What a ridiculous thread this is. Accommodation will have been detailed in the TRANSOP (or whatever it's called these days) - end of. As an aside, the hotel will be charging a very good 'government rate' rather than the advertised room price.

I liked the story of some dear old truckie route queen. When asked by some muddy oaf why the crew was staying overnight in a 4-star hotel, he replied "My dear chap, it's really quite simple. There just aren't any 5-star hotels in this part of the world".

As the Jaguar boss at one middle east location once remarked to his pongo colleague, after turning down the army's offer of some wretched tent in Dhahran, "Any idiot can be uncomfortable - as you've just confirmed!".

Anyway, good luck to the Herc mates - if they've managed to get a decent trip to somewhere relatively pleasant for once, then they've richly deserved it.

Claiming rates/LOA?

CWD

Kindly consider the cost of a tired crew making a fatal mistake and the "insurance" provided by first class quarters is rather cheap.

What's a Herc worth these days? Let alone the passengers.

To be fair, years ago I made the same mistake in being outraged when Helicopter pilots detached to our battalion politely declined our offer of Mess accommodation (and refreshments we would have tried to press on them) in favour of a quiet night at a local motel.

BEagle,

:ok:

Sunfish, they were obviously not real helicopter pilots:=

Hardly Worth it,

Seldom have I seen such effective trolling on a forum. Sixty words in 3 lines and you have almost managed to get a Jihad out on you. I hope you have plenty of Scrumpy to drink while watching the self-flagellation take place, or is it just Moose's Milk until you get back? Just pray the C-130 crew don't recognise you until you get back to Blighty.

SCRAP! SCRAP! SCRAP! I feel like I am back in the playground again, ah, for those days gone by.

This is ace, I haven't had this much fun since the last time I was baby seal clubbing. Get it all off your chest lads. I really don't want to have to start reading about dull stuff like Lyneham closing or LOA getting cut again, this is much more entertaining.

I'm off to watch some naked mud wrestling now but keep up the good work lads.:E

Glossary of Terms
 

Surely this spat comes down to the basic glossary of terms?
Unnecessary waste of money - When someone else gets something better/more fun/more comfortable than you have.
Required and central part of Terms and Conditions of service - When you get something better/more fun/more comfortable than someone else.

Pathetic. We are in the worst state as armed forces that any of us can remember and we start in-fighting. Well done!

Mods...if this goes on, could it be put quietly to sleep, as it surely deserves.

In my 37 years to date I am not sure I can recall one single person, I am sure others on here can but I cannot think of 1 person I knew that left the RAF to join the Navy or the Army.

Conversely I can recall quite a few folk I have met that had jumped ship/tank for the more civilised and grown up life that the RAF offer.

For some being cold wet and uncomfortable is a way of life and not something that is only practiced in anticipation of being on Ops.

As someone else said any bloody idiot can be uncomfortable but the Army and the Navy bods in the main do not choose to be uncomfy on these sort of exercises they do so because the brass tell them that's how it is.

The OP should not be internet bitch slapping the RAF for having the cheek to look after the interests of some of it's people, he/she should be bleating to his bosses as to why they are living in ****e when there is no real need to do so.

Don't worry, I have a feeling the Herc crew may already be very aware of their whinging senior service passengers on Friday night!

Check in, don't dig in! :ok:

So tell me: how do you ensure that all the pax spend the whole trip puking up? :E

There are no certainties, but certainly ways and means.

Calm down!
 

Come on guys,cool it! You are all servicemen doing a fantastic job.

Have you heard of 'divide and rule'? The politicos can get away with murder while they see the same old inter-service rants. If the services ,particularly those at the top, had presented a united front maybe there would have been less cuts over the years.

We had exactly the same scenario in my second career, ATC with CAA/NATS, each unit hating the others while management smile and offer derisory pay increases - see ATC Issues threads.

In my time in the Air Force I was Detachment Coordinator and Imprest holder many times.
There is a major problem with putting crews in simple hotels and B&B's.
The user normally likes the detachment crew to be fully flexible and able to operate short notice.
Try calling a crew at 10pm saying you want them to start work in two hours with say 45 pax. The imprest is locked in the safe until morning, the aircraft water flasks are empty and there are no rations for a long working day.
Just like with the Hotac there are GASO's which state how much food and water must be carried for the task.
Big 24 hr manned hotel. All the problems go away.

Guys, stop all this trivial ranting when you don't know the facts.

From the horse's mouth (so to speak!):

Accommodation on base was requested but we were told it was all fully booked. Hotac then arranged, & we were then told accommodation on base was available. Cancelling the Hotac at short notice would have resulted in having to pay for the rooms anyway, so that's where the crew are staying.

No big scandalous waste of taxpayer's money, no story frankly.

To the original poster: you may hate 'the crabs' who are coming to pick you up, but posting this nonsense leads all of HM Forces into disrepute. Stop it.

HWi
Outstanding effort mate! Shake the tree and see what falls out of it! A very diverting and revealing thread.

I suspect that HWI has been away from his Mummy too long and is fed up with being "in the barrel" every night for the amusement of his fishy cohorts.

And as they say "any fool can be uncomfortable"!

I read this thread and thought "How pathetic". I was just about to text my very good friend, who happens to be on the crew and let him know. Then I decided against it. DAMN I pressed send. OH WELL