Movements

Movements

Movements 

Autumn/Winter 06 

4 Foreword 

Contents 

Editorial Team 

Editor: 

Flt Lt Bekki Collins 

SO3 A4 Ops Air Mov 

RAF High Wycombe Ext 6997 

Distribution: 

FS Mick Sullivan 

DMS 

RAF Brize Norton 

Copy deadline for the 

Autumn edition is: 

13 Apr 2007 

All articles/letters should be sent to: 

WO Air Movs 

HQSTC, RAF High Wycombe, 

Naphill, Bucks HP14 4UE. 

On the cover 

It is not an official publication and 

all views expressed, unless otherwise 

stated, are the personal views of the 

writers and do not necessarily reflect 

official or editorial policy. 

Editorial 

Well, as my esteemed leader, Sqn 

Ldr Dave Ward, has temporarily 

departed these shores for sunnier, 

sandier and most definitely sportier 

climes, the duty has fallen upon my 

shoulders to collate this edition of 

the Movements Magazine. For those 

of you who don’t know me, I am she 

who has now taken over the mantle 

previously held by the very old and 

very crusty Flt Lt Tony Geerah, God 

rest his soul! Moving swiftly on... 

With the current high tempo of ops 

being very much the focus for all Movs 

personnel these days, it seems only right 

that we put the emphasis of this edition 

on Operational Logistics. Ops HERRICK, 

TELIC and HIGHBROW have all been in 

the limelight for good reasons or bad over 

the last six months, to that end I believe 

it is important to point out that we are 

no longer continually pushing water up 

a hill and that more and more outside 

agencies are beginning to recognize what 

an extremely job we actually do. 

As I’m sure all you avid readers are 

aware (I know there are some of you out 

there!), this magazine exists to ensure 

you get a good perspective of headline 

and current issues within the Movements 

world. As always, we would appreciate 

your comments, and any suggestions 

for improvements or future articles are 

most welcome. This is, after all, your 

opportunity to sell yourselves at what you 

are inherently good at! 

Flt Lt Bekki Collins 

SO3 A4 Ops Air Mov 

RAF High Wycombe Ext 6997 

5 Exclusive - RAF Movers Load 

Aircraft! 

6 Life at the edge of the Air 

Coupling Bridge 

10 I learnt about Movements from 

that… 

14 The annual ‘Pengelly‘ Football 

Tournament 

16 RAF Airport Unit - Hanover 

18 JATEU Airportability Section, 

RAF Brize Norton - Planes, Chains 

and Automobiles 

22 Camp Bastion UKMAMS 

Detachment 

25 Tallil Air Base, Iraq 

26 Not the Strategic MAMS Review 

28 Op HIGHBROW - The Movers 

perspective from the ‘Eye 

of the Storm’ 

32 Where have all the Movers gone? 

36 Communication 

40 The Trade Sponsor is in a hole! 

42 Dear Dan… 

© No responsibility for the quality of goods or services 

advertised in this magazine can be accepted by the 

publishers or printers. Advertisements are included 

in good faith. 

Published by Forces and Corporate Publishing Ltd, 

Hamblin House, Hamblin Court, 92-94 High Street, 

Rushden, Northamptonshire NN10 OPQ. 

Tel: 01933 419994 • Fax: 01933 419584 

email: mail@forcespublishing.co.uk 

Editorial director: Ron Pearson 

Sub editor: Kerry Wells 

Sales manager: Amanda Ringer 


ForewordGroup Captain R Atherton MA RAF 

It seems no time at all since I 

penned a Foreword for this 

magazine introducing myself 

as new in post with plans for 

the future. Now after 18 months 

I am moving on and it’s time for a 

short reflection on events. 

