Movements

een tricky to load. Anyway, chalking is
the mechanism to assist Deed movers in
prioritising those who need to be crossloaded
when the charter ac arrive at 11 pm
after another long and hard day. It is also
a mechanism to allow units to return their
personnel back into theatre to allow strike
ops to continue unaffected; therefore, if
there are issues with chalking which you
come across, please, please, please ask
your seniors to speak with the FMCC to
confirm their requirements. Do not assume
an easy solution to your problem will not
create problems down route in Theatre!
I also mentioned IDF attacks earlier too.
These are usually more sporting and it
depends upon how you know you’re being
attacked as to how sporting they can get;
either the good old alarm, or you hear the
round yourself - yep, that does happen.
Now for the serious bit, IDF attacks are
not funny and being caught in one, either
in a building or in the open, can change
your view of the World, ask Sqn Ldr Ward
(The IDF Magnet). Personally, I experienced
137 rounds landing at the COB in my
tour, not as many as some but enough
to make it interesting. The Number One
Rule with IDF is to remember the IA drills.
These really are quite simple: drop to the
floor and get as low as you can; wait for
the last round to fall and wait for at least
three seconds after that; if possible, don
your helmet and CBA whilst remaining
down; finally, and if in the open and safe
to do so, move to appropriate shelter and
await the all clear. What you do not do is
try to outrun the rounds. The theory being
that the lower you get the better, as there
is more chance that if a round lands near
you, then the cone of shrapnel should go
upwards and if you are low, it should pass
over you! If you try to out run it, well, your
legs might escape unscathed! Nuff said?
It’s quite eerie how, when walking home
to the comforts of your camp at 0200 hr
in the morning, you become ‘situationally
aware’ of the ground around you, and the
shallowest water filled ditch becomes a
superb IDF shelter if needed (and nesting
place for camel spiders!....Ed). Now, after
a number of practice sessions when you
hear the alarm, you will react automatically
and at some point you may experience the
Comfort eating helped through the long days…
surreal event of being totally asleep one
moment, and the next, you are on the floor
of your tent or Corrimec, awake with your
helmet and CBA on and the only warning
you heard was the whistling of the round
as it passed over your head! This then
becomes the argument of tents or sun
shades and Corrimecs. If you are in a tent,
you will have a ‘bolt hole’ next to your bed
space made from breeze blocks which you
can role into and remain low and relatively
protected. Again, the theory being that it
would be better to be below the cone of
shrapnel. The advantage of a tent is that
the round should puncture the tent and
impact on the floor and then detonate.
However, if you are in a Corrimec, the
round will puncture the sunshade and the
roof of the Corrimec but in the meantime
may think that it has landed on something
solid and detonate before hitting the floor.
This, I would argue, may not be a good
day! The cone of shrapnel then continues
upwards but as it is already in the air, it
will cover a wider area, hhmmmm, your
choice. Whilst taking cover, various ways
of passing the time manifest themselves:
Service humour takes over and everybody
cheers each other up. In our office, we
found that a friendly game of ‘I Spy’ helped
pass the minutes, although, face down on
an office carpet underneath a desk amidst
a veritable snake pit of cables can lead to
somewhat limiting ‘I Spy’ targets. If you
are lucky, that vital notebook and pencil
you good military types should always
carry, is well suited to a quick game of
‘Battleships’ or ‘Noughts and Crosses’ if
you make up your own grid referencing
system.
However, life is not always on the line in
the office. Sometimes, there are periods
when you move Heaven and Earth to help
out and make sure that some unfortunate
soul gets back to the UK safely as either
a comp case or in an aeromed flight. One
of the most rewarding parts of the job for
me was not the quantity of passengers we
moved in a certain period, but strangely
those individual cases where you had to
‘think outside the box’ to ensure that they
got home. Over the period of my tour, we
achieved this three or four times but one
event was most memorable. Just before
Christmas 2006, Basra suffered
over a week or two from thick
fog, just as the C130s were
expecting to land to take troops
to the R&R charter - not good.
On one of these days, the charter
had difficulties landing at ‘The
Deed’, and for once, we had
passengers at ‘The Deed’ with
nowhere to go. With DTMA and
HQSTC (as was) assistance, we
managed to obtain permission
to load a returning C-17 with the
maximum amount of passengers,
but even that still left two
passengers left with no onward
move plans. So, with no other outlet left
or available on Christmas Eve in the Middle
East, we obtained permission to return two
passengers by civilian means which we did.
Unfortunately, one of these passengers
was trying to get back to the Isle of Wight,
and as they had been delayed already, their
last ferry to the Island was due to depart
at 1930Z whereas their ac would only
arrive at Heathrow at 1900Z. Now there
was a challenge. Fortunately, the spirit of
Christmas took over and after a necky
e-mail to various agencies, we managed
to secure the services of other MOD
assets to get the individual to the Island
for the holiday period. In the meantime,
the J1 staffs had managed to contact his
family who were just about to leave and
spend the holidays on the mainland with
friends so they could spend it with their
travelling relative. Needless to say, they
were overjoyed to be told that they would
not have to do that as he was on his way
to them directly from London. Knowing
that we had made one person’s Christmas
a reality, and the amount of thanks J1
received from that family, made the entire
tour worthwhile. Slushy moment I know
but it did. Most movers really, deep down,
and you know it, want to help people. As
a trade, we do not set out on a daily basis
to upset people, delay passengers or even
loose their bags, well, some might, no,
don’t think that.....but seriously, to coin a
1980’s album title (lost on 50 per cent of
the target readers - nice one! ...Ed), the
Trade has taken a great deal of flak over
passenger handling recently, but now
and again, especially where comp cases
or aeromeds are concerned, everybody
pulls out all the stops and makes things
happen. For that, I thank everybody who
was involved in that particular move and
you know who you are.
So, there you have it, life in the Op
TELIC FMCC. I have to say that sometimes
the work was challenging, demanding,
rewarding, frustrating, annoying and
sometimes, dare I say it, fun. But as
with all things, I firmly believe it was the
working relationships and the individuals
that made it. So my personal thanks go
out to Maj Rachel Parker RLC, WO1 Hines,
WOII Chippendale, SSgt Lissiemore (29
Regt RLC), FS Trev Furzey (DTMA AFC),
FS Taff ‘The Ego’ Butcher (RAF Kinloss),
Cpl Phil ‘Warblade King’ Clayton (CAD
Northolt), Cpl Charlie ‘Montgomery Burns’
Harrison (DTMA AFC), SAC Craig ‘Wheels’
Hempshall (RAF Brize Norton), SAC Gareth
‘Dictionary Corner’ Jackson (RAF Northolt),
L/Cpl John ‘Dropping Like Flies’ James and
Pte Sarah ‘The Enforcer’ Emery (29 Regt
RLC) and, for their special appearances for
the RIP 8/9 period, Flt Lt Adam Blackwood
(1 AMW) and Sgt Steff ‘Iron Bru’ Morrison
(RAF Brize Norton).
For those still in Theatre and those about
to join them, good luck with your tour and
keep your heads down!
Movements