Arrogant, ignorant and not Royal.

[flo]

Apology gratiously accepted.
You are lucky that you live on a patch where people do help out, and i am talking from experience. When we arrived here if you were part of 21 reg then you only spoke to 21 Reg, the same went for the Duke of Boots wifes, they would not talk to you if you were not part of their regiment. As I am the only Royal Marine wife out here it has been very hard as no- one except my german next door neighbour makes the effort, despite my husband and myself throwing the all important getting to know you barbeque. Even the families officer is not interested if i ask any questions his reply is, 'well girl your with the army now' . I have made the effort to the 'Wives club' which resulted in questions not greetings. Felt welcome .......No , I have lived on Naval estates and the welcome was phenominal, like Loz said biccies and tea even a meal for the kids while we unpacked. This is my eighth married patch and i hav e been sad to leave every one of them, but if they said to jed tomorrow would you like a draft back to the Uk I would divorce him if he said no. So in the meantime I am drinking myself stupid with Cheap Naffi Korn and duty free vodka until this three year stint is up and then i can move back to taunton with a cider nose to match.
Im not saying your a bad lad (even if you army...JOKE) but we are all entitled to a drip session and trust me the moment deserved one.

fiona

[Dave.Mil]

Flo
21 what if you don't mind me asking? I know if you were attached to a RAC regiment you would not have had the treatment you've had. Two of my mates have been families Nco's and they worked serious hours when the lads were away. The families officer needs a good kick in the gonads by the sound of it. I know it's difficult not to tar everybody with the same brush when it seems like the whole world is against you but there are tossers in every walk of life unfortunately you seem to have landed in amongst the Armies quota Drink is the only answer Keep your chin up.

[Cliodna]

Cav-Lad,
as Flo says, you are very lucky to live on an Army patch where you all muck in together.
Here where I live, the wives are even worse than the blokes...even at family do's on the camp. Its always "What rank is your husband?" or "what is your husband?" and you will never be spoken to if you don't fit in with their preconceived ideas.
I'm so glad I no longer have to endure living on the patch

Perhaps one day you will know the crap that Flo, me and many others like us have had to endure, when you live on a patch where you are an untouchable because you are not of a particular unit, regiment or Corps.
Perhaps once you and your wife have had a similar experience, you will be able to share in our disdain for that element of Perce.
Oh, and I too am proud of having served in the Army, but I am also proud that I can claim to being a member of the Royal Marine family and the cameraderie and comradeship that being part of that also brings.

[flo]

21 Engineer reg Reme.

Cheers Dave but ive got to keep my chin up .....if i dont, i'll spill my vodka

[Dave.Mil]

Flo

I'm well and truly gobsmacked I did a course with 21 Engr and they were good blokes I can only assume they have left all the dead legs on rear party. Then again I was a singlie and only working with them.

Cliodna

Its always "What rank is your husband?" or "what is your husband?"

Thats the one thing that is very true about the Army luckily not to bad in my old regt 14/20th Kings Hussars before we amalgamated and that really used to p*** off my missus.

Until one of your neighbours proves differently I(an ex pongo) think you are fully entitled in your(Royals) forum to call them what you want.

[Cav-Lad]

Flo and Clionda.
No hard feelings.
There's good and bad in all walks of life. At the end of the day it all depends on the attitude of the Regiment and the Families Officer and NCO. Maybe the Navy as a better policy for families which makes life better for you all.
The estate I live on as families asociated with just two Regiments so everyone knows each other through the Regiments. But there are some estates ie Catterick, Tidworth to name a few that contain families from many,many different units. And maybe this does leed to a clicky atmosphere. If the husbands are sticking to there own side, then so will the wifes.
But there is one rule that is abided to quite well i've noticed. The Rank stays at work.

Anyway all the best.
Cav-Lad

[Cliodna]

Flo and Clionda.
No hard feelings.

Absolutely mate,
none taken.

[bootneck]

and on a lighter note, the use of :fadein: 0X these little babies helps to show some type of emotion on the way what has been said is understood.....if that makes sense ?

[Doc]

So is the swing up yet ?? on tender hooks here

runs to don kevlar and get my jabs upto date incase theres a backlash!

[Shoulderholster]

Cav Lad,may I refer you to your post in the Op Fresco 2 thread.
Its a good job I didn't take offence to your sweeping generalisation.On my station out of 28 blokes.There 1 ex Para,1 ex Bootneck,1 ex Bomb Disposal,2 ex Matelots.Between us we have 3 GSMs,2 SAMs,and the NATO Bosnia medal.
We live in the real world,so stop being so bloody sensitive.