If we thought the level of operational 

commitment being undertaken by the 

Movements trade group was high in 

mid 05, it was a case of ‘you ain’t 

seen nothing yet!’ The expansion of 

Op HERRICK, the odd short-notice 

operation - MATURIN, HIGHBROW etc 

- together with surge requirements 

t o s u p p o r t 

R o u l e m e n t s i n 

Place, have all put 

significant pressure 

on most of you as 

individuals and 

e v e r y t i m e y o u 

have risen to the 

challenge. That 

said we cannot 

a f f o r d t o b e 

complacent in our 

achievements and 

as I write this, the 

‘Lancaster Letter’ 

i s h i t t i n g t h e 

headlines, raising 

the profile of both 

the Movements 

Trade and the RAF 

but not in a way 

any of us would 

wish. Whilst some 

of the content is 

erroneous, there are some key points to 

take away if we are to ensure that we 

achieve the degree of professionalism for 

which we all should strive. Pressure is not 

an excuse! 

That said we are all well aware that 

pressure on Movers is considerable and 

to that end the A4 Ops Movs together 

with the main movements units and our 

Auxiliary colleagues have been working 

hard to lessen the effects of the operational 

tempo. I apologise for the length of time it 

took for the Strategic Movements Review 

report to hit the streets. Unfortunately it 

came up against the vagaries of staffing 

politics, but at least it was published 

- some review reports never see the 

light of day! And now the pressure is 

on to get the proposals implemented 

to generate movements capacity. The 

relief from DWR commitments with all 

operational deployments being filled by 

No 1 AMW and 4624 RAuxAF should 

result in more stability and less mandays 

lost to pre-deployment training 

and post-deployment leave. We have 

a dedicated staff officer, Wg Cdr Alex 

Swift, employed for the next 6 months 

to ensure the recommendations are 

implemented. Please give him and his Flt 

Lt, Cath Bailey, every assistance because 

the eventual aim is that in future you will 

be able to plan your lives more effectively 

whilst providing maximum effect in 

support of the RAF mission. 

So what have I learnt about movements 

over the past 18 months. Well, firstly 

there’s no thanks for doing a good job. 

The vast majority of you do a fantastic 

job, day in, day out, but don’t expect 

any recognition. Secondly, Movers will 

always be in the spotlight. Whether it’s 

pax handling or consignment tracking 

the eyes of the RAF, the other Services 

and, indeed, the politicians are on you. 

It’s a fact of life but if you can go to bed 

each night (or day) and sleep soundly in 

the knowledge that you have done the 

most professional job you can, then noone 

can ask for anything more and the 

reputation of the Movers will be second 

to none. 


Exclusive - RAF Movers Load Aircraft! 

OK, OK, so it’s hardly an exclusive..... 

Movers loading aircraft. Isn’t that our 

core business? Rather than another 

article about MSF Coltismore or UK 

Air Mobility Mobile Team Squadron 

loading stuff for Exercise Raving 

Fish or Op HELIC, I thought I’d write 

about the bits that it doesn’t mention 

on the draft note; a sort of ‘Lonely 

Planet’ Guide to Basra Air Station… 

9 October 2006: Sqn Ldr Dave Ward, 

SAMO Basra. Day 15 of the RiP. To be 

honest, that’s really about as much as I 

want to talk about aircraft movements. 

Stuff comes off a Herc, stuff goes on 

a Herc…as I’ve said before, it’s core 

business. How many of you have been 

to Basra before? How many will come 

in the future? For those of you that do 

come I can guarantee that you’ll be doing 

‘aircraft stuff’ so lets move on from that 

and tell you about the place the locals 

call ‘Basra’, and we all love and know 

affectionately as ‘Basra’ too. 

UKMAMS have now taken on the 

responsibility of providing the majority of 

manpower for the Movs Sqn here at Basra; 

only a few key posts; SAMO, one of the 

DAMOs, WO AMS and SNCO Cargo are 

filled by those on four month dets. Some 

of you reading this will do four months, 

some others will do six weeks (lots of six 

weeks). So what can you expect, what 

are the bits you need to know in the first 

few weeks of being here? 

