I'm still upset that despite working for tesco for 3 years, nearly 20 years ago, I've not been entitled to access to their staff canteen and discount cards. Who do I complain to? :E

I became an honorary member of my old mess for a few years after I retired and while I had relevant employment. We attended functions especially while the station went through a rebuild phase. Eventually the experience gap became too much while I gained interests outside and the youth inside were so different.

Do today's young men want to associate with yesterday's WIWs?

In my later, post RAF life, I was required to do some work at a certain government establishment in Cheltenham.

To gain access, I was to PV'd, but because I had moved house so often I couldn't comply with the requirements of supplying referee's that were not work or family related, that had known me continuously for X years.

I suggested that they might like to liaise with RAF Insworth where it was on record that I had been trusted to work on nuclear armed a/c only a few years previously.

I don't know if the powers that be, ever did this, but not only was I allowed, under constant escort, into the 'Cabbage Patch', but sometime later when I had been promoted out of that job and out of the area. This same customer needed some more work done and insisted to the company that I was the person to do it!

Caught a live one here folks!
 

EXUW....cheers for the HUGE bite!!....another military term....suggest you look under 'Gullible'


USyO is a Unit Security Officer......the chap on a Squadron (military group of personnel who banter each other tongue in cheek) who gets shafted when his mates leave classified lying around!


Oh! and don't be so quick to flatter yourself.....my right to reply was not directed solely at you ...more to the group in general.


If you had served in the military you would see through my thinly veiled thread. Beware, there are people on this site who like to light the odd fuse and stand back......


:o)

And if you served in the military you would also recognise someone who made a post that made them look a little bit silly and then tried to recover their position with "but it was only banter and look at all the bites i got"

F-62

Just what I as going to say. Four Types came on here and tried to get sympathy thinking that just because he used to be in he ought to get treated like he was still serving.

When confronted by those who pointed out the error of his ways, he tried to bluster and pretend that it was just a big fishing exercise.:ok::ok:

Make up your mind.

Either you are a supremely Machiavellian troll who has succeeded in ensnaring a civvie who has never served on a squadron (thanks for the definition, by the way - very helpful) into your cunningly camouflaged internet net or you are an individual who for whatever reasons clearly has issues over his perceived treatment since he left the military (as evidenced by your original post and your right to reply at #54 taken together).

If the former, then you seem to have netted many others aside from me. Well done. Good military banter and all that. I have, of course, never come across the concept of banter in all my years of civilian life - clearly my loss.

However I strongly suspect the latter since your posts are so "thinly veiled" as to leave little doubt. It's a bit late now to call a wah.

But you are quite right. I really shouldn't be posting here at all. No doubt the moderators will step in if they feel strongly enough about it, eh?

By the way, Union Jack, I have no difficulty in verbalising USyO in much the same way I can NATO.

The problem being, the fishing rod was to small for the size of some of the fish he caught.

It's all been a fascinating read. :ok:

When I left, I left ... that was it, albeit after only 30 years. Time to move on, and have a new/different life.

I remember the old/retired propping up the bar at Uxbridge, especially at Sunday lunchtime. Didn't really want to be one of those, totally out of touch with 'today' and just droning on about "WIW..." - essentially what PN said a couple of posts up-thread. It's 'their' world now, not mine any more.

Just as an aside on carrying rank over, am I the only one who gets irritated with those pull-down menus on some websites? After the usual "Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms", all of which I can live with, we then come to "Dr, Rev". Why?

Dr., Rev., and so on
 

There's never one for Eur Ing, either. ;-)

(Or "Former Corporal"...)

Perhaps if folk didn't take this quite so personally; it's not about "the RAF not loving you anymore". Its about the junior rank on duty who sees a stranger on base. He wants to see Forces ID which you don't have, doesn't want to be difficult or drag his boss out of the bar but he is placed in a difficult position which may make the challenge less likely.

Dr, Rev, and so on...

Not to mention Prof or Rt Hon.

Of course, those that retire before their Normal Retirment Date (NRD) will automatically join the Regular Reserve of the Royal Air Force up to age 55 (or even later depending on when you joined and what rank you attained). JSP516 contains the details.

When the RAF Retired List was binned then the RAF lost an instant access record to work out who was a Regular Reserve. I think the easiest way to show someone what liability they have remaining as a Regular Reserve would be to issue a MoD90 (F1250 in new money) with an expiry date for the end of your liability period. Then they could enjoy access to the RAF whilst they remain a Regular Reserve, once that period is over, then they become a Veteran. Then the RAFA's Retired Service Card should be used - https://www.rafa.org.uk/members/memb...d-service-card

It should be so easy to sort out, but as ever our scribblies are too busy trying to scr3w the rest of us left to sort out anything useful...:ugh:

LJ

We live in a country where you can change your name to whatever you want (by and large). Some bloke changed his name to Lord whatever. So if some dude who has served and actually earned his title what harm is there in still using it, more so as civil custom and etiquette permits. I think it says more about those who are upset by it rather than those that use their old title. Be a hell of a dull world if we were all the same, no?

