alan869

Wombat, Energa, 81 mm mortar.....

Metal detector;)

We did have some fun didn´t we:D The day they bombed the Co-op on York Street (for the second time). Me watching out for the OCs back when from around the corner comes the dullset tones of a certain clergyman. -Booming- out his opinions as usual. Wait till he gets to the corner and then stick my boot out:-) Does a terrible forward roll, gets up shouting -who´s in charge of this maaan- The rest is history;) Funny how quite a few of the compo -cocktails- were quite good but a lot of them were hiddious. Wonder if anyone has managed to get the -menus- for the different -assortments-:red: No -divvy- in this Co-op:shocked:

:rofl::rofl::rofl:Lots of things we did that -were frowned on- but we always got the job done so there were very few reprisals. It was called -airborne initiative-:cool2:. Standing the PM -and party- up against the wall on one occasion for not stopping at our guard post. Didn´t go down very well either. They just wandered past the sentry when challenged and made no effort to show some ID. The sentry shouted and within a couple of seconds -the party- were surrounded by blokes with cocked weapons. Needless to say they showed their ID, just like everybody else. That episod has never come out and I´m only going from what I´ve heard of course;)

Yes. we had some great times. Every man in the stick gobbing on the despatcher half a second before leaving the aircraft. They really did think we were a bunch of animals:D

Don´t remember our -denims- having the sewn in creases but what the heck. The 2 pairs will be just right. Send me a PM with the damage report and I´ll get it sorted and send you my address. Thanks again, Alan

Yeah it´s not bad for a has been. Of course the faults are there. Mess tins, you joke, no room for them. Cook and eat out of the metal mug and drink out of the plastic one;) Hexi blocks mmm, yeah alright if it was a buckshee exercise somewhere but mostly with the tactical training you ate cold. The terrible smell of a hexi could be detected more than half a mile off. The kidney pouches would be filled with powdered food of some sort. Keep you going for a couple of days if you bergen got lost. Of course all the pouches would be tied together at the bottom to keep them from moving about when we -trotted- about;) A good belt hardly moved when you were on the go. If it can be laid flat then you´ve put it together wrongly. Half moon shape to fit snug. The kidney pouches were a bit flimsy so a lot of the blokes used 58 pat waterbottle carriers for the whole belt. They could carry other things than a water bottle. Everything got -broken down- to the bare essencials so that you could fit it all in bergan and belt. Belt was strapped around the bergan before you strapped the whole thing for a jump. The boys in Grey/blue often tried to get us to put everything inside the bergan (for safety reasons) but there was no way you could manage it, so they usually gave up trying:-D I usually had the thankless job of showing some of the sprogs how to put together a decent kit for -the outdoor life- My kit was always spot on. A sluvenly para looked like a pig in drag. And as a certain Jerry Davis once said to us in JPC -We know youré a useless lot of sods and haven´t a clue but at least you can dress and act as though you knew what you were doing;)) From that day on I started to -hoodwink- my surroundings:-D

Yes, it´s all down in the cellar. Thought I´d get the complete outfit for posterity:embarrassed: As far as I know there is only one thing missing now and that´s the clasp knife with string landyard that we wore with the smock. The smocks I´ve got have 2 different patches. An original 10 Para and an older 44 brigade patch. Don´t think I will alter them. Would like a couple of blue patches but not the modern nylon stuff. The original ones were a heavy cotton. The 2 on the smocks are of the same quality

Found these photos. My old bergan. Had this particular one since 1972. The sort of patrol belt we had. The machette was the sort of -extra kit- that we used to pick up. Nobody bothered really what sort of extra suff you had out in the field, as long as you did your job;) This one I actually bought in 1980 when I went on my own for a 3 month holiday to central america. Bought in Honduras. Went jungle -hiking- around Belize, Guatemala and Honduras for about a month. The shorter blade machette is a lont more practical than the longer one.

Just the job:D Have you got the buckles?? I´ll take both pairs when you´ve got it sorted. PM me for payment. Thanks very much!! Alan

Take it easy mate. If I´ve waited 38 years for a pair I suppose a while longer won´t hurt:D

No I let them go in the hope that you come up trumps:-D

Britannia, beautiful aircraft. When I started my -spotting- years in the beginning of the 60s there were loads of these going. You would see maybe 20 or so during a day at LAP (Heathrow). Mostly frieghters but even a few charter firms. Haven´t seen one since the 70s. Has anyone saved an Argosy?? They ended up in the same boat as the Britannia but were phased out later, and replaced by the Hurc. Managed to do a few jumps from an Argosy before they suddenly disappeared. Lovely aircraft and a pleasure to jump from. Although you had to really push out of the door to avoid a -rivet inspection-:-D The Hurc is a great aircraft but deffinately designed as a load carrier. Frieghting pork and beans rather than troops. After 8 hours in one of those there was absolutely no refusals to jump when the time came:red:

