Let's throw this dog another bone, shall we?

Laarbruch 72, if you want current Mover dits, how does one from last Sunday night grab you?

The wife and her team arrived at BZN at 2200 to check in early (pre-arranged) for their flight to sandy parts. The DAMO (a FS) told her "Sorry, ma'am, we can't check you in yet; we are checking in a flight to the Falklands and the bags might get mixed up". She waited for the laugh and the "Only kidding, ma'am. We will get you sorted straight away" but none was forthcoming.

Now we have all had bags go astray when on civvy flights; the number of bags going through a major airport is enormous and a few going AWOL is inevitable but if your solution to the problem is to check flights in sequentially rather than label the bags correctly and put them in separate piles, your imagination ranks only slightly higher than that of processed cheese.

The other end of the spectrum is my experience of lost bags. Brize to Thumrait in 2001 (Is that allowable L72? I am still serving, if that helps). My oppo and I are en route to Bagram via Oman. The troops from Ex SAIF SAREEA II are still coming home so the TriStar goes out with only the 2 of us and an Army major on board but will come back full. Needless to say, the major's bags never made it to the aircraft. Losing a third of the load does not give one faith. Even worse is the fact that it was another nail in the coffin of the RAF's reputation with the Army. As soon as movers realise that they are the RAF's shop front a lot of the time, then the good eggs (the vast majorty) will weed out the bad (a small but toxic minority).

To be fair though, I am sure we can all remember sh*t elements of every trade. The movers bless their cotton socks are at the front of the crowd in terms of pax interface, I find most of our issues come down to one problem - lack of or poor communication.

The movers do a fantastic job with the kit they have and the training they have too. I have been really impressed by the effort the guys put in, not least the oggies despite having minimal training and useless kit, manage to get the job done in tough conditions, with minimal rest. Work your guys 3 months in a row on continuous nights, sleeping in accom with poor air con through the day and guess what, people will make mistakes.

Whilst it may be fun to have a them and us, I would be alarmed if someone read this thinking that this was the opinion of every mover or aircrew mate, it is most certainly not.

Been great reading this thread, completely endorsed my decision to pvr last year. :ok:

So MANY a:mad:holes.

Well after reading said book which I might add I throughly enjoyed my kindle suggested I should read Main Battle Tank.

Again most enjoyable read.

But I note that the author had another go at a support arm.

Very brave saying that a REME recce mechs were a bullet short of a bandolier. He is just lucky most of them can't read that well. Your average recce mech wouldn't be throwing his handbag at you and writing nasty thing on the internet in a hissy fit. More like a 50 ton shackle or an anchor plate pin. ;)