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2 PARA in 1984

All three battalions were based in Aldershot from 1950 when 16 Parachute Brigade moved from Germany until 1959 when 2 Para moved to Cyprus on an accompanied tour
From 1961 when 2 Para returned from a 2 year tour of Cyprus there were 3 Para battalions in role in 16 Para Bde based in Aldershot. In 1968 it was decided that there would only be one 2 battalions in role with 1 taking part in the normal arms plot. A line infantry battalion joined 16 Para Bde in 1968, with 3 Para going to Malta on a two year accompanied tour.

Great post, which leads me to several questions.

When were Montgomery Lines and Browning Barracks built?

I'm guessing 16 Parachute Brigade and the Airborne Forces Depot were located at Maida Barracks in Aldershot prior. That must have been a very large complex. Was Maida Barracks broken down into individual blocks for each unit within the Brigade?

Finally, which line battalion was assigned to the Brigade in 1968, and were they moved into Montgomery Lines?

Cheers,
Dan.
 
When were Montgomery Lines and Browning Barracks built?
I think they were completed in 1968 and opened by Monty himself. I have no idea if a line battalion moved in. The first time a line battalion moved into Aldershot in Montgomery Lines was about 1977 when 1 RRW moved there from Berlin. I have no idea about Maida Barracks. Not even Arrsers are that old.
 
Lots of Aldershot camps were 1960s concrete block types. Including Buller and St Omer.
I’m sure it’s all very different now. I know the St Omer Tower was demolished about ten years ago.
I remember speaking to someone who said they always felt a tad depressed coming back to Aldershot on a Sunday evening, seeing the red light on top of the St Omar tower block, it could be seen from quite a way off.
 
Lots of Aldershot camps were 1960s concrete block types. Including Buller and St Omer.
I’m sure it’s all very different now. I know the St Omer Tower was demolished about ten years ago.
I remember speaking to someone who said they always felt a tad depressed coming back to Aldershot on a Sunday evening, seeing the red light on top of the St Omar tower block, it could be seen from quite a way off.
It was all East German housing estate chic which was all the fashion then. Pre fabricated concrete which was cheap and easy to make and construct. Lots of the big tower blocks built in the sixties and seventies and other public building were built that way. But they were poor quality crap. Most had to be demolished as they were falling apart and new buildings put up in their place. Wembley police station in NW London was a perfect example.
 
It must have been a disapointment for the Toms when they had to move to Connaught Barracks in Dover in 2000 after been in a brand new modern barracks.

New Normandy Barracks was excellent. I left before 2000, so I cannot comment on Connaught Barracks
 
Wasn't he (Colour Sergeant being RM) doing a CQMS job in the Company Stores of an RM Cdo. He was complaining about his kids asking him what he does at work and having to tell them he workes in a store room all day issuing things out and signing bits of paper?
No, I think he went into some sort of administrative function with a small company (I may be wrong with that), but he found himself doing a small job for small people in a small role.

He might have found his perfect job, mind; close to home, with the wife, kids and dogs around his feet., rose bushes to tend and a Vauxhall Astra. For the rest of his life.

Where's my Stanley knife and carotid?
 
No, I think he went into some sort of administrative function with a small company (I may be wrong with that), but he found himself doing a small job for small people in a small role.

He might have found his perfect job, mind; close to home, with the wife, kids and dogs around his feet., rose bushes to tend and a Vauxhall Astra. For the rest of his life.

Where's my Stanley knife and carotid?
There was one guy who was badly injured and disabled in a training accident. He was medically discharged and was subsequently very critical of the way he was treated by the Royal Marines and the help he got from the Royal Marine Association which amounted to very little. He was very supportive of the British Legion though who set him up. All the episodes were on YouTube.
 
That's incorrect; 2 PARA were in Bruneval Barracks (part of Montgomery Lines) from 1981 to 87 when they then moved to Ternhill. 3 PARA were alongside in Normandy Barracks.

Were Bruneval And Normandy Barracks basically next to each other? Was it a shared cookhouse and Naafi? Monty Lines must have been quite big...
 

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