I don´t think the one you describe was ever issued to us. Any way not in my time. We did have a 37 pat belt. Used very rarely for parades with no2 dress. It was standard 37 pat which was painted -maroon- but the paint used made it look more pink. We had to paint them and then bull them. Only had to wear it 2 or 3 times in the whole time I was in. We didn´t like them (we hated no 2s aswell;))

This is what it´s all about:D Compo. We used to get one man packs. It was pot luck. Some were okay but most of it was a good substitute for underseal for the car. Treacle Pudding. That lost me a grade on the final exercise in Brecon. It made me absolutely sick. Couldn´t get rid of it and it ended up the only thing I had left and 24 hrs left in the snow. Blood sugar must have gone down to about 2 and I flipped out. If we were out for say 5 or six days they would issue with 2, one man ration packs. When the new blokes used to complain they were told -use your Para initative- or -live off the land- So there was always a few live rounds about (so I´ve been told:rolleyes:) just incase we bumped into a sheep or such:D Fourty years on (God I´m old:red:) Still works perfectly.

Sure, just the job. Will get some photos up of our old bergan and patrol belt.

That would be great:-) Will get the pair of the bay as well and that should sort it:-)

Just been looking at the bay. Put up -OG trousers- and low and behold. What I used to wear practically every day for the 5 years odd I was in the army. Going to get these and then that´s my -working dress- complete:) Just need the metal buckles...... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230788189027?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1426.l2649

Yes, very interesting. Which unit were you in and between which years? I only remember the OGs with metal buckles and the -denims- as we called them without the buckles or leg pockets but with loops that held your belt in place (OGs didn´t have loops). Have a foto of one of the blokes from B Coy who is wearing the style with loops, no buckles and leg pockets. So there was that variant. I stuck to the OGs as did most of the blokes. Will try and get some photos up of the 2 variations of smock that I have (and remember from the time). When we were out in the field or on ops like NI or ops abroad, you could wear Doc Martins and the like. Otherwise def. not. Had to be standard issue. Belts were always 58 pat or Para Reg stable belt. Never seen green nylon "working" pattern. RAF??? You must be joking:shocked: Wouldn´t be seen dead wearing anything -crab air-. The DPM was issued to us but know one wore it. Then it became standard issue and the smock disappeared. The DPM was affectionately known as the -monkey suit- OGs, bit hard to see (roof Snugsville Street Bakery June 1970). Blokes in a lightweight wearing the standard -green- smock (Browns Square police station, Belfast 1972)

I don´t think the ones we had gave waist and leg size. Height maybe. They were universal size 1, 2, 3 etc. I´m 178 cm (5´10") roughly and 70 kg. Normal to thin build. 32 waist? The OGs I mean had attaching buckles on each hip, in metal, which could be taken off. So it´s only this type I´m after. Map pocket on left leg, none on right. If you have these I would be very gratefull as I´ve got the rest of my old -kit-. Many thanks, Alan

