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Experience of service in the Armed Forces

Edward

Bartender
Messages
24,736
Location
London, UK
The further I get from my time in the military, the more I romanticize it.

A wise observation. It's something fundamental to the human character, I think, which happens in almost any field too, with varying levels of potential danger. I see it in my own business, working in the university, where we are subjected to crazy management ideas from top level management trying to impose their own ideas based on the last time they were in a classroom twenty plus years ago across the full gamut of very different disciplines. At its worst when they glom on to a trendy new classroom approach that wasn't done in their day, such as the "flipped classroom", and then push it hard even as all the evidence shows it to rarely work in practice, and even when it does, to produce no better results than a traditional approach. Marry that to a culture which often seems to value innovation over effectiveness.... Course, I also have to remember to learn the same lesson myself. All very well me giving off about how much easier my students have it today than we did in the early mid-nineties, having, thirty odd years on, forgotten an awful lot of the hardships they still face today, as well as new ones that didn't happen in my era...

Another one: „Non-Swimmers Are Better Seamen, They Defend Their Ships Most Purposeful.“

That lines of thought was actually applied by the British in the early days of the RFC / RAF. Parachutes were not issued to pilots in WW1 as top brass feared it would encourage "cowardice", bailing out at the first sign of damage to the plane, rather than trying to land when holed to the point of being unable to fly back to base. Before the planes were equipped with guns (originally their purpose being reconnaissance rather than combat), pilots were issued with a pistol for the purposes of self-euthanasia if their kite went on fire and landing safely was a certain impossibility.
 

Turnip

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,248
Location
Europe
Most fishermen couldn´t swim here too at a time, when an organized sea rescue service did not yet exist at our coasts.
It´s been reputed they preferred a quick end once they went overvoard, rather than swimming hopelessly around and drowning nevertheless after some torturing time.
 
Messages
12,422
Location
Germany
But please tell me something.
I would BET, there were individual "super funny" guys, the kind we all know, here and there, back in these old days, freak enough to try this and were penalized or even his whole platoon.
I don't know, at the Bundeswehr, he would maybe have been forced to sing along until he's [Expletive deleted: please remember we try to keep the language 'family friendly' in these parts, folks] up.

 
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Turnip

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,248
Location
Europe
No, sir, plural. All members of that unit had to sing until…even worse for the officer candidates…
When, after a hard night, one of us enlisted got caught doing a quick puke into a hedge during morning line up we trained that until the last was emptied out and ready for breakfast…:D

Later on board rules have been less restrictive, at least in that respect.
 

FOXTROT LAMONT

One Too Many
Messages
1,460
Location
St John's Wood, London UK
I was offered a Special Air Service selection try shortly after learning my admittance to
the London School of Economics. Elated to be leaving the Army but I felt like a horse's arse
explaining all over the regimental silver at a formal full dress uniform dinner engagement.
 

Observe

Practically Family
Messages
990
I was offered a Special Air Service selection try shortly after learning my admittance to
the London School of Economics. Elated to be leaving the Army but I felt like a horse's arse
explaining all over the regimental silver at a formal full dress uniform dinner engagement.
SAS? That's pretty interesting. Did you consider it at all? What would the first steps be in a selection try?
 

FOXTROT LAMONT

One Too Many
Messages
1,460
Location
St John's Wood, London UK
SAS? That's pretty interesting. Did you consider it at all? What would the first steps be in a selection try?

I had attained lieutenancy in the Parachute Regiment, closing contractual obligation so volunteering
SAS would have involved extending and the washout rate is extraordinarily high. Attrition is near 90%.
The applicant undergoes some physical qualifications with his home regiment, then off to Hereford for
a basic beat down cycle before the mountain course phase at Brecon Beacon Wales. Pass that and I
believe Malaysia jungle run through. That constitutes the first two steps before return to Hereford.
I wanted to leave all this for girls, London, LSE, and more girls.
 

Ticklishchap

One Too Many
Messages
1,726
Location
London
I was offered a Special Air Service selection try shortly after learning my admittance to
the London School of Economics. Elated to be leaving the Army but I felt like a horse's arse
explaining all over the regimental silver at a formal full dress uniform dinner engagement.
Fellow LSE Alumnus: I did my MSc(Econ.) there some years ago.
 

Observe

Practically Family
Messages
990
I had attained lieutenancy in the Parachute Regiment, closing contractual obligation so volunteering
SAS would have involved extending and the washout rate is extraordinarily high. Attrition is near 90%.
The applicant undergoes some physical qualifications with his home regiment, then off to Hereford for
a basic beat down cycle before the mountain course phase at Brecon Beacon Wales. Pass that and I
believe Malaysia jungle run through. That constitutes the first two steps before return to Hereford.
I wanted to leave all this for girls, London, LSE, and more girls.
Thanks for sharing your story.
 

AbbaDatDeHat

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,638
Did the US Marine Corps and the US Navy never try to deploy the exoskeleton power loaders used by the Colonial Marines in Aliens??
I believe Aliens would fall under the purview of the US Air Force and their newly formed Space Force.
I’m sure they picked up where Dale Brown’s General Patrick McLanahan and his CIDs left off.
Or at least i would hope they did.
B
 

FOXTROT LAMONT

One Too Many
Messages
1,460
Location
St John's Wood, London UK
I believe Aliens would fall under the purview of the US Air Force and their newly formed Space Force...
B
I saw a news report about U.S. Space Force with an exraordinarily beautiful blonde babe three star general.
A real honeybabe. If I were an American teenage male that is where I would enlist. Here in the UK armed forces
recruitment is down considerably. Individual regiments recruit from home districts according tradition.
 

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