Ciderman, would you have an opinion on this?

[laurie53]

Yes yes, please tell us more about those pieces of your history!! I await your posts!

Apologies for the late answer but it's been a busy week.

It's not half as dramatic as it sounds actually.

The bomb was sand filled and doctor whose garden it dropped into was the unit medical officer and popular honorary member of the officers' mess, so it was all settled over a drink and he dined out on the story for many years.

I had rewired part at the aircraft bombing system and I mistook a faded green wire for a faded blue one! ''

As tje bomber, a Lincoln developed from the Lancaster, nearer the target, which is the range at Luce Bay in Scotland the pilot opened the bomb doors, the bomb aimer fired up the system and a bomb fell off? Oh dear!

The rocket was a little more dangerous although it was still a practise weapon with a concrete head.

In a rush to make a range slot I omitted ja vital safety step and when the system was tested, which should not have been done with the Rockets loaded one went off, straight across the runway like the ones you see being fired towards trains from Typhoons in those newsreel films from the end of the world.

It went straight across the nose I might be O AC flight just taking off for London.

I believe things are a little stricter now, I hope so anyway!

In my defence I was very young and only just out of training!

[vannin]

Laurie, thank you so much for sharing this. I am smiling and thankful that there was not a catastrophe!
Keep more stories coming!

[laurie53]

Well I did lose 1/4 a million rounds a pistol ammunition when I was in Ireland during the troubles; but again all was well that ended well, though my pension looked a bit shaky for a while!

[vannin]

Maybe it was nicked by the IRA?

[laurie53]

Maybe it was nicked by the IRA?

Obviously that was the immediate suspicion.

It would have made a hell of a difference the province's security situation if PIRA had got hold of it.

That was why I had to do frequent checks and why there was such a panic when I could not locate it.

I doubt if the amnesty would have applied to me and I'd probably still be inside.

[vannin]

Very glad indeed you retained your freedom!

[laurie53]

I'd deserved to lose my liberty if 10,000 or more British security forces had died.

[vannin]

I really enjoy your sense of humour but realise this episode, and also the bomb incident you related, must have affected you with great fear at the time. Like "What could happen? Who knows about this? Court martial?"

How long were you in Ulster and what was the situation like with the hostile public? Did you have to break up sectarian violence at the barriers where the two 'sects' lived on opposite sides of the street?

Or more to the point, did you try to push the nightmare realities out of your mind and hope to avoid being interrogated by some nosy ould biddy on a computer forum, decades later? Sorry to be keeping on and I truly appreciate all your interesting posts. Thank you for sharing Ulster with us.

[laurie53]

There's a difference between being nosy and curious.

If you don't ask, you'll never find out.

I'm one of those fortunate people who is able to compartmentalise most things
and move on.

I've no idea what posttraumatic stress disorder must be like. It wasn't fashionable when I was doing these things. A drink and a girl takes the edge off, particularly if the girl is a special sort of wife who knows when to maintain a silence and when to gently coax and bring things out.

Most of it you move on from, but some things stick.

Two dogs fighting over the arm of a little girl in a pretty pink dress when I was on disaster relief work. A young woman offering to degrade herself in anyway I wanted in return for a tea spoonful of skimmed milk powder for her baby (I had none, that haunts me the most).

Those things tend to stick.

Court martial is always an option, particularly if it's been loss of life or life changing injury but mostly is the career affecting annual report which is more in your mind for most of your service ("This NCO does not suffer fools gladly, as I know from personal experience. I took that as a great compliment!")

An honest boss looks beyond the bare facts try to ascertain what made it happen. A career officer will blame you or anybody else as long as it doesn't reflect on their own incompetent management!

It's not all disasters!

At the time of the Falklands I was in Norfolk and sent for, by name, by the Commandant of the Aeroplane & Armament Experimental Establishment in Wiltshire, and was told to be there within three hours.

That was on the Monday.

The War Cabinet did not meet until the Tuesday, so my country wanted me in place before the War Cabinet.

I'm quietly proud of that, though I haven't told many people.

[vannin]

Laurie, you are so right about PTSD not being 'known about' till fairly recently. At the time of the two world wars, I suppose the condition was covered by the phrases 'battle fatigue' or 'shell shock'. It was so wrong for men who deserted for these reasons, to be executed. Heartbreaking.

I used to hear a lot about deserters in the early sixties. I lived in central London for five years and went out with a lance-corporal at the RMP Kensington Church St barracks, near where I lived. I only knew him for a few months before he was posted to Hong Kong, made up to Corporal and did a training course for Special Investigations Unit. When we met up with his mates in the coffee bars, it was all about the poor devils they had brought in from (usually) Waterloo stn. 'I got 'im in a half-nelson' was spoken by my pal. I never heard from him after the posting, but was not too upset. He had signed on for 22 years, I was only nineteen and would have made a terrible army wife!

That poor little girl you saw and the poor woman who asked for your help. That was a devastating time.

Get you, being summoned by name during the Falklands!! You are right to feel proud.
Thank you again for sharing army experiences with us. You could have written a book but I can imagine which incidents would need to have remained private!

[laurie53]

My stories are not a lot different from 10,000 others.

I was rarely alone and there were plenty of mates to share the problems.

Now they lock themselves in their private rooms and brood, too often with tragic results.

I don't remember any suicides when we lived in twenty man rooms,

[vannin]

Hi again Laurie. You see, it was not difficult to start spending more time on the forum! It was fast becoming more of a 'quorum'. I hope you had a good weekend and that it was cool enough for you!

I have another question, or two, to ask, non-military topics. I can't remember whether you said you live in Scotland and were born in Wales, or the other way round?

Do you have any plans for spending Christmas with company? I am expecting the kind of quiet Christmas weekend which involves having two adults and a 13-year-old, just from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day. A rewarding part of this arrangement is handing the kitchen over to my son-in- law to cook the Christmas meal. At their home in London he does all the cooking except baking which my daughter does.

Last year she was working through, but they came on a mid-December weekend instead and we celebrated an early one. Two sets of neighbours were so caring on the seasonal days, they brought me servings of their special dinner, so I had one for the 25th and the other for the 26th! I was quite blown away by their kindness, I have lived here 54 years and the other houses have changed hands a few times. There was certainly friendship already among us but I was very moved by the thoughtfulness.

[laurie53]

Born in Wales, live in Scotland, with one or two stops in the intervening 80 odd years, including some even in England, not an experience I care to repeat!

As for spending more time here, even a short post such as this has already taken 9 minutes so far and by the time I finish it, sign off and read the rest of the new posts it might be 20 minutes or half an hour I've spent here!

Do I hear cries of "Get a life!"

Just for the record it's now 17 minutes

[vannin]

No, I have never said 'Get a life' to anyone, and never will, because I know it can be hurtful when not used merely as a modern 'throwaway line'.
Well done, I never expected such lengthy posts which must have taken you hours, and we continue to appreciate but we do not want you to give up those hours. I don't type speedily myself!