Army/navy issues with the RAF.

[not on facebook]

Why has there allways what seems to me been may I call it bad fealing between the RAF and the army/navy?

Never been in the armed forces so Iam on outside looking in and it's what I have picked up on from me old man who was in the ,RAF and seen how army personal react to owt RAF.

It's all done in a joking type of way but it must steem from somewhere.

Was it a class thing as army and navy would take on untold working class whilst RAF was more selective ,I think.


While we're on armed forces ,how can a navy ship with all its technology etc etc crash into another ship ffs.twice now in two months that a yank navy vessel as run into another ship on the open ocean with loss of life.


"tally oh chocs away"

[wing commander]

I served in the Navy for 6 years and cant say we had much of a rivalry with the raf in truth,hardly ever came across them...
    On the US ships it's based on training,they don't get any..When I was in the Navy I served on minehunters, for that I had to do a 12 week basic training course and a 6 months speciality course before I was even allowed on a ship,then once on one, I had to complete a task book of various practises before I was allowed to do my job on my own....We once did a exercise with the US Navy...A minefield was laid with the mines filled with smoke..We had to clear a path for our big ships to proceed..We did it successfully with the loss of one minehunter..When the US tried to do the same exercise they lost 3 minehunters followed by a destroyer and a cruiser,you couldn't see for red smoke....They look at it that they have ten times the ship so win on numbers...After the exercise we went out on the beer with some of the US sailors..They had 6 weeks of basic training and straight onto ships were they just learn on the job...We couldn't believe it...Frightening really...

[glosterred]

I spent 38 years in the Royal Air Force and there was rivalry between all the forces but never much in the way of bad feelings, from a personal view it was probably because in the Royal Air Force we had proper jobs, the navy and army didn't 😉

P.S my last job was at PJHQ Northwood before retiring and there was all three services there, each taking the Micky out of the other, but never maliciously.

[drfchound]

I served in the Navy for 6 years and cant say we had much of a rivalry with the raf in truth,hardly ever came across them...
    On the US ships it's based on training,they don't get any..When I was in the Navy I served on minehunters, for that I had to do a 12 week basic training course and a 6 months speciality course before I was even allowed on a ship,then once on one, I had to complete a task book of various practises before I was allowed to do my job on my own....We once did a exercise with the US Navy...A minefield was laid with the mines filled with smoke..We had to clear a path for our big ships to proceed..We did it successfully with the loss of one minehunter..When the US tried to do the same exercise they lost 3 minehunters followed by a destroyer and a cruiser,you couldn't see for red smoke....They look at it that they have ten times the ship so win on numbers...After the exercise we went out on the beer with some of the US sailors..They had 6 weeks of basic training and straight onto ships were they just learn on the job...We couldn't believe it...Frightening really...

Got to ask Wingco,   as a Navy man why did you take the name Wing Commander (an RAF rank) for the forum rather than the navy version of Commander?

[glosterred]

I served in the Navy for 6 years and cant say we had much of a rivalry with the raf in truth,hardly ever came across them...
    On the US ships it's based on training,they don't get any..When I was in the Navy I served on minehunters, for that I had to do a 12 week basic training course and a 6 months speciality course before I was even allowed on a ship,then once on one, I had to complete a task book of various practises before I was allowed to do my job on my own....We once did a exercise with the US Navy...A minefield was laid with the mines filled with smoke..We had to clear a path for our big ships to proceed..We did it successfully with the loss of one minehunter..When the US tried to do the same exercise they lost 3 minehunters followed by a destroyer and a cruiser,you couldn't see for red smoke....They look at it that they have ten times the ship so win on numbers...After the exercise we went out on the beer with some of the US sailors..They had 6 weeks of basic training and straight onto ships were they just learn on the job...We couldn't believe it...Frightening really...

Got to ask Wingco,   as a Navy man why did you take the name Wing Commander (an RAF rank) for the forum rather than the navy version of Commander?

Probably because he knew an Royal Air Force rank has more respect then a Navy one 😉

[German Rover]

No bad feelings we all just take the piss out of each other. Worked with navy and air force in Afghanistan and all that rivalry stuff went out the window.

Ultimately we're all on the same team and we work for the same boss. Having said that RAF girls are far better looking than the trolls we have in the army!

[wing commander]

haha Glosterred...bloody raf...always 300 miles behind were the real action is working 8 hr days and billeted in luxury.. ;-)..

[wing commander]

   To answer your question Hound my name has nothing to do with military rank but more to do withone of the greatest players to have graced the belle vue turf..The one the only Peter Heritage...He had a great tache.. :-)

[glosterred]

haha Glosterred...bloody raf...always 300 miles behind were the real action is working 8 hr days and billeted in luxury.. ;-)..

Why dig in when you can check in 😀

[IDM]

A lot of the banter stems from the RAF being the junior of the 3 services, although 100 years old next year.

There may be many serving RAF personnel who never have to be in the direct firing line, and there's banter from the Army about that, and there was always the thing about join the Navy and look for the "golden rivet" but that's probably out dated now.

