OT The ATC

I assumed he was channelling Bear.

 

what's so bizarre about nicking ammunition?

 

bad news for everyone!

 

I look back on some of the stunts we pulled and wonder how the **** we
got away with it but at the time it just seemed normal. Everything was
done on the work hard, play hard basis and because we were earning a
lot of money playing hard was easy iyswim.

 

Heh. Well, if it settles in shallow water with compartments intact,
you have a chance of getting the poor bastards out. The Russians
didn't manage it with the Kursk, mind you. Fucked the job up properly,
they did.

 

I know what your point really was. I just chose to play it with a
straight bat.

 

Not really. This programme gets you to the level of fitness needed for
the Paras (I assume Marines aren't that different):

Wk no Day Run (in training shoes) Daily Exercise
1 Mon-Fri 20 Minutes Daily 15 Press Ups
Sat Rest Day 15 Sit Ups
Sun 2 Miles in 16 minutes 5 Underarm Heaves

2 Mon-Thus 3-Miles Daily 20 Press Ups
Fri 2 Miles in 15 minutes 20 Sit Ups
Sat Rest Day 7 Underarm Heaves
Sun 3 Miles in 25 minutes

3 Mon-Fri 4-Miles Daily 25 Press Ups
Sat Rest Day 25 Sit Ups
Sun 4 Miles in 35 Minutes 9 Heaves

4 Mon-Fri 5-Miles Daily 30 Press Ups
Sat Rest Day 30 Sit Ups
Sun 5 Miles in 45 minutes 10 Heaves

If this programme is followed you should be capable of passing the
PRAC physical assessment. So get training now!

http://www.army.mod.uk/para/recruitment.htm

 

That some bod at Head Office wouldn't think twice about supplying extra
ammo for shooting at the locals, yet gets humpty about target practice.

That bizarre enough?

--
Dave
GS850x2 XS650 SE6a

Teach a man to fish and he and his pikey mates will have the
river cleaned out in a day.

 

many of us where, even until recently when I gave up.

I'm unsure as to how long your daughter has been with the ATC, or
where abouts you are. They do fire live rounds under strict
supervision as part of the initial training. You can request that she
doesn't take part in it & that must be taken into consideration. How
does she feel about it as the ATC was set up years ago to provide the
RAF and other services with trainees (very very basically put there)
and many young people who want ot eventually join the RAF etc join the
ATC first as a good way to get an early involvement in the military
life. If she does want to go down that route, then she will be in
situation in future where she will need to fire a weapon, whether in
training or aggression - if she doesn't want to join the military, and
you're not happy with her firing live rounds (which is a normal part
of ATC life) then she needs to look at another organisation. Although
the RAF today runs many peace-keeping & humanitarian missions
throughout the world, its role is still predominantly 'Defence of the
Realm' and real life dangers that come with that.

Is that what she wants though? I remember having a chat with my Mum
just before I started my Initial Officer training back in (ouch) 1991,
the Gulf war was on & she wasn't happy about my joining up. But as it
was a lifelong ambition & I'd never wanted to do anything else & did
know the risks, she supported me 100%. I'm lucky with my Mum (don't
think she'd ever believe me tho ;-))

Anyway, enough rambling, I left the RAF some time ago & the ATC
recently & finally the other half is also leaving in a couple of years
(Senior Engineering Officer at the mo) so I'm now out of it all - but
I had a great time as a Cadet, Officer & Staff, so if you can let her
stay, I'm pretty certain she'll enjoy it

 

On Fri, 7 Sep 2007 13:18:42 +0100, Phil Launchbury

massive snips to get to the bits I'm interested in

There's a question about how this works in the public sector but I'm
not sure where to begin.

<raises eyebrow> Would sir like to wind that generalisation in please?

 

First session last night.

She's old enough and bright enough to make that decision for herself.

She's joined because the lad she fancies goes, I don't think any
forward thinking has gone into it. However she enjoyed her first
sesion, we'll see how it goes. I thought she'd baulk at the 'being
told what to do at volume' element but we talked about it and it
hasn't phased her.

I was surprised.

See reasons above, we'll see how it pans out.

Heh. I'm lucky with my daughter, of course the bugger is you bring
them up to think for themselves and then they do

Oh I'll support her in what she wants to do, just making sure I have
the knowledge to have a reasoned discussion.

 

Well yeah that shouldn't trouble anyone with any pretence at fitness,
but it looks like that's the suggested minimum for even being allowed
to start the course. I also can't tell from the context but it looks
like it might only apply to 16-year-olds.

 

Twas my feeble attempt at sarcasm miss. Sorry miss..

Phil

 

Up to 27 years old.

 

To a point. Need to know still applies but they do expect Marines to
be empowered rather more than the nornal army infantry.

 

I had a similar problem with RAF authority, and ultimately that was
(mainly) why I didn't stay longer. SD and I were both POM (potential
officer material) but in the meantime while we got experience we were
subject to being told what to do by everyone and his dog. I had one
particularly rancourous discussion with a jumped up junior NCO when
the training programme for the weekend had fallen by the wayside
*again* and she'd told me to do something particularly meaningless to
fill in the time. Resulting conversation was something like:

JUJNCO: No, don't argue, just do <whatever it was>. You *have* to
respect me!
AW: No, I *have* to obey your orders but there's nothing in QR that
says I have to respect you and I have to tell you that the chances
that I ever will are looking increasingly remote.

I left shortly after that, much to my mother's lack of surprise, as
she said something like "well, you never were any good at doing as you
were told".

 

That's for an "insight weekend" rather than the PRAC thing you
referred to, which appears to be a foundation year for 16 year olds...
though what's the point as you appear to be "just trolling".