...the advice is...he's wrong!!:ok:

"The RAF Regiment are not Rock Apes - The RAF Police however are called Rock Apes and have been for years"

Huh?!

The RAF Police are called multiple names, but Rock Apes is not one of them.

Often abreviated to Snoops

LAC act CPL (unpaid)(unloved)(unwanted)(un etc.)

Not in Germany but in Aden we (not the RAF Regt) were still issued with the Lee Enfield 303 of WW2 vintage with ammunition. It was quite common when filling the magazine for some of the rounds to separate leaving the pointy end in one hand and the explosive end in tóther. Just as well we had TTN and friends buzzing around at the time.

Originally posted by Nutty

When I was there (1968 to 1971) I was never allowed to take my pickaxe handle off base even when going to Vera´s for a few Guinness.:E

For the life of me I never expected to see Snowdrops called Rockapes on a Military aviation thread.

Must be the silly season.

Thing is it takes one to know one.

" That is a theory. Unless a theory is tested it remains a theory.
Perhaps you should approach what turns out to be part of a civilian football team or a netball team and say"

There is no "theory " attached to TOFO's accurate criteria whatsoever.

The simple and salient facts are that service personnel do stand out when in civilian environments.

As I said in a previous post, when staying in a hotel in Southsea, this was 2009, I watched in disbelief as Shrivenham's less than intellectual elite all formed into little groups outside the hotel, to be "briefed" as to getting their taxi to Gunwharf, where to assemble thereafter and which eateries they would then visit. They all wore similar clothing as military personnel are prone to do which also adds to ease of identification.

I also said that, apart from potential terrorists, not everybody in the UK was supportive of the UK military, consequently, behaving the way they were drew attention to themselves.

Then there are the ubiquitous white people carriers which can be seen at Motorway services.

The moment the pax get out, or stand around, it's obvious they are military. They form groups through the nature of being military and I might as well add they also tend to talk to each other as if still on duty. Then they all head for McJunk / KFC etc....as a group.

In 2014, I was sat on a train going through Shrewsbury and the carriage was "treated" to the arrival of, presumably, members of the Royal Irish from Ternhill. The drinking had clearly long begun and the language was more applicable to a barracks plus, they were openly discussing whom they thought would be next for promotion in the SNCO ranks.

Dishforth services, late at night, stopped for fuel. At the next pump, an Army officer dressed in civilian clothes, albeit standard "off duty" wear for officers, a topic which has been discussed on here before. Again, stood out like the proverbial.

There aren't that many military locations left in the UK and terrorists are far from stupid, they tend to do their reconnaissance to gather intelligence about potential targets first.

Happy to oblige Shack! Luckily our chaps had SLRs, and the ammo didn't tend to fall apart. As it happens I was also on 37 but we had an F after the number!

Funnily enough I was only just talking to Mrs TTN about Aden yesterday. When we were outside the camp in civvies we certainly weren't armed, but always armed when in uniform, of course. I was there in 1966, I suspect by 1967 things had tightened up considerably.

TTN (ex Rockape, not Snowdrop!)

One of the Sgts I used to work with was out there and he told me when he was on guard as a lowly LAC he was told if anything happened to let off a round and the troops would come a running, he said something about dropping his rifle or similar and a round being discharged, a solitary dog barking was the result and when relieved no one would believe he had fired a round off until they checked his rifle barrel. He did mention it was most perturbing as he could have been fighting off hoards of Arabs and no one else would know or come to his aid.

A little surprised to be told that the laying up of 31's old standard had been cancelled 'for security reasons'.

I would have thought it possible to have provided a suitable amount of overt and covert protection for such an event and news of its cancellation is - of itself - an admission that the bad guys have got us (the general population) rattled.

Old Duffer

When I was at Ulster Radar (1974-76), the only time we were armed was when the RAF Police and Regiment guys knocked off for the night. That's right, when it got dark our security protection went home!
Occasionally there would be a dog handler inside the perimeter fence, but mostly security was left in the hands of the Air Traffickers and Radar Techs.
This included manning the gate for shift changes which were at different times for the civvy controllers, one of which we were warned had republican sympathies.
Drivers were supposed to turn off their headlights when approaching the gates, but he had to be "persuaded" to comply on a number of occasions.

Presently, at a unit near me, they locked the private entrance from quarters thus requiring everyone to go round busy public roads to the front gate!

At another, with quarters behind the wire and a guard on the gate, the back gate is a simple unmanned vehicle barrier :(

Ha! :confused:

I joined the RAF in 1979 and during basic training at RAF Swinderby was made to wear my No1 uniform on weekend passes into Lincoln, it always caught the attention of the locals and some fights occurred. I also wore it home to London. I well remember stepping off an underground train and walking a gauntlet of around 20 Punk Rockers stood on the platform! Funnily enough, they never said a word. They just stared.. Same thing on posting to RAF Shawbury for trade training.

I never had any live rounds on Guard Duty until at RAF Wattisham in the mid 80's and again at Brize up to 1991 still with the SLR. :)

I knew an AATC (TA) at RAF Manston on my first posting that had served in NI on Special Operations who regularly carried a Browning 9mm in civilian clothes off base.

24 years as a bearer of The Mudguard and I didn't know I was a RAF Copper.

