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About Me
Me..? I'm Micky - I was in
the Corps for, well more years than I can care to remember really, I have
only recently left, but what follows is a brief history of where I was and
what I did...
The
Early Years... (74-75)
It started for me in 1974,
having left school with only a modest amount of GCSE's (at grades varying
from average down!) I hightailed it to the ACIO in Southampton to see what
they could do for me. The only criteria I was set from my parents was
'Don't get stuck in the Infantry son'! Anyway the 'nice man' at the ACO
marked me down as a Junior Signalman and sent me a one way ticket to
Catterick Garrison.
Catterick taught me many
lessons; you don't need edible food to survive, never try to wear in new
DMS boots on a 10 mile tab with both insoles in the left boot, and that
God was a guy with 3 stripes and a stick. I crawled through Basic
Training and out the other side into Trade Training where my cunning plan
was to opt for the trade that got me out of training and into a working
unit in the shortest possible time - 'Sir, I want to be a Combat Driver'.
Unfortunately the plan went awry, and I found myself training as a Data
Telegraphist (DT48), undertaking hours of keyboard skills, a - s - d - f -
a, umm handy now though!
First
Encounters... (75-79)
Having successfully made it
through training - I was posted to 16 Signal Regiment in Krefeld. I was
looking forward to putting all my new found skills into action but as soon
as I arrived I was shoved under a 4 tonner, wire brush and rags in hand,
and spent what seemed like the next 6 months cleaning springs!
After about 6 months I
started to enjoy life and soon got the hang of the 'drink all night' and
'work all day' philosophy that all the lads seemed to employ. I suffered
some days, like most, from bad hangovers - some days I never made it to
work at all - and duly paid the price. In those days Corporal Punishment
was a guy in our troop and that was his job too! Anyway, just as I was
really beginning to enjoy myself, somebody somewhere decided it would be a
good idea to detach me to Sennelager Comcen - great!
In those days Sennelager was
the smallest garrison in terms of area - but housed the largest number of
troops. It also boasted an obscene number of bars, pubs and clubs along
the 'strip' just outside of STC. It was during this tour that the Queens
Jubilee parade was held at Sennelager (070777) - never, ever have you seen
so much bullshit - luckily we weren't involved. I spent much of my time
in the REME bar at 39 Field Regiment RA along with the 6 other Royal
Signals soldiers responsible for running the Comcen. We worked pretty
hard - but we played hard too - life was good again.
Serious Stuff... (79-81)
Northern Ireland, a little
scary on your first tour - but probably the best place that I have served
in terms of job satisfaction. I learned lots of lessons fast while in the
province; don't drop your wallet whilst roping out of a hovering Wessex -
the down draught will send your 'readies' to the four walls, never
discharge a 'Charlie G' in the Ops Room - it causes one hell of a mess, oh
yeah - and never ever share a room with a slop jockey!
Different tact in Ireland -
everybody had a job to do and we were left alone to do it. During our
time off from the Comcen, we volunteered for ops which could entail just
about anything really - but everybody rushed to get their name down for
NiteSun patrol.
Much happened whilst I was
in Ireland, much of it bad - The Hunger Strike was on, the IED at
Warrenpoint killing 18 soldiers of the Queens Own Highlanders & 2
Parachute Regiment, the same day that Lord Mountbatton of Burma was
murdered by the IRA at County Sligo - a black day in Northern Irelands
history. I got married in Northern Ireland too.
Sun,
sea, sand and Celle... (81-86)
For my 'sins' they sent me
to Cyprus in 81 - two and a half years at 9 Signal Regiment working short
shifts, drinking long beers and laying in the sun - honestly, it was a
breeze. We had a great time, oh we also had a son too.