I do agree with Thomas though on getting on with your life on leaving the Service. If you do have occasion to return for whatever reason social or otherwise then put up with what is asked of you. One of the things that would irk me when I was in was the "ex so and so" who pitched up and tutted at anything he found different to his time in.

I've been out now for longer than I was in, but returned to a Royal Naval Air Station recently for the funeral of an old mate.

When I was dropped at the gate in the morning to collect my car, I realised immediately that I might have some bother getting in to collect it. Quite rightly too.

The extremely polite rating on the gate used his discretion and, after seeing my driving licence, and witnessing my remote key opening the car door, allowed me to proceed, in his sight to get my car.

Such a refreshing change from the experience with the security staff at a Midlands airport, whose obstructive and rude treatment blighted my last few flying years.

As for carrying rank forward to civvie street, it amazes me. I managed to put up with an ex pongo blanket stacked in the local pub who introduced himself as 'Major', until one day having to point out that rank among civilians is about as relevant as size amongst turds.

Finally - security clearances 'lapsing'. AIUI retirees are required to hand back their passes almost immediately, thereby losing their rights of access, but their security-cleared status (i.e. SC, DV, etc) continues until its next renewal date (note, being 'security-cleared' does not actually get you anywhere unless you have relevant employment). Cleared status has traditionally been seen as an attractive CV item when applying to certain sectors of industry as it saves them paying for it themselves. Finding the vaguest of reasons to get clearances renewed towards the end of a final tour of duty has been a long-standing wheeze!


Not true nowadays sadly.....I believe that it now automatically lapses after 3 months if there have been no enquiries from employers etc rather than at the normal expiry date. I applied for a contractor pass at my old base after about 7 months retired but had to go through standard vetting before I could get one (despite having a significantly higher clearance when I retired). I would assume that those requiring a "social" pass would have to go through the same procedure.

Why would anyone who had left/retired possibly want to go back onto an RAF base?


I could understand it if we were talking about a US military establishment, where there is probably a bowling alley, excellent gym, cinema, supermarket with reduced prices (no state tax), hairdressers, tailors, etc...


In the case of the UK there is now a Costa Coffee run by the PAYD contractor! Oh, I was forgetting, you'd return to an RAF base for reunions of all those fleets that have been scrapped, Squadrons which have been disbanded, and the actual airfield itself is now probably either an Army barracks or an industrial site with an associated housing estate!!

Or maybe a solar panel field or wind farm!!


Edited to add: It appears that when mentioning facilities on US military establishments I forgot to mention the golf course and attendant clubhouse restaurant - my bad!!

Biggus,

Your post made me sad - because it's true!:{

Biggus, perhaps to fly with a RAFFCA flying club, of which there are now 14?

Leon Jabachjabicz, whilst serving PVR-porridge at Binnsworth in 2003, I had to find out why some reservists hadn't responded to call-out notices. That took me about 2 days, but I kept my time there occupied with sending updates to the Gp Capt (a nice chap who knew I'd been shafted and was very sympathetic) as I investigated each case. The core reason for alleged recalcitrance was institutional incompetence - the system had failed to track 'reservists' whereabouts because the old system of a small annual allowance for reservists to update Binnsworth had been canned....

I pointed out that it would therefore be up to MoD to prove that a reservist hadn't informed them of an address change, or name change following marriage. How did they know that the reservist hadn't simply phoned in their new details, now that the odd system had been abolished? At least I'd stopped the pongos' proposal to go round to the last address mob-handed to kick the door down when we discovered the clear incompetence of the system.

The blunties were preparing a case against one chap; when I spoke with the legal folk I asked if the paperwork we had for him was an exact duplicate. "Of course", came the reply. "Well, that's a pity - the call-out notice hasn't been signed or dated"....:uhoh: But it seems that the original had, or so they said.

But whilst at Binnsworth, I made sure that I knew exactly what my call-out and recall liability would be for the time between PVR and age 55 and the subsequent RAFResO time. So when I received the usual retirement guff, I replied detailing my understanding, stating that if I didn't hear from them further, then I would assume that this was correct...... No reply, so that was that!

RAFResO and RAFResA liabilities are very poorly explained to those who PVR, many of whom probably have no idea that they are liable for call-out.....:\