Interesting subject. I´ve been trying to get my -dress- together over the last few years. My era in the forces was 1968 to 74. Unfortunately I didn´t -buy out- my uniform when I left. Managed to get 2 Denison smocks for a resonable price. For those who might be interested, there were 2 -patterns- for the smock at that time. One which was predominantly green and one which was mostly brown. No difference was made between the 2. Often you wore what you were issued with... Although the -green- one was more favoured by the blokes. Remember that my old CSM had a -brown- one but he didn´t give a hoot about whether it -looked good- or not:). Battalion patch on both upper arms. Rank and wings on right hand upper arm only. I was in 2 Para so a -royal- blue square. Shirts: We were issued with 2 KF shirts. If they found any tampering with them (bleaching etc) you paid for a new shirt and got a rocket as well. So most of us had a tell tale rash around the neckline for the first 6 months;) The KF was what you wore. There were a few exceptions but generally you were out of uniform if you wore anything else. We were also issued with -lightweight jungle green- shirts when we were abroad. We were aloud to keep these on return to UK (mainly because we were usually off some where else within a short time) These were cotton and were preferred by us. We were aloud to were them for ex. in Ireland but once back in UK it was KF again. Lanyard worn around left shoulder and the end tucked into left breast pocket. Colour, blue, in my case. Red for 1 Para and green for 3 Para. Rank stripe on right upper arm and wings on the right above the rank. Nothing else Trousers: We were issued with 3 pairs of trousers. 2 pairs of -OG- trousers and one pair of -denims- The OGs were favoured mainly because they had a leg pocket on the left leg which the denims didn´t have. The OGs were lighter than the denims which meant that they dried out quicker after getting wet. You could -steam- them dry after marching 5 to 10 miles. The denims used to stay wet more or less. We used to do quite a few river crossings so you wanted something that would dry out. The OGs had fly buttons and 2 straps at the top which crossed over and were fastened with metal buckles at the sides. Haven´t managed to get a pair of these:-( Tappered, sown in creases etc were rewarded with a kidney punch and a deduction from your wage. They would as often as not get the offending piece of kit and make a large rip in it. Then you would be sent off to get a new pair and depending on which mood they were in you would maybe get done for destroying army property. Puttees. When did they disappear? I remember that during my service they started to let us -off- puttees when we were in the field and the DMS with the longer -leggings- to them were aloud as they were more practical. But in the -shot- (Aldershot)..... always puttees. Turn up on parade with -SAS- boots and you were in for it;) Army green socks. In the reverse, if you were in civvies and say had come back after a leave, if they saw that you were wearing the green socks, you were in -mixed dress-. Then you were in for it:nut: DMS boots. A good bit of kit but not waterproof in any way so you had to actively look after your feet especially in the field. They found out the disadvantages of the DMS in the trenches of the Falklands. Wooly jumper. Rank, sown on right arm only. In my day only that, no wings mounted (although I have since seen them sewn on. Don´t know if that was a later thing or someone not in the know who got it wrong). Only the offdicers with -pips- etc had epaulettes. Other ranks, none. Belt: Always a belt (if you weren´t serving time) Either 58 pat webbing belt but usually maroon regimental belt. Always 58 pat belt with the smock. I have never actually written this down before. Always taken it for granted but realize that times move on and -my- era is passing into history:shocked: If there is any interest I can go through our field kit, webbing etc. This was 58 pat. Ki

Thanks for the warm welcome. I´ve never been involved with military vehicles before either in Sweden or elsewhere. The lightweight was an impluse buy as the guy who renovated it showed the renovation as he was doing it on the Lightweight Landrover site. He then was forced to sell it and it was cheap, especially after all the work he had done on it. I flew over to Stanstead on Ryan Air and picked it up in Cambridge. Was supposed to drive it back via Harwich - Esbjerg Denmark - Malmo Sweden and then home (Linköping). When I got to Harwich I was told that the ferry had been cancelled due to bad weather so I ended up the following morning in Hook of Holland. Drove it nonstop from there to Linköping. Started off in Holland at 08.30 and got in at home the following 02.30. Only stopping for petrol and hamburgers. It was very drafty as there are no rubber seals on the doors. This was the beginning of November. My right leg was totally numb by the time I got home:shocked:

Förutom engelsmannen som bott i Sverige i över 30 år:-D (Just keeping the Swedes in check;)) Fantastic vehicles! Would love to look them over sometime.

Hello all! Just joined and thought I would introduce myself. Names Alan and will be 60 in December. Come from the south coast (Bournemouth). Joined JPC (Junior Parachute Coy) in 68 and after P Coy etc was posted to D Coy 2 Para that were then in Belfast (May 1970). Came out in 74 (too many tours to Ireland and having had a narrow escape after a nail bomb:red:). Ended up moving to Sweden in 76 and to cut a long story short went via auxillary nurse, SRN to doctor. GP. In a fit of nostalgia for a few years ago, started to get my old uniform back together. Had some of it left, like my original bergan etc. Bought a Lightweight Landrover a few years ago. It´s been renovated and goes really well. Other intrests are old cars (Volvo PV 444 1956, 144 1967 and a 1977 Stag). Old caravans and camping stuff (4 vans and a canvas fold up) 2 of the vans are from 1949 and I have one of the few remaining Willerby Vogues from 1957 (which has been totally renovated) -Stumbled across this site really. We didn´t have many vehicles where I served . We had lightweights etc in Ireland though. There was someone talking about A41 radios and the back pack. We never used the regular army steel frame packpack. The A41 went into your bergan (along with a spare battery) Had to get everything else in there as well. The bergan you jumped with. I was the Coy clerk for a number of years. In the field it was my job to be the OCs radio man, so I´ve lunked and -tabbed- with an A41 many times:shocked: Would like to buy an A41 in good nick for the lightweight...... Hope I haven´t bored too many of you, cheers, Alan