When I joined the army ......

A centurion was my platoon commander

We didn't need numbers, we all knew each other

I was in uniform when you were in liquid form

I was No 2 on the boiling oil

etc

Any more?

We were trained by NCO's who were from the National Service? :frown:

when i joined men were men....when men were made out of steel & ships were made out of wood...the M.T. were hard as nails...and respected by everyone....

:skeptical: Robin Hood was the Weapons Instructor and Friar Tuck was the QM

I remember the Blanco room.

They didn't issue wetproofs

.... if asked the time, we replied...

"Time never changes Sarge- forty movements to the minute

WHAN - TUP - THREE - WHAN"

i was in dead ground when you was in the playground

i was on the gate when you were on cow and gate

i was in bagdag when you were in your dads bag



some of the ones that gets used these days.

When I was in the Army, we shouldered arms not grew them.

Dai I remember the blanco room we called it the polishing room, because we had to scrape the Blanco off & polish it instead..(Jan 1975)..
My 1st Cpl was Royal Welch," Williams", but he transfered to the RRW in 75 (must have been put off by the standard of the recruits !!) short dark haired guy he was, minds just gone blank on his last 2, Crocker was the CSM of my Jnr Soldier Coy.

I can remember being jailed by RSM Cooper(Mighty Mouse) for walking on the grass, when it was covered in a foot of snow.

I remember when RSM Cooper pointed to the coat of arms on his sleeve - thrust his face into mine and said "Do you know what this is - BOY!"

I said "Oh yeah - you get them on syrup tins don't you!"

ive spent more time in the NAFFI queue than youve been in the army...... straiten them arms or ill rip them off and beat you with the soggy ends..... gun group on me ......just after youve got set up on the high ground two Ks away.......... on a blank firing section attack ...... watch my tracer......... waitting for a heli pick up in Irland.... on my comand throw smoke .. ..thing was every one did in the mutible some nice colours that morning........

When I joined the Army Blanco was athing of the past, We had to put up with bronco. ha ha

on BN muster the RSM would screem at the provo sgt that man there .. yes him with the berret on get him away ............................am i hurting you.... no CSM.... i should be im standing on your hair get it cut..............

anyone know what happend to mighty mouse (rsm,cooper ) not seen him in years, he was only a cpl then

Richy,
I last seen him in Tidwoth in 1992 with his son Steve. But i was also told only a week ago that he has passed on to the other side. Is there anyone who can confirm this or is it a rumor. Pug

hoppy spoke to derek woodland last night..(his brother in law) said mighty mouse lives near him...but never goes out...that's in ebbw vale

I'm sure he lives up around here, Coedpoeth? Iwas speeking to a lad last month who used to be his neighbour a couple of years ago, I saw him last year as I drove through Llangollen has'nt changed much, did'nt have time to stop.
I thought he was an exellent RSM as you always new where you stood as he was always a B*****d.:twitcy:

I used to see him regularly, walking his dog in summerhill, nr wrexham although i havnt been there for a while.

OK - "When I joined the army" ....

My first pay packet was £1:14s and a bingo ticket. Should have been £1 14/6 but the sixpence was a compulsory bingo ticket. Don't remember if that was weekly or fortnightly either.

This was IJLB Oswestry May 1970 - age 15 and 4 months - ye Gods!

What a shock to the system - 2 pl Sgts - one a weathered-faced
Scots guardsman called 'Chisholm' the other - Queens Regt - Hammel.

We called them ' Hammer & Chisel' and man did they carve some men out of boys!

Chisholm called the time like this "EST ITE, EST ITE, EST ITE ERRRRR"

I remember my first CO's room inspection - everything perfect and gleaming - or so I thought.

The RSM - a Coldstream named Jan Hooper - about 6' 12" with no neck or hair - you could just see the outside of each eye under his slashed peak .... goes into my locker - brings out a button stick (for younger members - a device with a slit and shapes around the outside, for putting behind buttons etc to protect your uniform/belt/etc from the brasso/duraglit).

It was gleaming - on the front!

He smiled - sinisterly - flipped it over and said "What is this made of son?"

I was sure it was brass - but I thought maybe that was too obvious, maybe this was a test!

I examined it closely - no - I was sure it was brass - I would at least impress him with the conviction of my answer. I shouted "BRASS - SIR!"

I can't print what followed - I'm not sure I'm over it even now!

John,
I was posted from the 1st Bn to IJLB on the 29 Jan 1963 until 2 Feb 1966, Chan Hooper was the WO2 Drill Sgt then and the RSM was Dusty Smith who was also in the Coldstream Guards. Another RWF member who served there was Sgt Doc Fice as he was then, and was on the drill wing.
The Band and Drums visited IJLB either 1964 or 1965 for the passing out parade as i am sure you will remember it was a large and impressive parade.
Happy days.
Regards,
Joe.

