generally) fly a number of sorties wither with or against the host nation. We plan the trip over the continent to include an element of tactical/training and we always include the host nation in the planing and execution of those training sorties.

Gone are the days (sadly) that the RN flys to Grenoble for the weekend, hops on the ski bus and buggers about for the weekend before flying back.

Take it on the chin.....
 

Southside,

Take it on the chin. You are a w@nker. You have been on this thread and on many, many others.

If you wish to, change your name; change your profile; and change your stance. NOW! But stop, for Christ's sake, being forever 180 degrees out to everybody else ALL of the time.

Did nobody teach you to march, when you joined up - get in step at least occasionally when you pass the RO!

FW