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Op Banner photos - some memories for the old and bold

Spot on - the British armed forces have/had a long history of covert operations stretching back to the 19th century. Frank Kitson is generally credited with the adoption of the Pseudo Gang concept, but he didn't invent it: the attachment is taken from some work I have in progress.
Had a browse at your work in progress, yes we haven't learnt much and we had all that experience from the days of the big game.
When Frank was D.inf at the School of Insanity, and a very much wanted man by the 'boys over the water' he would occasionally escape from Warminster in the back of a horse box.
 
Had a browse at your work in progress, yes we haven't learnt much and we had all that experience from the days of the big game.
When Frank was D.inf at the School of Insanity, and a very much wanted man by the 'boys over the water' he would occasionally escape from Warminster in the back of a horse box.
Some of the stories from 19th Century Afghanistan of young officers blacked up as natives roaming the wilds of the 'Stans are quite hair-raising!
 
Had a browse at your work in progress, yes we haven't learnt much and we had all that experience from the days of the big game.
When Frank was D.inf at the School of Insanity, and a very much wanted man by the 'boys over the water' he would occasionally escape from Warminster in the back of a horse box.

Time for part two then: (I also believe he was given a gat for a while....a small one, but a gat nonetheless).
 

Attachments

  • British Covert Ops part 2.doc
    64.5 KB · Views: 102
A couple of photographs taken by covert patrols in South Armagh early seventies - courtesy of the Hampshires:
Sth Armagh surveillance undated.jpg
Surveillance photo South Armagh undated.jpg
 
I think what people are referring to was the Harewood Club? It was a pretty large place with several bars and a large Disco/Ballroom
So I asked Herr Professor Doktor Google about the Harewood - a name that indeed resonates. He showed me this facewipe page with many photos of a NAAFI establishment that fits the bill:
ETA - Bugger! It showed me photos but I can't do owt with them on my phone. I'll try and hack it later, from home.
 
My recollections are as follows:

I joined 2RRF in Jan 1975, straight from post-RMAS Xmas leave, staying overnight (2nd/3rd or3rd/4th Jan?) in Catterick, in the offrs Mess of the neighbouring Trg Regt RAC, before buggering off to W Belfast (do not attend NITAT, much less collect £500!) the following morning. It was closed then, and remained closed for the rest of our stint in Alma Bks (until the latter part of that year) when we left for BAOR.

It was still closed when we (2RRF) were posted back to Catterick (Bourlon Bks) in Spring[?] 1983, for me the beginning of a stint in the Garrison that lasted (I worked in Helles Bks/lived in Vimy lines in 1984-85) until 1986.

When next I set foot in Catterick (I'm not sure when that would have been, but it would almost certainly have been no earlier than 1990) the site had been re-developed.



View attachment 362033
Delete: 'Aldi' Insert: Former site of Catterick Naafi, from memory.

LINK: Google Maps

A quick blimp on Google Street View shows that Aldi has completely swallowed up what was once a short parade of small shops on that corner, as well as (IIRC) the premises that once housed the RMP offices and (mebbe a tad later) a Courts Martial Centre.
Thank you. That looks like where I remember the Post Office to be c1992 - 1994.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk
 
“Boycotting”
How apt...
I expect he has another word for when provies don’t turn up to inquiries - “feckdat” perhaps...

Well by the looks of it our ex-Guardsman friend could be in for an uncomfortable few hours in front of a High Court Judge, at the very least,over his spectacularly ill-judged advice to former servicemen, and so could any of them who take it!
 
Didn't your grown ups know they had chinstraps - you know the black shiny strap thing above the peak. The clue is in the name.

My battalion used to use them when on parade in inclement weather. Our hats stayed on...

Even the crabs figured that out FFS...
banner.jpg
Chinstraps? At a basic training pass out parade? Gad, sir. That is heresy.
 
It always alarms me a little that no-one ever seems to consult history for similar stuff that has been done before, everything seems to be relearned from scratch. In the 70's people were available who would have trained, enabled or actually taken part in activities where survival let alone success depended on you looking like a native in Occupied Europe. B20 is another example, did no-one think "Lets ask the old and bold what it was like in desert and see if they have any advice?" The unpalatable truth seems to be that things are done with the lack of what @jumpinjarhead would call grown-up supervision.
Our first tour there was in the very late 1960s and early 70s. We managed to have covert types who didn't look like extras from a bad Jason Statham film. Or even a good one, if that is possible.
 
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