RAF COPPER!!!!! How very dare you. Please allow me to gas you to within an inch of your life. Gas in this instance means CS in the Respirator Testing Facility.

Good on the Gunner for fighting dirty, if in doubt headbutt it out. All rules go out the window and maximum violence is to be issued in these circumstances.

I have no idea who he is but I am more than happy to buy him many beers and then indulge in Snowdrop Baiting :)

The story gets better

RAF Man May Have Given Suspected Kidnapper A Black Eye | Forces TV


:ok::ok::ok::D:D:D:D

sittingstress, you're bang on there mate.

Love ya style.

They tightened to the extent that we were no longer allowed to go outside camp. By then the families had gone home and the Camel Club did a roaring trade. I ended up at Ballykelly where we fired five rounds SLR per annum under the watchful eye of the local "Rock" but were never trusted with them for guard duties.:ouch:

I should think not!

E-Fits released...
RAF Marham abduction attempt: E-fits released of suspects - BBC News

Should stick out like a dog's b@@ll@cks in deepest Norfolk, unless they have six webbed toes that is.................

I wore the Mudguards for 22 years myself. Delighted to hear this young Rock made short work of one of them. Just a pity he didn't kill him. Few blokes I worked with certainly would have.

I don't think that its very likely these blokes live in Swaffham or King's Lynn. They were probably back down the A/M11 and in London within a few hours.

Always have a wry smile when these jokes about 6 toes etc come up. Whoever started that rumour about Norfolk had obviously never lived in West Cornwall!

(saving your presence Rosevidney ;))

TTN - I totally agree. I lived in Watton for a couple of years and not once did I see the fabled 6 and or webbed toes.

I was surprised at the local farrier's roaring trade in the rasping off of head cones though :)

Ra Ra the RAF Regt.

I'll bet that they can't even pronounce it!:=

Now the cousins are known for their lack of humour and flexible use of ROE. May be our Forces should announce a change of policy, followed by the usual 'cannot confirm or deny' message.

"Guard discovers three bad yins in the bushes, by the time he takes his five rounds out of the sealed plastic bag and loads the weapon, they have escaped in a car. One round fired as I recall... but it was long time ago."

Sounds like a tall story, completely against all the ROE.

Think it was Shawbury, or Ternhill - this was in the 80s. Whether the guy got a shot off I don't know - but the plastic sealed magazines were fact. it was this incident which led to live loaded weapons from then on.

Ternhill incident
 

Dan, J, AirPol

Outline of incident at Ternhill (from BBC account, 20 Feb 89):

"Sentry (Parachute Regiment) spotted two men at about 0300 hours acting suspiciously.

When he challenged them, they dumped a sports bag - containing a bomb - and ran off. The soldier fired three rounds from his assault rifle but missed.
He raised the alarm and the barracks was evacuated shortly before two bombs went off - no-one was hurt.

The bombers escaped in a stolen car, which was found about 10 miles from the barracks."


[COMMENT: From what I recall at time, the biggest shock to the RAF was that the Army had armed guards/sentries: RAF was still (less certain facilities and specialist personnel) on unarmed guards/sentries.]

Regards
Batco

Airpolice, it was 1989 not late 90's. Late 90's and everyone on guard was armed with mags fitted. Without giving away ROE your description of the event would not have allowed for opening fire.
The para however did but missed. :{

Jayland, is correct and that was the basis for Clegg' s conviction.

Regarding BATCO' s comment, IMHO the RAF policy was immoral. Give a man a gun, he becomes a target. No ammunition and he is a lamb to slaughter or She even.

In 1972, at Akrotiri, we had a high security alert and a exercise was called. Air Cdre Stacey made the decision that everyone would be live armed. Our 9mm mags had the bullets secured with cellophane, more a precaution against loose rounds.

Breaking: Sighted in Colchester?

https://twitter.com/bbcessex/status/759009912294821890

maybe false alarm......

14:39 BBC Live

"Norfolk Police says it has liaised with Essex Police and is "satisfied" that a reported sighting of two men near Colchester barrack is not linked to their investigation into an attempted abduction at RAF Marham."

I was on guard duty at Cosford that particular night, and IIRC the alert state was already higher than normal, but in the early hours I remember being recalled early from foot patrol by an irate GC(we thought someone had seen my partner having a crafty fag), as we got to the VCP he asked us to unload(SLR but empty magazines) and then produced clear sealed plastic bags with full magazines to load. We were told the alert state had gone up and we were to search the OM area first. Not a nice feeling at all, OMQs patch was very open and easy to access on foot. IIRC we didn't hear about the Tern Hill attack until the morning(just as well really).

Missing Honington airman
 

Hope to hell it is not connected with this and hope he is found safe

Concern Grows For Missing RAF Serviceman | Forces TV

Possible but unlikley to been abduction - he was in civies

"CCTV footage from Bury St Edmunds shows he briefly slept in a doorway before getting up and moving away. Police believe he may have intended to walk home to the base at RAF Honington. He is described as white, 5ft 10ins, of medium build, with short light brown hair. He was wearing a light pink shirt and white jeans or trousers at the time he was last seen".

Hope he is sleeping it off somewhere but it,s now 4 days.......