SH

[Cav-Lad]

Yes, OK I accept that. It was wrong to say that Fire-fighters don't live in the real world, Of course they do, and they do a very worth while job. But you must admit your demands for the first strike were well out of order, you can't expect a 40% pay rise. And what I heard that the reason the Fire-fighters in Manchester went on strike was because they would not use a new bit of kit unless they got paid more money. And my argument was we all get asked to do a bit extra now and then, you just have to get on with it. But now I've learned that there's more to it than that, and if the Government have double crossed you then I support the Fire-fighters 100%. But I'm not going to start editing what I've wrote in the past because I've said it now.

As for being sensitive, I admit I speak or in this case type before I think. And I do regret now having a go at Flo, because I took her comment the wrong way. But I've said it now and that's that.
It's just that I get really angry when arrogant people on this site look down there nose's and make stupid, unfounded comments about the Army. P~ss taking, and constructive criticism yes by all means. But people who think there better than everyone really gets to me.

[BenChug]

Its always "What rank is your husband?" or "what is your husband?"

Someone needs to remind these ladies that they don't wear their hubbys rank. Thats the benefit of bases in Canada although they are in quite crappy places except Gagetown and Edmonton, biggest base only sits with 2 battalions in it and a armoured regiment.

[flo]

With regards to wives wearing rank on their handbag, when myself and Jed first got married i made the effort to visit the local hive(help information volunteer exchange). I was asked down by my next door neightbour who was a Sgts wife, when we arrived at the HIVE we were greeted very nicely by a woman who worked there. She recognised my neighbour but then asked me who I was, my reply was Fiona she then said in a school maam manner ( no offence to school maams) 'no dearie who is your husband?'. Being quite nieve i replied he is a marine, she then asked what rank. I told her again that he was a marine. At this point she said to my neighbour please make yourway upstairs and then told me to go into a different room. I pointed out to her that we came together and her reply was sorry love but we mix in different circles. At this point i lost my temper (slightly) and informed her that if the Hive was rank orrientated which i was not, then perhaps she should know that i was a petty officer in the royal navy. Oh said she - F**k off said I and promptly about turned and stomped off.

Never did get my coffee

In my years on married patches i have noticed things have changed but it is still the Old school wifes that ask the question.

As a wife i respect who i am and those around me regardless of rank, religion, race. But yes there is still a problem with the question of 'whats your husband.' and unfortunately it will always be like that on married patches, but one reason for that could be that it is an opening to make conversation....either that or just nosey b***ers.

[Andy O'Pray]

Staying with the thread, which is most unusual for me. When in Singapore we lived on a married patch surrounded by pongo families from all sorts of Corps and regiments.

As sure as God made little apples, when I was up the ulu, or elsewhere things would go pear shaped at home. One day the wife was trying to get rid of a snake out of the house by poking it with an umbrella, to no avail. She went to our next door neighbour, John, REME I think, had just returned from work. John came into the house with his machette and told the wife to take the kids out of the I'M A SCAMMER SPAMMER!!! and close the door. After a bit of banging and shouting John emerged from the I'M A SCAMMER SPAMMER!!! with a chopped up cobra.

On another occasions my wife and kids returned home to find that the beautiful flowering vine, which covered our fence and car porch, was covered with munching locust. In a panic she went to another neighbour, Int Corps I believe. He spent about three hours cutting away the vine and getting rid of the vine and the locusts.

On the other side, when I was lying in RNH Plymouth after being wounded in NI. My wife and kids lived in MQs in Plympton. My wife who was unable to drive at that time had to bus it with two small children to visit me. Not once did anyone offer her a lift into the hospital.

Aye - Andy.

[El Prez]

Flo, whilst in Numbnutswich last weekend Stix kept telling the assembled Gronks that he was a Lesbian. Now I'd like to see Madam Stix explain that one away to the MFLO.

On the subject of petty minded small worlds, which every single base appears to be, how about the Parry method.
Arriving at various locations as the only Royal, keep smiling, even when openly being messed about. Keep going longer, faster and better than your new 'friends' and 'comrades'. Ensure that everything you do is immaculately organised and turned out, just be better than them, it's not difficult, they're chuffing pongos.
Keep a mental log of every sideways look/comment or attempted wrong-footing.

Get even, not mad. mad doesn't work, getting even is sooooooooooo nice.

Start where you mean to go on. The Corporal who mis-directed you. He could probably benefit from 3 months in Norge, attached to a Bootneck unit! Nothing is impossible, get Jed working on it, call it cross training, or career advancement. (just bear in mind the joy with which his wife will greet him, not) Failing that a month of extra duties should cool his enthusiasm for fun at your expense. Be creative, and go for it.
Remember to tally these little slights up in your head, and get even girl.