hello people im back !!

[tin4tin]

naffi only on weekends i want eod and 59 so got to get fit for 59 first

[GD]

I used to have a CO from 59 - many years ago now. Super guy he was. Hard as nails but a real gent. Like most engineers.

[tin4tin]

my original troop sgt from basic was 59 had a death stare everytime he looked at you. got the upmost respect for him tho taught me everything i know so far and always was helping us when we needed it or giving us a kick up the ass when we needed it

[GD]

You think you had it tough? Let me tell you sonny, when I was at RAC Trg Regt in Catterick there were some nights when the wine with dinner hadn't been chilled for long enough - AND my troop sgt was late with my morning coffee on at least three ocassions during the six months I was there.

No way to treat recruits.

[tin4tin]

at atr lichfield its totally different if your in 28 sqn you got it tought thats where i started off untill i done my ankle in then went into c sqn and it was like a holiday camp after before. was there for 4 weeks and didnt get beasted once. so what reg were you in then GD ? i take it you werent a rupert

[Doc]

tintin PM me who your 59 stripey was.

I was 59's medic for 3 years.

Good unit if you like dangly parasmocks, funny shaped berets, sidies from hell and one hell of a good craic.

highly recommend it, but get your skates on as 59 is about to become a regiment and Im sure you'd rather be old school than a newbie regt bloke.

Doc

[GD]

With us we got beasted for the first six weeks then we went into trade training and life became easier. The punishments were more unusual in trades though: carrying shells around or having a ball and chain on your leg or having to run round the tankadrome carrying a couple of radios. (C42's). Then when we entered our final phase of pre pass-off training the beasting started again.

I was originally UDR (Ops) in the 70's mate. One of the few regular rifle platoons they actually had then. after that I transferred to the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars and opted to take the full 6 month course at Catterick to be sure I was fully trained the cavalry way. After 6 years with the hussars I transferred back to the UDR into an HS rifle company and finished my time there.

I was an ossifer candidate originally mate but I foolishly thought it would be better getting some time in first before becoming commissioned. I should have listened to myself instead of my mates.

[tin4tin]

highly recommend it, but get your skates on as 59 is about to become a regiment and Im sure you'd rather be old school than a newbie regt bloke.

Doc

im gonna go for 59 first as im fit enough already except for the swimming so i have some time to work on that first. so when i go to phase 2 im gonna put in for 59 straight away and hope i get there before it turns into a regiment just unsure when that is tho?

[tin4tin]

i never took any notice of the beasting except the time we had to mark time for 25 mins in the corridoor that was horrible that was week 9 aswell so much for easing off after 6 weeks. to be honest after about a week i just used to think that the beastings are getting you fitter and started to enjoy them. i really enjoyed basic and im glad i decided to stick with it through my injury coz i was offered an md straight away by the smo.

[GD]

That's what beastings are for. To make you fitter and make you realise you have to 'play the game'. If someone doesn't fit in after weeks of trainign and beasting they'll get chucked out as 'unsuitable'. That's even more likely these days than it was in my time.

[tin4tin]

yeah seen it happen in other troops but luckily didnt need to do that with any of our troop out of 41 i was the only one not to pass out with them so that just shows how good our training staff are seen about 25 ufas in 2 troops so its not uncommon nowadays

[GD]

We had 44 to start with but some of them were AAC, who did their basics with us before going to Middle Wallop or some other bubble washer joint. We lost one or two who couldn't be without their mammy, one through injury and one who was backsquadded. Then we got three from the household to do trade training and I think we finished up passing out with 35 on parade.

[tin4tin]

what was it like being a tanky then cause that was one of my job choices

[Doc]

After school and before the RN I spent a brief spell of madness and no showers in the JLR RAC at Bovi. AAC, RAC, all sorts of weird coloured berets and sizes of trousers!

3 Months later I had transfered to the RN, good move!

14 months later I was back in green kit, 12 months even later on I was back with perc! Good perc though that say wet not brew and galley not cookhouse. Educated pongos you see

GD Bovi is a toilet but them tank routes are killers for BFT! I was junior RMP and when naughty we had to run to Monkey World and back! about 2-ish miles I think from Bovi T-Junction and the RAC full screw had delight in shouting Monkies go home and back!

As the rest of the parade were black or blue berets the RMP were put at the back and on the flanks of each sqn on parade as brake lights!!

JLR is no longer and a shame I say, even though I binned it, it did me wonders in the RN as I was always one step ahead (well you tend do with matelots behind you! ) and Royal were happy they didnt have to teach me how to put trouser elastics on!

[GD]

Good craic for sure but it didn't require the level of physical fitness you're going for so it suited a lazy bugger like me (except on BFT days).

It was a cold life in the winter but I understand they have heaters in them now.

Ultimately it was a good choice for me because I enjoyed the trades, the cut and thrust of being in a sabre troop and most of all I had a lot of pride in the unit because it had a very rich and succesful history.

I know you guys will call us all tankies because we were in tanks but in the RAC 'tankies' are from the 'Royal Tank Regiment'. The rest of us are cavalry. The Yanks call us 'armoured cavalry' a parlance that is being used over here now.

If you meet up with some cavalry unit make sure you don't call them tankies because they don't like it. RTR was only formed in 1917 (or close to then). Most cavalry regiments trace their lineage back to the 17th century or before then - some precede the new model army.