I remember an officer only 3 line whip called by our OC Sqn at a northern base in early 1980s. He demanded to know why so few wives had turned up at the Mess that afternoon to arrange the flowers for that evening's dining in night. It appeared that his wife had volunteered the squadron wives to do this and was upset at such a poor response. He demanded a better response for the future and tried to insinuate that action would be taken against those officers who did not send their wives along in future.

He was not happy when it was pointed out that he could not order the wives about despite his other half's assumptions. Nor was he chuffed when asked if he would write to the employers in the local area to explain why our wives had not turned up for work on the afternoons of future DiNs.

Silly boy.

As I started a "Toast to the Lasses" at BPOM Burns Night, "For those who don't know me, I come from the corner of the patch not knwn for attendance at flower arranging or the Wives Club".

Shy, lsh, I suppose that would be Mrs Sqn Ldr (Rtd) The Reverend E*** now, would it?:)

May we be truly thankful. :oh:

......Amen!

Bit of thread drift but the references to "Mrs Sqn Ldr Bloggs or wife of Wg Cdr Snooks etc" reminded me of when I went to university as a mature student in the late 1980s. Correspondence from the local authority concerning my grant (remember them?) arrived addressed to my wife as "parent or guardian of ***"

Mrs TTN was not amused!

Not sure why she would be, Mrs SFFP has effectively been my parent/guardian for the 32 years of our married life :ok:

Yep... My dear lady is still referred to as my "adult supervision"... :}

Any married man who argues it's not so is deluded :ok:

It seems old customs die hard in some places...only this year, I heard of a Flt Lt's wife holding interviews for a wives' dinner club she wanted to set up on the patch! Oh to be a fly on the wall...

Sigh.

One day she'll move on and promote herself with something she accomplished on her own.

In the meantime, apologies (even though it's nothing to do with me) to those pictured in the article - none of whom are RCWs as none of them are or have been in the military. It brought back memories of a damn good Summer Ball though!

Last post from this persona I really, REALLY hope.

That was happening in the 80s, but we did have the wife of a retired very very senior officer giving the staff and Wg Cdr consultant surgeon a lot of grief. He had to threaten to have her barred from the hospital by the CO. The retired officer was a true gentleman, talked to anyone and everyone as if the were normal people. Younger pateints could not believe whio he was and what he had done during his service.

Wives and rank, believe it, it happens.

Not true I'm afraid, based on Mrs WW's experience a few years ago.

If it was that rubbish being on the patch then she could always have forced 'Paul' to move out and live in the real world. Many from Lyneham have, so it wasn't impossible!
Personally, the thought of having to live on a patch again at any time in the future fills me with depression.

At an isolated training base out west there used to be a running route that involved climbing over a 3 foot chain link fence in the patch, unfortunately to get over the fence meant standing on grass about two foot into the front garden of a Wg Cdrs house. As a certain individual was crossing Mrs Wg Cdr K.... Came storming out shouting "excuse me, excuse me - what do you think you are doing" "erm, going for a run" "do you not know who I am?" "No" "Well I'm Wg Cdrs K.....'s wife" "oh right". "well - what's your name". " oh, I am sorry - I'm the new Stn Cdr and I'm off for a run, good day"

Priceless!

Article makes a cracking read, but is clearly detached from present reality.

However, on marriage we moved into quarters at Lyneham in 1995, after a year of living together. My boss (a complete ass, and still in) 'damned me with feint praise' with a statement in my F1369: 'Flt Lt WP is now married, and having moved into quarters, I look forward to WP and his wife participating fully in the life of the station'.

But it is also clear that the RAF - and its people - have moved on in the last 15-odd years. I have served in a number of joint organisations and in wider Government and different groups do it differently. I have found that the wives of senior RN officers (Cdrs and above) seem to be the ones that really try to ‘Lord’ it up – possibly because they have little experience of living on a patch, and assume that they have to be the Queen Bee c 1955. I also spent 2 ½ years working for a senior US Diplomat and he expected his staff – and their spouses – to make up numbers at dinner parties on a regular basis. Mind you, he also had a great wine cellar. In my time working with the FCO, I found few diplomats who regularly ‘paraded’ their spouses at official functions – that was largely left to the Defence Attachés/Advisors and their spouses. The FCO Apparatchiks looked on, mildly amused…

On the matter of cleaning quarters, we all have horror stories (mine was only a month ago) but there is an interesting thread running on Arrse concerning alleged impropriety between the cleaning contractors and housing officers.
http://www.arrse.co.uk/pay-claims-jpa/170407-married-quarter-cleaning-service.html

Amazing that didn't happen more often! :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

I heard a story (apocraphal?) that an RAF Officer was engaged (discretely) to an airwoman who did not serve on the same airbase. He asked permission to take her to the summer ball, but the request was refused by the PMC. The officer's response (supported by his fiance) was to go into the local town and hire a pair of escorts for the evening. He took great delight in introducing them to the Stn Cdr, PMC and their guests, and went on to explain who they actually were and why he had to bring alternative female company.

What is actually true, was a Sqn collegue many years ago who was engaged to a civilian employee who worked in Admin wing. Sadly, the PMC (OC Admin) refused to allow her into the mess for any functions because she was not of the appropriate CS grade. :ugh:

Yet as long ago as the 70s in the Senior Service it was perfectly in order for an officer to bring a Wren to a Wardroom function. The Jenny in question had to have a short interview with the OC WRNS and nothing more was said.

It wasn't until 1993 that the WRNS became part of the Royal Navy. Before thet they were effectivily treated as civilians even though they could be in thick of the action.

Before the comments I mean wars and suchlike.