John
When I joined the Army!, it was back in 69. JIB Schorncliffe, didn't quite make the grade to go to JLIB Oswestry (Perhaps I was plankton Tom 15?)

Lt "Scar on the eye" Perkins(Later Major Perkins) RWF was my Pln Comdr, he was then replaced by Lt De Bromhead ( Later Gen Bromhead) RRW, great grandson of Lt De Bromhead Rorkes Drift (Zulu).

In 75 we got £3.00 a week in your hand the rest went into your POSBY account, big bucks on leave, we still managed our fags, milkshakes, stickies & cleaning kit, windoline brasso etc. out of that 3 quid.

Bennytheball,
This is scary, did you know we were in the same platoon in the JIB. I had not clicked at all. As you say Perky was our platoon commander. I was originally in The Welch Regiment but Perky encouraged me to transfer before the passing out parade. I played rugby and hockey for the JIB so Perky wanted me to play for the RWF and not the newly formed regiment, the RRW.
Perky later became my platoon commander when I joined the Sigs.
What a small world, are there any photos of you in the gallery so that I can put a face to the name?
I used to date a chick called Sue Bell in Folkstone, I wonder whatever happened to her. She wrote to me for years when I was in Hong Kong.

Sorry Bob B, John T. I did not mean to go off on a tangent here but I'm very surprised to find out about myself and Benny.

Ciao
Dilwyn

Dilwyn
Its is great to here from you and I now realise who you are.
Sue was a "Belle". They were the good old days worked hard, played hard (Flirting etc). I'll have to dig out some old photos of JIB and post them on the forum. There is a link in the forum to the JIB and JLIB, its worth having a look perhaps you'll remember some names. It is a "Small world" you can keep in touch with me on my email address: IanBall841@aol.com Nice to talk again

Speak soon

Yours
Ex JPTE Ian Ball
D Coy
Junior Infantrymen's Battalion
Shorncliffe

Carl
I think you could be right that his son Steve had passed over to the other side? (drugs?). The person that will know is Blethyn Griffiths 04 he still lives in Shipton Bellinger and works on security over at the Army Aviation Centre Middle Wallop. I don't have any contact details for him I'm afraid.

When i joined the army was back in 1981, at the depot Crickhowell. Going to the QMs to get your new kit, knife,fork and sponne mess tins ichy KF shirt s DMS boots and putties.combats and light weights ,crow cap the list goes on . then having to dubble back to the block with it all , and not drop any kit or you lose it and have to buy it back from your tranning NCOs . your first army hair cut was free even if you had a skin head going in to short and you had to wear a tin hat till it grew back happy days ........

and the barber was a bald chap called Ginger

cwrt-y-gollen in 79 , the mad dash for the bus on friday night if you were lucky enough not to get a weekend duty , the sugar loaf run (put me on sweeteners for life). and what the hell was the monthly comp called where we had to fill our webiing with sand and even though my section won it every time , no salver for us (the training team got it) just some friggin cheap lager , happy days eh lol

oh and one more happy !!! memory came to mind , the e and e excercise where we had to get to the thirty meter range without being spotted by the training team who we later found out were actually looking out for us in the mess , maybe the lagers gave them night sight i dunno

ar the sugar loaf run still get nose bleeds thinking about it . cpl efin richards 1 RWF he was one of the depots PTIs at the time would race horses up and down that thing .. fit in them days.........

A little bit of R & R with that nice old man from the RRW who used to wear a green cover on his hat, what was his name......................Frank Watkins!!!!!!!!!!!:shocked:

"Pick Up The LOG"

I had a PTI Richards, RRW I think, you can imagine how much stick he gave me. :realmad:

was frank watkins the depot provo sgt can see him now bringing in a helicopter with two ping pong bats from the Naffi............

yeak Provo sgt FRANK WATKINS the man who wanted to ring the bell on the fire engine sir.

wetproofs i was in, in 95 what are they al ?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Griff65

wetproofs i was in, in 95 what are they al ?

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Griff,
Since you asked, they are like Goretex, but not as expensive!!, "Crisp Bag" is another good word. We used to have to buy them off our Training Cpls

In 1977 my Depot Section Comd "Gus Hooker" D&D only charged me £10 for my jacket(my weekly pay was £7)so we paid a pound a week(there was 8 of us doing that :-)..............Bargain.......or so he told me:laugh_xmas:

yes Al they would try to flog you anything, did you buy a R.W.F cap badge thing off cpl herbert ?, tacks on a felt background on a piece of plywood he did all the regiments most of the lads in our platoon did. he must have made a bomb ,a fiver a go

yes dai but tell the forum the truth , you bought a sally army badge you div