Assuming you leave from the UK, you’ll 

have done your particular IRT course, 

be it the short-course or the full ‘works’ 

at Honington; next step is pitching up 

at Brize at some ungodly hour - don’t 

forget your weapon, body-armour or 

passport......now sit back and relax and let 

the experience that is commercial airline 

travel waft you gently to hot, humid and 

sticky Al Udeid. Now I don’t mean to 

paint a bad picture of ‘the ‘Deid’, it’s not 

always hot, humid and sticky, sometimes 

it’s windy and dusty too. Oh yes, and then 

there’s the Americans… Leaving as briskly 

as little ol’ Albert will carry you (and again, 

at some ungodly hour) you’ll be gently 

herded, in a military fashion of course, 

towards Basra. The first night you’ll be 

moved on to your accommodation, and 

to be honest, you’ll just want to get your 

head down - sleeping bag or duvet, you 

won’t really care. But for the comfort 

of the rest of your tour I’d recommend 

bringing your own fitted, single sheet, 

pillow case and duvet cover. Yes, you’re 

on camp-beds, but each camp-bed has 

a single mattress perched on top. The 

camp-beds are enclosed in dome-shaped 

mosquito-nets, your ‘pod’, and there’s 

little room for much more than your bed 

and a small locker. Many people put the 

locker outside their pods to make room 

for a full length roll-mat/ thermarest. The 

idea behind the roll-mat?......Should/when 

the camp comes under rocket attack (and 

it does.....more of that later), you’ll be the 

envy of your mates as you simply roll off 

your bed, slip into your body armour and 

continue your slumber from the position 

referred to as ‘prone-cowering’. 

IDF incidents (rocket attacks - InDirect 

Fire) suck. Let’s not beat about the bush 

here, someone is trying to kill you and 

that’s never a good thing. The briefs you 

get before you leave do work, but the 

focusing effect of a loud explosion nearby 

does wonders to reinforce the learning 

process. General MO: one, two or three 

rounds of maybe 107mm, 122mm or 

240mm rockets are launched at you, then, 

a bit later, especially when you’re least 

expecting it, they may launch some more 

- devious little beggars! First bang..... 

usual expletives, then the Air Attack siren, 

adopt ‘prone-cowering’, wait… Waiting 

sucks too. I’ll admit it - after the first one 

has landed you get a horrible feeling in 

your stomach just waiting and wondering 

where the next one will be…The All Clear 

is a good siren!! It’s also worth mentioning 

that since drafting this article five days 

ago we’ve had rather a busy time… two 

tribes going about each other (for four 

hours or so) with 50-cal and other heavy 

weapons. Although they are 5-7kms away 

and not in the slightest bit interested in 

you, knowing it’s almost on your doorstep 

(and being able to see the tracer).... 

that sucks! So, Monday; seven rockets in 

one go - a new Camp record! Last night 

(regards to Blue Hughes and John Mazzota 

who were visiting), another five in one go; 

the closest was only 40 yards away. I’m 

sure if we’d have had a bottle of vodka 

we’d have drunk most of it....(but clearly 

we didn’t as the Camp is now dry - that 

sucks too!) 

OK, Body-armour, weapon, bedding, 

roll-mat - check. What else should you 

bring? Bloody flies - flies suck! Perhaps I 

should take one step back; in the summer 

months, April-September, it’s hot here. 

Drink lots, pee lots, wear t-shirts....happy 

days.....oh, and wear a hat and sun-cream. 

Winter: Anytime from November onwards 

expect rain. Two days ago we had the first 

rain of the season. Basra flooded and all 

the power went off....bring a torch too! 

Warm weather and standing water isn’t 

good. Flies and beasties love it, and they 

love you - the feeling isn’t mutual. During 

the day the fly population, I assume, has a 

bit of a kip; come dusk however the little 

WO Steve Beaumont, WO A4 Ops Air Movs 

beggars come out to play. Long sleeves 

and long trousers are a must, as is a good 

insect repellent and bite cream. 

I guess while we’re talking clothes you 

might want to know what else to bring. 