All of the services have over time played crucial roles in defending this country, and as is said above, we are all on the same side.

[wing commander]

   You always used to get joked about your sexuality when you were in the Navy...Luckily times have changed from my days in the RN...A couple of times during my career I woke up to find people had been frogmarched off the ship in the dead of night by the mp's,arrested,given 28 days in detention and then released from service due to them finding out they were gay....crazy looking back...
    The only real rivalry I had was when I was down the Falklands for 6 months on Leeds Castle...When we were in port we used to go up to the big mess hall at Mount pleasant for a drink...They didn't have draught lager just cans...One of our guys decided to throw a full tin at the pyramid of cans the table next door had been building with there empty's for a laugh....Turned out to be 2 Para...That didn't end well for us...haha

[IDM]

There was a story a few years ago, possibly and urban myth, that there was once a case of around 500 sailors reporting sick on the same ship over the course of a tour.  They all had a dose of the clap which was allegedly spread by the men sharing a sex doll..!!

[wing commander]

haha I can honestly say I never came across anything like that..My ships were all small ships with crews of between 20-40 ,its a different Navy as everyone knows each other and there isn't the pomp and discipline you find on bigger ships with crews of 300 plus..Everyone goes out at night together wherever you are even the officers...One of the advantages of being a small ship was we could get into ports the bigger ones couldn't so we were more of a novelty and rarety and it certainly helped with the ladies..haha

[not on facebook]

So what Iam picking up off here I miss read what I was seeing as it is all just banter between the forces .

For some reason I got it into my head that something must have happened yonks back for army to have dislike owt RAF .

[wing commander]

  Here's an interesting one regards the US navy...It wasn't reported on the news channels yesterday but the entire American fleet across the world hardly moved a inch yesterday..Every planned sailing was postponed and every ship at sea was told to proceed to a safe area and hold station....This was while they assessed there navigational procedures and reissued new directives....
     Rumour has it that it might not just be human error that caused these mysterious crashes with tankers but some satellite jiggery pokery....Sounds a bit like james bond to me but they certainly suspended the entire operation for 24hrs...

[Filo]

  Here's an interesting one regards the US navy...It wasn't reported on the news channels yesterday but the entire American fleet across the world hardly moved a inch yesterday..Every planned sailing was postponed and every ship at sea was told to proceed to a safe area and hold station....This was while they assessed there navigational procedures and reissued new directives....
     Rumour has it that it might not just be human error that caused these mysterious crashes with tankers but some satellite jiggery pokery....Sounds a bit like james bond to me but they certainly suspended the entire operation for 24hrs...

Has the little fat boy with no mates from North Korea been fiddling with the sattelites?

😀😀😀😀😂😂😂😂😂

[wing commander]

    haha If it was somebody up to no good my money would be on the Chinese for that one....It's not actually beyond the realms of possibility that could happen...Ships like that are programmed these days to get from A to B...
    People would be amazed at what goes on that they never hear about as I'm sure Glosterred can testify too seen as though he worked at Northwood...Then again probably best not to,that official secrets act carry's some hefty penalty's..

[drfchound]

Damn clever these Chinese you know.

[Herbert Anchovy]

I don't know about issues across the different forces, but I do know that within the army there used to be (and still maybe?) big rivalries between the Para's and the Marines. A pal of mine who was in the Para's in the 80's once told me that they had their 'own' pubs in the barrack towns and one side would sometimes attack the other sides pub. Some weekends were absolute murder apparently when the two sides met up. 

[Dagenham Rover]

I don't know about issues across the different forces, but I do know that within the army there used to be (and still maybe?) big rivalries between the Para's and the Marines. A pal of mine who was in the Para's in the 80's once told me that they had their 'own' pubs in the barrack towns and one side would sometimes attack the other sides pub. Some weekends were absolute murder apparently when the two sides met up. 

Chatham used to be similar Army and Navy Barracks less than a mile apart, Navy had their pubs and the Army had theirs   Some right punch ups on a Saturday night

[not on facebook]

Said this one before about the yank navy .

Was working in a pub about 12 or more years ago out here in the day time.

Then about 15-20 yank navy chaps came in.

I was shocked as they was all still wearing their full white navy uniform and stuck out like sore thumbs > doubt they will do that today whenever on shore leave.

Some of the chaps that came in the pub doorway had to duck down to get in ,I could not belive the size of them as it was like the land of the giants .never seen such a big race tbh.

They was in pub for about 3 hours and were all pleasant ,and one thing that made me laugh was when they gave me a sheet of paper that each one is given to read before they leave their ship for shore leave.

Said sheet op paper was all about local customs and laws that they need to be aware of or whatever warnings etc etc.

At the very bottom of the sheet was a warning  > don't ever drink with the British navy personal >

[drfchound]

NOF, i was in Lisbon about 7 or 8 years ago with a bunch of lads on a golfing break.
There were about 50 US Navy lads in the Dockers area (restaurants and bars) all dressed in their Tom Cruise type white uniforms.

