And so it continues, we shared a camp in Osnabrück with
25 Engineer Regt (armoured) whose day job was digging, wrecking & building stuff at the front hence the armoured vehicles, the
"Wedge heads", tended to lose bits of themselves or get them squished due to sticking them where they shouldn't, like fingers in a hole for locking pins on a bridge or sticking their heads under said construction & getting it "wedged".
Alongside the above lot was
4th Fd Regt RA,
"Gun bunnies, Drop shots, 5 mile snipers" or as we affectionately named them
"Ivys" well what did they expect after using IV instead of 4 in their unit designation?
There was also a detatchment of
"Monkeys" 115 Provost coy RMP, mates of the GCP or the Friday/Saturday night pick up service, skint, spent all your money on beer & brattys? Simply kick up a ruckus & the landlord or GCP would call your local neighbourhood monkey unit who'd be along in about 5 minutes, a little bit of friendly coshing & it was "Into the back of the wagon son!".
A short ride home (sometimes sharing the cab) & put up for the night in their "Minimalistic accommodation" (Not me yer 'onour!). Admittedly the CO wasn't exactly delighted with the phone call the following morning informing him that they had "One of yours!", spending some quality time being the local Police dogs squeaky toy & they could always take the Dog to the vets afterwards.
Then there was our crowd
2 Armd Fd Amb,
"Snakes" in the main, but with an LAD Det of
"Spanner monkeys" REME a
"Rag & Shag, Blanket stacker" RAOC bod & all these folk dependent on us
"Troggs" to cart them round Germany. We always maintained we were attached & not actually part of the Snake Pit, which for some reason tended to annoy the Medic CO &
"Badge Boy" RSM.
Fridays being "POETS" day (Pish off early tomorrows Saturday) The resident Troglodytes would gather in the "Mongoose Room" break out the ale supplied by Volunteers (the muppets who'd screwed up through the week payed their fines In "Yellow Handbags" 1 or more 10er cases of Herforder Pils *other beers were available*
dependent on their folly). The
"Knacker of the Week" nominees were presented & voted on by "Cheerometer" & the preceeding weeks winner would hand over his "Medal" to his sucessor, then there'd be a meet, greet & Goodbye bit. After about an hour & a half of this, we'd then form up in a smart & soldierly like manner & march off to the Unit bar, there to mingle with the other Riffy raffy types & be informed as to the happenings in "The bigger picture".
Some of the lads nicknames I remember were
"Admiral" a
full screw (Cpl) transferred across from the RN because every time he went on one of their boats he'd get sea sick, Tony
"Tripod" Hughes (well that's what he claimed anyway), Shawn
"Legs" Reynolds 6ft 6" or so, Andy
"Stan" Matthews, Cpl
"Squigg" Willoughby (I really do not know & never asked), Capt
"Shirley Temple" Stableford (curly blonde locks & apparently he liked lolipops???), Capt Dick
"Ludicrous" Luddiker & an RCT Sgt who ended up being called
"Pedro" because of his looks.