Working days are 0700-1900hrs and 

1900 - 0700hrs. Night workers just tend 

to sleep-off, or maybe wander as far as 

the gym (good aerobic gym and similarly 

good weights gym). Day workers do get 

more of an opportunity to wander out, 

either to the No-Can bar (formerly the 

Two-Can bar....work it out!), the Echos 

(coffee shop), EFI (coffee shop/basic NAAFI 

store), the Pizza Hut, Subway Shop or 

local curry house (I’m not kidding!). Even 

Squadron barbecues are not un-heard of. 

Clothes-wise, bring what you want; you 

can choose to be in civvies every day, or 

not change into them for weeks on end. 

Either way, civvies, sports kit, bedding or 

uniform, plan on a four-day laundry turnround 

time. Sleeping bags? I’ve used mine 

twice. Once down-route and once when 

my laundry went missing. For peace of 

mind I’d bring it, but maybe just throw in 

a summer one. 

Anything else to dampen your spirits? 

Oh yes - the spread of disease…joy oh 

joy! Just how you want to spend your 

down-days - head in pan, sweating like 

a mad-man (no-offence to mad-women, 

and I’ve met a few)? The medics here are 

really quite concerned about the spread 

of cases of diahorea and vomiting (D+V). 

D+V sucks… Poor personal hygiene is 

probably the biggest factor in you catching 

D+V. Don’t worry about all the myths or 

rumours you may hear before you get 

here, just keep your personal hygiene/ 

admin squared away, it’s as easy as that. 

Can I do anything else to tempt you to 

Basra? Well, OK I’ll tell you about the daily 

routine; 7am to 7pm six days a week and 

a wonderful 18 hour swing-shift to make 

that transition from days to nights. Nights 

are typically busier than days, but as with 

every Det, there’s quiet periods and busy 

periods. You’ll have the joy of working 

with the RLCs finest too as there’s an ATLO 

Det. You’ll be provide with Gucci new 

Osprey body armour - but I’m told that 

being shot still sucks - and you’ll have the 

finest ACHE the MoD can afford. 

And the final though ought to come 

from a recent visit by our Armed Forces 

Minister Adam Ingram. When asked about 

manning issues and equipment issues, he 

simply re-assured the assembled crowd of 

Basra Movers and said ‘there is no more 

money, there are no more people…just 

work harder’… 

Yours, re-assured and happy to be 

here, 

Sqn Ldr Dave Ward SAMO Basra 


Life at the edge of the 

APOE Wing RAF Brize Norton 

by Flt Lt Ken Felton DCOS APOE Wg 

Trade Test. No conferring, overloading of the Ramp is an autofail 

but ridiculously impossible loads can be placed in lower 

holds in order to pass the Exam. 

Question 1. What is an APOE? 

a. A small red teletubby? 

b. Alight Passengers Or Else? 

c. A NATO term for an airfield capable of rapidly 

processing and loading personnel and equipment deploying by 

air in support of operations from the home base to the Air Port 

of Disembarkation (APOD) in theatre. The piece in-between the 

APOE and APOD is known as the ‘Air Coupling Bridge’. 

As every well-informed RAF Mover knows, the answer is c. 

Those who did not know, return to the DMS ASAP for remedial 

training (unless you are already on the DMS!) 

With a huge amount of effort going into maintaining the 

Air Coupling Bridge between the UK and Op HERRICK and Op 

TELIC, the primary UK APOE at RAF Brize Norton is being noticed 

more and more as a key Defence asset due to it’s huge effect 

on operations. Therefore, considerable effort is currently being 

focused both on and off station towards developing RAF Brize 

Norton’s APOE capability, resources and efficiency and, with 

CATARA looming, this has taken on quite a ‘head of steam’ 

recently. Those of a certain vintage will recall the dark days at 

Brize Norton when moving passengers and freight were largely 

seen as an inconvenience by most of the Station. This is now 

definitely not the case and the Air Coupling Bridge is now clearly 

recognised as the Station’s main effort, particularly during Relief 

in Place (RiP) periods. 

