Been out a while - however turning up to stores with overalls in a plastic bag with the subtle arroma of Avtur was always enough to receive a new pair and directions to the skip for the old pair.

ah riley, apparently I now hav to go to POL and get a chit from them and have that signed by my line manager to say i need new overalls , then go to stores to be issued a new set

My experience of Clothing Stores was that they somehow contrived to be never open at any time you were free to attend! Quite ingenious really.

I recall one very funny Dining Out of a very experienced aviator with many years in and hours in the book, who delivered a wonderful punchline by stating that the highlight of his career was going to the Clothing Store and finding it open.

Having worked in Clothing Stores in the past and currently working in F&L I just thought I'd clear up a few points.

Although it may seem a pain Clothing Stores are correct (to the letter of the law) when they say that they can't accept 'dirty' coveralls. Scrap clothing is sold by tender to textile companies/surplus shops etc after we have finished with it and if a batch were to be contaminated the MoD would find itself liable to large financial penalties.

The point of visiting F&L to get a chit is to ensure that hazardous waste isn't just dumped in the nearest skip before you wander off down to clothing stores for a new romper suit, another source of potential financial penalties.
Yes it may seem a ball ache but (un)fortunately the MoD isn't above EP regulations and careless dumping of contaminated clothing could lead to large fines which if taken into the context of the whole military could seriously chip into an already tight budget.

I am a little confused at the 'fact' you need to have your line manager countersign your contaminated clothing chit though. The chit is a standard format along the lines of the waste transfer note and only F&L personnel are required to sign it as having received the 'product' you are transferring.

Anyway, its no good pointing as USAS says its not there and if it was you couldn't have it as someone else might want it.:p

So why don't clothing stores have a seperate bag for contaminated kit that they take to POL either weekly or when full?

Any section can have a "can do" attitude, just takes a bit of thought.

Makes one wonder what they did with the exchanged "Drawers Cellular Airmen" issued in 1962 with a crows foot and a manufacture date of 1947, but still smelling of moth balls after 3 years of wear, tear and washing
From the 'Concise' and for benefit of the new boys - definition of drawer -
"a 2 legged undergarment suspended from the waist"
In those days, every item of clothing was exchangeable - even De-Mob suits for the incumbent National Service chappies!
More better! - I believe present day day grow bags are "Made in China" or somewhere in Asia:ouch: Going there soon:)

Care to reconsider your comment and try it again?:ugh:

sounds good to me what's your point?

Because the 'chit' that is signed by an F&L supplier when you hand your contaminated and double bagged kit to one of us is a waste transfer note (something required under civil EP law) and only a supplier who has undertaken the correct civilian accredited EP courses can sign it.

Just like the large amount of civilian accreditations/regulations creeping into the world of the Cosford master race there is also a large amount creeping into the lowly world of stacking. It has to be complied with unfortunately, with the threat of large fines to individuals (not the MoD as a whole) the not so subtle carrot hanging off the stick.

You chaps seem to have completely missed the point about stores. They are for storing things. If they were for issuing things they would be called "Issues".

If that were truely the case we'd all be called storemen (like the Army) rather than Suppliers.:p

As it is in the RAF only civilians are called storemen, which in my (you may say biased) experience is more true to form.

Maybe someone should consider re-issueing the 1960's Flight Safety film "Frustration".

Nice to see that things haven't changed though.

That wont keep your legs warm on guard though:}

I once got told by stores that the GS Jacket that I had been waiting for for 4 months could not not be issued as I was leaving the stn (not the RAF I must add). I was not amused, but still have the jacket.

About 40 years ago at RAF Colerne (Yes another place that the Army inherited) we had a stores boss called Mr Pearce. He had been a war time navigator and started the concept that stores were there to supply and not to keep.

He hit on the idea that the flight engineers could all have two pairs of aircrew flying gloves, they could then keep one pair for the dirty jobs (plenty of them on the Hastings) and another for sitting up front and moving fuel cocks and other levers.

Previously the engineers had to change their gloves every few weeks. Within months under Mr Pearce's system the demand for gloves had dropped amazingly.

It would be nice to know if he has any followers in today's Service.

entitlement???
 

Been out for ten years now, so somewhat out of touch with the 'lean', modern, over-stretched, under-equipped RAF.

Sad to see that somethings haven't changed though. It was nigh on impossible to get stuff out of the stores system before they were integrated into engineering to become Eng and Supply wing. Like most, I was optimistic that this change to the command structure would elliminate the 'stacker bottleneck' that ensured you would never get what you were entitled to. Didn't work.:{ Seem to remember the best inadvertant humour poster was the one about three foot by two and said 'If you are entitled, get it!'

Still laughing about that one all these years later.:D

Also found over the years that the civvies were more amiable if you paid them at least the minimum respect you would hope to receive yourself instead of just slagging them off.

Anybody remember the other 'jobsworth' line of 'I can't give you the last one, its for AOG only.:bored: ' Or, how about 'you're not scaled for that':hmm: , or trying to get a hold of a 'duty supplier' after 2100 hrs.:rolleyes: Anybody remember what happened when the Army took over a lot of the responsibility for procurement in the late '80's/early '90's e.g. torch batteries? I can still see the look on OC Supply's face when ordered by OC Eng Wg to go and locally purchase these when the Army refused to renew the contract or release what was held.:ugh:

On a more serious note, I really do hope that our guys and gals at the front lines arn't suffering from this pathetic short-sightedness these days.

Yes, I remember the pongos taking over the supply net - took six months to get a pair of DMS shoes - Army didn't understand why there were so many in the system and cancelled the follow-on contract - doesn’t everyone wear boots all the time? :ugh: :ugh: :ugh:

Tried to get some Sqn Ldr rank braid when I was told that I was being promoted.....

None in stores...

Dumb grunts at Bicester say there's 'no demand'.....

:confused:

During the 1991 punch-up, boxes of kit arrived for our customers to pick from. Most highly-sought-after item was the sand-coloured, bone-buttoned windproof jackets dated 1942. Nice to see them doing Stirling service after a gap of a generation or 2.

When I was clearing just prior to leaving I checked with Stores on what they wanted returning,thinking that they wouldn't want next to skin items e.g socks,long johns. No chance on that one. They wanted every pair of socks and LJs that were in my book. When I had a gander through the book I discovered that I had a pair of leg restraints in my possession which weren't listed. Did they want them back? No because they didn't officially exist!!! Helluva a job to get them to take them back, but God forbid if I didn't have all the socks!!!! Mind you, the requirement was only to return 1 from each pair;)

I went to stores whilst out in the Sand Pit last year. Am going back again this year ...... might finally have my order in stock!

On a slightly different but stacker-related point, you will be pleased to know that it isn't just our own "beloved" UK stackers that get it spectacularly wrong.

During the current bout of unpleasantness, back in 2003 I had the misfortune of finding myself in the MNF HQ in Baghdad. I was chatting to a Danish guy who told me a story about when the Danes rocked up in MND(SE). Having spent weeks slumming it in the desert, their logs chain finally caught up and to everyones' delight the first batch of supplies arrived in country. The ISO container arrived and was opened to much pomp and circumstance to find ............ a couple of snow ploughs and dozen lawn mowers!!!!:D

Only if we'd all taken lawn mowers with us, we could have been home by Christmas!:\