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Humour in Uniform.

Ray Barrett

Ray Barrett

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN R.I.P.
At the end of 1956,the British Army was preparing for the Suez fiasco.
We were busily painting everything sand yellow,(apparently for desert warfare:() so I could not resist asking the R.S.M."what are we going to do if Nasser paints all his sand green ?".
Does anyone remember why we stencilled a large white "H" on every vehicle ? I can't remember.:rolleyes:
 
Lol I think humour is what makes all three armed services so special.

Just before sailing one of my RS's turned to one of the new baby RO's and said ''go up to the NAFFI and get me 40 B&H''

''What if they haven't got any?'' asked the eager baby sailor

''Get me something else'' snapped the busy RS

A few minutes later the ship closed up to leave harbour and it was almost a hour later when the RS next saw the young RO. ''Did you get my B&H?'' asked the RS ''They hadn't got any'' Said the young lad ''so I got you a pork pie'' The MCO erupted in to roars of laughter, whilst the RS turned a delicate shade of crimson
 
Just caught up with this thread, and Ray Barrett's comments reminded me of a similar incident.
Again late 1956, while at 22 Coy. RASC we were ordered to paint all our vehicles sand yellow, (Can't remember painting any letters on) ready to go to Suez.
A week later we had to paint them all green again.
What a waste of paint.
Good days though.
 
Bielefeld Germany 1961. I walked into coy office to see if i had any mail. A young lad who had just joined the unit was standing to attention in front of a Sgt. who said "am i hurting you laddie? No Sgt. was the reply. "Well i should be, i`m standing on your hair, GET IT CUT!! " As the lad turned to leave, the Sgt. said to him, " i`m not finished with you yet laddie, get up on that table & clean those windows" As the very flusterred young lad was about to clamber onto the table the Sgt said to him, "what do you think you`re doing climbing up there without any safety equipment, get down to the QM & ask for a short fall parachute" I`m sure the young lad knew he was being `had` but he was so flusterred he went along with it. I reckon the only qualification you needed to be a senior nco was the ability to be a comedian & take the p..s
 
Our battalion was ordered into Londonderry in late 69, and they had to paint all the vehicles from "Aden" which were sand coloured green, with Brigade Flash's, the very early "Internal Security Kit" was also a relic of Aden and the half shields with a Perspex top were yellow, with Arabic writing which said "Armed Troops" on them. I often wondered what the Irish passers by thought.
 
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