The first step in this process was the formation of the APOE 

Wg at RAF Brize Norton in May 05 which pulled together all 

those agencies required to carry out the key logistic functions 

required to maintain the Air Coupling Bridge around the clock 

at the Station. The new wing was responsible for passenger and 

cargo processing, provision of in-flight catering, aircraft loading, 

transit accommodation for passengers, mechanical transport 

and provision of aviation fuel - in other words all the airport 

functions of the Station. Air Movements Sqn was transferred 

from Ops Wing and, in doing so, became a major focus of the 

new wing’s effort. The creation of APOE Wing recognised that 

one of the Station’s most important contributions to Defence 

was the ability to move the right passengers and freight at the 

right time to the APOD. 


e Air Coupling Bridge 

What does APOE Wg consist of? 

Gateway House 

Gateway House is the largest Air Transit Centre in Defence and 

caters for and accommodates over 60,000 passengers a year. 

In-Flight Catering 

In-Flt Catering is responsible for all passenger and crew feeding 

requirements on the ground and in the air. Currently In-Flt 

are working at 160 per cent of its normal output which has 

significantly increased due to requirement to ration Op HERRICK 

and TELIC Flts for up to 7 legs instead of normal 3. 

Fuels and Lubricants Flight 

The largest Fuels Flight in the RAF, F&L issues between 1/ 2- 3/ 4 

million litres of fuel a day. It takes about 80-100 tones of fuel to 

fill a TriStar or VC10 so, in the course of a year, RAF Brize Norton 

uses over 300 million litres of fuel. Aviation fuel is stored in 3 Bulk 

Fuel Installations that hold around 28 million litres of fuel. 

Air Support Mechanical Transport (ASMT) 

A wide range of vehicles are operated by ASMT including fuel 

bowsers, toilet trucks, high-loaders, cranes, airfield sweepers, 

forklifts and tractors. ASMT also delivers all domestic water to 

aircraft and provides an RAF-wide training facility. 

Brize Transport 

Brize Transport operates over 370 vehicles and covers over 3 

million miles per year. Tasks are hugely varied but regular work 

involves transport of passengers between Gateway House and 

the Air Terminal as well as their on-move to Oxford Railway 

Station and Heathrow Airport. Brize Transport also delivers 

freight to Heathrow Airport. 

Air Movements Squadron 

Air Movements is the biggest Squadron within the Wing and, 

as you all know, is responsible for processing passengers and 

cargo arriving and departing to and from Brize Norton. This 

makes it a major ‘shop window’ of the Station, the Movements 

Trade and indeed the RAF. The 290 strong Squadron processes 

around 250,000 passengers a year and loads over 24,000 tons 

of freight per annum with it’s main effort supporting the vast 


majority of military movements in 

and out of both Op TELIC and Op 

HERRICK Theatres. 

With the additional pressures 

put on an already ageing fleet, 

a lot more charter aircraft are 

being utilised in addition to 

VC10, TriStar and C17 aircraft. 

Examples of charter aircraft 

are Omni Air DC10s and Excel 

Airways Boeing 767s which 

operate to Al-Udeid, mainly for 

Op TELIC R&R and sustainment 

and are increasingly used for Op 

HERRICK. Air Atlanta provides 

the South Atlantic Airbridge 

operating a Boeing 747 every 

5 days to Ascension Island and 

Mount Pleasant. In addition 

a number of freight tasks are 

offered to companies operating 

DC8, Airbus A310 and AN-124 

aircraft tasked directly to Basra 

and Kabul. Particular peaks of 

effort were experienced during the 

Pakistan Earthquake, Hurricane 

Katrina, Op HIGHBROW and, the now infamous, Op BOLTHOLE. 

Nevertheless, as throughout the whole movements organisation, 

the regular op tempo has risen considerably particularly during 

RiP periods. 

