Op Banner photos - some memories for the old and bold

[pimpernel]

If they do another round of Defence cuts the direction of travel will have been 3RRF gone, 2 RRF gone, 1RRF becoming part of what will surely be called the English Regiment.

But there will be a hackle on someone's office door somewhere for a few years to come!

 

[Stonker]

If they do another round of Defence cuts the direction of travel will have been 3RRF gone, 2 RRF gone, 1RRF becoming part of what will surely be called The Rifles

Revised to reflect actual direction of travel.

It always seemed to me that RRF were The English Regiment, given the geographic coverage of the inherited recruitment areas.

On the other hand, given that the wegiment failed to produce a single officer at 2-Star or higher in the decades between JC Reilly in the early 1980s, and wotsisname at Sandhurst a coupla years ago, it should come as no surprise that it didn't go that way.

 

[MDWUBU]

Revised to reflect actual direction of travel.

It always seemed to me that RRF were The English Regiment, given the geographic coverage of the inherited recruitment areas.

On the other hand, given that the wegiment failed to produce a single officer at 2-Star or higher in the decades between JC Reilly in the early 1980s, and wotsisname at Sandhurst a coupla years ago, it should come as no surprise that it didn't go that way.

You are correct it is the Quintessential English Regiment.

 

[Stonker]

You are correct it was the Quintessential English Regiment.

Now it's just the Forst Battalion.

 

[greenbaggyskin]

Wah/
Doesn't someone have to be dead to be spinning in their grave?
/Wah

It's one of those rare things, unknown in many circles and in some others (Like yours I suspect) neither recognised nor understood.

It's known as a flippin' joke you nugget, based on the contradictory nature of the two main conditions within it.

A bit like:

"What time of the night do you call this in the morning?"

"You three are a right pair!"

"Whose coat is this jacket?"

"My trade is RD."

 

[Fang_Farrier]

His little brother was a Pl Comd under me in 2RRF. Again, top bloke

First initials GG.
Was at school with him, lost touch since.
Used to wear a hackle on his ToS at cadets.

 

[MDWUBU]

It's one of those rare things, unknown in many circles and in some others (Like yours I suspect) neither recognised nor understood.

It's known as a flippin' joke you nugget, based on the contradictory nature of the two main conditions within it.

A bit like:

"What time of the night do you call this in the morning?"

"You three are a right pair!"

"Whose coat is this jacket?"

"My trade is RD."

You got me there. Feeling a bit stupid. It's Dejavu all over again.

 

[FourZeroCharlie]

How far out of order are you planning to get, just out of interest?

Nope, I'm going to leave it there.

. . . only when I read a potted personal history with (I believe) more holes in it than a docker's string vest, I feel the urge to comment.

Anyway, moving on . . .

 

[LeoRoverman]

that RRF were The English Regiment,

Is that why they took certain hits?

 

[LeoRoverman]

You are correct it is the Quintessential English Regiment.

and we can't have that, good god.

 

[Stonker]

First initials GG.
Was at school with him, lost touch since.
Used to wear a hackle on his ToS at cadets.

Google will quickly find him: he's a bursar now, at some posh jock skule.

 

[Stonker]

Is that why they took certain hits?

I'm not at all clear what you mean, but I suspect I've already answered the question. The Mafia (Rifles) prosper on the back of breeding successive generations of Generals. Capbadges like RRF only turning out one in 4 decades are very vulnerable when the capbadge politicking starts.

 

[LeoRoverman]

I'm not at all clear what you mean, but I suspect I've already answered the question. The Mafia (Rifles) prosper on the back of breeding successive generations of Generals. Capbadges like RRF only turning out one in 4 decades are very vulnerable when the capbadge politicking starts.

I'm sure the answer you've given viz Mafia rifles very much answers my question. In my own department there was also a Mafia and it tended to be Scots and very much (in the right circumstances) a brotherhood. You see there is a corollary to the argument about producing Generals, Generals very much like senior CS are created very much to serve a need and in todays world, it's very much about specialisms. No one doubts the need to change but our current second cold war being fought now, is very much about money, not soldiers and in the future I can see a largish Navy a largish RAF and a rather specialist army, No Highlands. Welsh or Irish-let alone English Boots cos it ain't boots on the ground that matter much any more, it's about who's bought us. That's how the Russians and the Chinese have worked.
But on a rather more prosaic concept, there is the NI, the Scots and the Welsh and the UK so the army could be rather more of an opportunity for them whilst the English make the money.

 

[Kinch]

But on a rather more prosaic concept, there is the NI, the Scots and the Welsh and the UK so the army could be rather more of an opportunity for them whilst the English make the money.

Rather like the evolution from the 1st Division to the Premier league. It will save a few quid on cam cream eventually as the opportunities for provincials declines........ (better stick a funny in )

 

[Paulpot]

Hi all, my first post. I was doing some research for a general knowledge quiz today and this came up - Op Flavius, 6 Mar 88. I was a young LCpl in Belfast, unaware (as we all were) of the shit storm about to be released.

 

[ugly]

Hi all, my first post. I was doing some research for a general knowledge quiz today and this came up - Op Flavius, 6 Mar 88. I was a young LCpl in Belfast, unaware (as we all were) of the shit storm about to be released.

Send key settings over

 

[Paulpot]

Send key settings over

Sorry, I thought the Op name was pretty well known - it was the op name of the SAS operation against the 3 PIRA players, vSavage, McCann and Farrell. The fallout was Stones attack at the cemetery and the murder of Howes and Woods.

 

[AlienFTM]

Send key settings over

He was in NI when THEY (who were on The Balcony) were in Gibraltar after Them (those who haven't gone away, you know).

THEY slotted Them, who were planning to bomb Us, and there followed a sh¡tstorm of Them (The latter) shooting Us at a funeral, and the other Them, who support a different God but the same God, bombing Them at another funeral (The first Them, but not THEM).

Roger so far over?

 

[Whiskybreath]

He was in NI when THEY (who were on The Balcony) were in Gibraltar after Them (those who haven't gone away, you know).

THEY slotted Them, who were planning to bomb Us, and there followed a sh¡tstorm of Them (The latter) shooting Us at a funeral, and the other Them, who support a different God but the same God, bombing Them at another funeral (The first Them, but not THEM).

Roger so far over?

You've written some SITREPs in your time; I can tell.

 

[ugly]

Sorry, I thought the Op name was pretty well known - it was the op name of the SAS operation against the 3 PIRA players, vSavage, McCann and Farrell. The fallout was Stones attack at the cemetery and the murder of Howes and Woods.

Sorry some of us were busy on Banner at the time