Like all good things - they
have to come to an end and I found my way back to Germany - Celle and 14
Signal Regiment. By this time I was working at my Secondary Trade (Radio
Telegraphist) prior to taking my Y of S entrance exam. Again I learned
fast; if one of your erected masts decides it wants to fall over - make
sure that it doesn't land on the Regimental Y of S; you may be able to
'bluff it' as to why you hoisted the Union Flag upside down, but there is
no excuse for doing likewise with the Regimental Flag!
I was attached to DEWO 1 Div
(Defence Electronic Warfare Officer), which was great as it meant that we
exercised with 1 Div - but they didn't really understand what we were
doing with them. Most of the lads thought that we were only there to jam
them (so we played along with that theory!). I was there simply to learn
and add to my knowledge, I also added to my 'collection' of sons too.
Armour & Handbags...(86-90)
Anyway - it was goodbye to
Celle and a short journey to Soest. Now for some reason I had always
heard that 'Div's are the pits' - but I have served in 2 (see 1 Div later)
and have thoroughly enjoyed myself on each occasion. When I got to Soest
they taught me to drive Armour and gave me a brand new (ok reconditioned)
436 SAS/MC fitted with Ptarmigan to 'play' with! I was the Det Comdr of
the 'Main to Main' mover and I loved it. Then, just as I was really
enjoying life somebody mucked it all up by making me a 'God' and posting
me to JHQ!
HQBAOR was a bustling hive
of activity serving the staff 24/7. I was DSO of C shift, me, one other
guy and about 12 women! Now I had heard many derogatory 'women in the
Army' stories during my time, and I have to say that now I was working
amongst them - the stories were all totally unfounded.
I had worked with women
prior to my time at JHQ - but never at this ratio. However I have to
confess that I found them all to be totally committed and professional in
every sense - indeed I learned much about (wo)man management during my
time at JHQ. Life was again good in 'Little England' even though they did
manage to get rid of me to the South Atlantic for 6 months of my time.
The
College... (90-92)
Somebody somewhere decided
that I would make a good instructor and hence I ended up at the AAC
Harrogate teaching PMH/AMS in Operator wing. Teaching is the 'best and
worst job in the world' - but it all depends on the student. I'm not
blaming the student for my shortcomings as an instructor, but if the
student doesn't want to learn he wont. On the other hand, if the student
does want to learn, no matter what his intellect capacity, then you the
instructor can teach him.
I was affiliated to Bradley
Squadron during my time at Harrogate, and during one of my many duties in
the Squadron accommodation, I heard on the news that the Gulf war had
kicked off - I wouldn't get to deploy. Instead I would 'kick off' doing
the Army FA Coaching badge - which actually was one of the hardest courses
that I had attended. It would pay dividends later though as the College
team (which I helped to coach) made the Army final.
The
Final Years... (92-98)
My final years, (all 6 of
them!) were spent at 1 Div in Herford. As I said before I enjoyed my time
in the Divs, and 1 Div was no different. The work was hard but there was
a sense of belonging too. Luckily I stayed in 201 Sig Sqn for the
entirety of my time at Herford - but that said, I held most posts within
the Squadron at one time or another!
The Social Life in Herford
was good - rarely did we miss a mess do and the Squadron was run on the
premise that we should 'work hard and play harder!' During my time in
Herford the Squadron embarked on what proved to be one of the shortest
Operational Tours of all time, 30 Day tour of Northern Ireland and also
managed to fit in a 6 month tour in Bosnia.
But after all the good
times, and the occasional bad - for me, time in the Army was coming to an
end.
Civ Div
and back...! (17 May 98 - Present)
I left the Army on the 17
May 98, having served 22 years. I re-joined the Army on 10 May 99!
Basically I spent a year out of the Army and was then asked if I would
like to return on Full Time Reserve Service - so I did! I worked with
the CORMORANT Introduction Team in Blandford where we were responsible for
providing military support to the civilian contractor. I left the
Army (for the second time!) in Apr 02 and currently work for a civilian
company providing qualifications to the Royal Corp of Signals.
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