Despite the intensity of operations there have been some 

noticeable achievements. On the Cargo side, the provision of a 

dedicated Consignment Tracking team has been a major success 

and we now achieve approximately 98% successful tracking 

out of Brize Norton. However, it is the APOE’s ability to handle 

passengers that, rightly, generates the most interest and is, dare 

I suggest, the most noticeable aspect of what the Trade does. 

Working with an aged Air Transport fleet does not help the 

situation and a unit establishment based around the handling of 2 

simultaneous movements presents a few moments of panic when 

greeted with 4 aircraft on the ground split across the ‘Waterfront’ 

and ‘Southside’. Despite this, we are currently achieving a 97% 

satisfaction rate according to PRO reports. Of course, while we 

will do all we can to constantly improve the service to passengers, 

the Air Terminal is an operational military organisation and it 

is not particularly efficient or effective to provide BA Business 

Class standard. Nevertheless, it is vital that passengers are 

processed as well as possible and we are constantly striving to 

do better across the Station. A notabl example is the purchase 

of Flight Information Display Screens (FIDS) for the Air Terminal 

and Gateway House which is well advanced and the aspiration 

is to link flight information to the RAF Brize Norton website to 

enable passengers and their families to check flight information 

before leaving home. In addition, reduced passenger reporting 

times have been published for the JAMC to deliver passengers 

and baggage to the Air Terminal as close as possible to ETD. This 

includes the provision for direct reporting of formed units to the 

APOE as appropriate to reduce transit times. In addition, greater 

ATLO availability in the Air Terminal has resulted in speedier 

resolution of booking and on-move issues. 

Hopefully, this has provided an update on what has been 

happening at Brize Norton recently and what life is like at the 

‘forward edge of the Air Coupling Bridge’. Last year nearly 3000 

aircraft movements were handled at Brize Norton with 43000 

pax handled during the Op HERRICK Expansion alone. Never 

a dull day! 


I Learnt about 

Movements from that....... 

Many years ago at Brize Norton, not long after 

we had successfully invaded and re-occupied the 

Falkland Islands we did not have the capacity to 

fly large passenger loads to the FI. The MOD in 

its wisdom chartered British Airways B747-100 

and 200 aircraft to fill the gap. Naturally the 

Movers would need some additional training on 

the In Plane Systems and Load Sheets. A few of 

us lucky ones were selected to become BA B747 

Dispatchers and were sent to the RAFMS to be 

trained by BA and the then FS Ian Berry. A quick 

trip to Heathrow and a walk around a B747 was 

most impressive as we still only had VC10s and 

Hercules at this time. We were only just procuring 

the Tri-Star at this time and they certainly were 

not ready to start long haul ops to the FI. 

So, there I was as the Trim Clerk on days, living it up in 

London, travelling to Brize Norton when on shift leaving 

at 0530 for a 0630 start. Things have not changed since 

then because just like it is today with C17A Supervisors, 

there was a shortage of B747 Dispatchers. In came FS 

Dave Wall the then Sqn Adj, would I be prepared to stay 

behind and dispatch that nights FI Charter as the night shift did 

not have anyone qualified...sounds familiar doesn’t it! Being a 

proud JNCO with a ‘can do’ attitude and now a BA Dispatcher, 

yes say I, no problem. If my memory serves me correctly, the FI 

schedule departed at 2130 hrs or there abouts. Also departing 

around that time was a VVIP VC10 taking the then Foreign 

Secretary Geoffrey Howe to Hong Kong as well as at least one 

other aircraft on the go...sound familiar! A brand new DAMO 

was on duty and was to say the least a little excited or even out 

of her depth with all that was going on. 

B747 Load Sheets were of the Herringbone variety, many of 

you will not be familiar with these, all hand written of course. 

I had my work sheets all completed and every thing added up. 