[not on facebook]

NOF, i was in Lisbon about 7 or 8 years ago with a bunch of lads on a golfing break.
There were about 50 US Navy lads in the Dockers area (restaurants and bars) all dressed in their Tom Cruise type white uniforms.

When the British navy ever came into the pub they never never had their navy uniform on .

Then one summer operation  they all came in wearing ties ,and there was some real bad mix and match as the ties did not go with the shirts.

When I could not stop laughing at some of the mix and match ,they told me that they had to wear a tie as the queen was in oslo on a visit that day aswell.

It's British navy tradition that if your ship docks into a port or country and the queen is there  ,you have to wear a tie when ever you leave the ship .

As for the yanks you saw fully navy uniform in Lisbon 7years ago ,surely they still don't do it today .

[Mike_F]

At the very bottom of the sheet was a warning  > don't ever drink with the British navy personal >

Love it. Reminds me of the time I was in Cancun, they had some MC bloke on stage in Senor Frog's bar getting some folk up to neck drinks and the like. Started off quite standard. A couple of American college types were up there trying to drink a big glass of slushy cocktail while the crowd were chanting "chug, chug, chug" with a big cheer when they eventually polished off the drinks.

Next round, A British lad got up. He was standing with an empty glass on his head asking for another one before the American contestant had knocked the froth off his drink.

[wing commander]

      You were never allowed to wear your uniform off the ship full stop...Those were the days of the IRA so it was down to security...I had a friend from NI,he wasn't allowed to take anything naval home on leave full stop not even his washing...All his friends thought he worked on the rigs...
     The yanks were rubbish when it came to drinking,but there ships are completely dry,no booze allowed..So after a few months at sea it didn't take much for them to be slashed..lol  Now the Russians..They were different animals.. boy could they put it away...

[Herbert Anchovy]

One Friday about 25 years ago we were in the Tut n Shive in Donny where there was a big group of sailors on a marathon booze up. They were mainly UK navy but there was also a handful of yanks with them. As I recall they did some drinking competition and the poor yank who lost had to drink a pint of the winners piss. They were a right handful that's for sure.

[not on facebook]

Had about 300 British navy in the pub one Saturday day > afternoon > night .

As you went to the downstairs bar which in day time showed whatever football and night time turned into a disco .

The stairs on the way down had frammed football shirts on the walls.
Man utd,lpool,Spurs,arsenal, dirty Leeds,Coventry,Everton,Newcastle,England and a full team signed Doncaster rovers shirt which Ian snodin fixed for us .

After a great days takings in the pubs tills and no stress at al from any navy member I could not stop laughing when only one football shirt was taken out of its frame, and grew a pair of legs and legged it out of the pub.

You guessed it the Doncaster rovers one.


I did not have the heart to report it to the contact we had with the ship ,as any navy person is welcome to me Rovers shirt who served in our armed forces.

[Geoff Blakesley]

With regard to big lads I can remember turning up at the Barclays Bank Sports Ground in London in the early 80's. I was playing for Haringey RUFC 2nd team a social side that looked forward to the excellent food that the banks put on and a good few beers afterwards. We walked into the changing rooms and saw a HUUUGE team of lads who had muscles on their muscles and wondered who they were. I asked one of the guys in their team and he said they were THE MARINE CORPS OF THE UNITED STATES ! I felt sorry for whoever was to play them - they were so fit. We strolled down the changing room corridor to see who was playing who. About 4 down the list there it was Haringey II v THE MARINE CORPS OF THE UNITED STATES !!
There must surely be some mistake as we all cursed our club's fixture secretary for organising a fixture where several of us were likely to be spread across several hospitals in London. My opposite scrum half was the smallest player on their side at 6ft and could probably run the 200m in the time it took me to run 100m !!
We beat them by a good 20 points. Strength and size was not as important as technique on the day. I believe they have improved considerably since then !!

[bahrain rover]

Geoff, I have played rugby out here for Al Khobar against HMS Atherstone. What a dirty set of t@$ts they were!!! 2 broken ribs and bones in my right foot. I bruises that you could tell were finger gouge prints all over. Great game though.
NOF, Bahrain is home to the US 5th fleet. Non of them are allowed out in uniform and are meant to blend in. But they still stand out a mile away, usually due to them being built like brick s#*h houses, totally off there face and the standard pulled up long socks with there flipflops/sandals attire.

[not on facebook]

Bahrain rover > these yank navy chaps that had to duck down to get throu the pub door I was working in.

All of the ones ducking were black chaps and I kid you not I had a sore neck looking upto them.

They all was as nice as pie and I was gob smacked on how tall and built like brick shit houses as you said.

Christ Iam not small,but it was like a mob of jolly green sweet corn giants had stepped into the pub.

I had to ask them if they had been left inside a green house or stood in grow bags when they was younger .

Scary thing was they all said that they had bigger friends or brothers back home.

I gave the biggest lump of them a nickname which they pissed them sens at >>> tiny >>> it went down well .