I started the Load Sheet but was being continually interrupted 

by Ops Staff and the DAMO who at one point placed a Flight 

Folder on top of all my work whilst attempting to field problems 

with the VVIP. This naturally not welcome by me as I was trying 

to concentrate on producing the Load Sheet whilst leaving the 

fresh shift to handle everything else. Yes, errors were made on 

the Load Sheets and I elected to re-write it......sound familiar! 

Just one point to add here, as mentioned at the beginning two 

versions of the B747 were operating to the FI. The B747-100 and 

the B747-200, principally the same aircraft except the B747-200 

took about 8000lbs more payload. You can see what’s coming 

can’t you.... 

By now time is getting on and where everything was fairly cool 

and calm it is now beginning to get exciting, not only that I am, 

really feeling k*******d now. The Ops Staff and the DAMO are 

really beginning to P*** me off by continual interruptions and 

the B747 Captain is calling for his Load Sheet. ‘Nearly finished’ 

I shout and rush out to the aircraft, load sheet in hand, smiling 

at the Stewardesses and proudly spring up the stairs (yes I know 

it’s along time since I sprang anywhere!) to the Flight Deck and 

give the captain his paperwork. He signs it as he does not really 

know what he’s looking at and is really only interested in the 

ZFW. Signed copy in hand back to Load Control, departure 

message sent and down the A40 (not all the M40 existed then) 

and home by midnight some 17 hours after leaving, not such 

a long day by todays standards I know. Thank god it’s swing 

shift so a lie in. 

The following afternoon I drive back to Brize Norton to find a 

note on my door to telling me to contact the SAMO immediately. 

It is at this point that the SAMO asks me what went wrong the 

previous evening with the FI Schedule as Ascension Island found 

two pallets total weight 6600lbs in the rear hold which were 

not entered on the Load Sheet. Thinking back why or more 

importantly how had I missed two pallets off the Load Sheet. 

My belief is that I was tired and had too many interruptions 

and my ‘can do’ attitude, although well intentioned was misplaced 

on this occasion. Luckily, the aircraft was a B747-200 

10 Movements

07 Oct 05 747 Steps struck front on ac Fairford 4624 Sqn Cpl 

when being towed away. 

07 Oct 05 C130J Forklift Tine struck ramp when Baghdad UKMAMS 

being tilted back. Forklift was 

not marshalled into aircraft 

13 Oct 05 VC10 LDV Struck aircraft by Fairford BZZ AMS 

Forward Frt hold. 

25 Jan 06 K1 An empty Tristar Baggage Akrotiri AKT JMS 

RR6910/11 Container (TBC) caught Ground Incident 

ZD 949 by a gust of wind fell of Atlas Report raised 

and struck the starboard wing 

causing minor damage 

07 Feb 06 B747 Noddy reversing a loaded Mount MPA Movs 

pallet dolly struck outer starboard Pleasant 

engine causing significant damage. 

10 Jul 06 C130 Atlas came in to contact with ac ramp. UKMAMS GIR raised 

Vehicle surged when put in 

to creep mode 

18 Jul 06 Atlas reversed in to new UPS Steps Minor damage 

to steps and Atlas. 

19 Jul 06 Antonov Atlas grounded when driven off. Akrotiri Civilian ALM. Lack 

Not put into Trans. 

of supervision. 

16 Oct 06 DC 10 Atlas pierced aircraft skin Al Udied Under investigation 

when being raised. 

which, as stated previously, was able to take a larger 

payload. The only damage was to my pride and 

the good name of the Movements Trade. On the 

Monday morning, I was tapping the boards of the 

SAMO’s office being torn off a strip and sent back 

to the RAFMS, as was, for further training with FS 

Ian Berry. 

Did I learn from this? That is an emphatic yes 

and hopefully those of you taking the time to read 

this will to. 

1. There is a time and a place for ‘can do’. 

2. Do not interrupt or harass the Trim Clerk when 

he/she is completing the Trim. 

3. Do not come to work tired, get a good night’s 

sleep and come to work refreshed. Yes I know in 

the current operational tempo this is not always possible to 

which I refer to para 1. There is a time to say ‘no’ we just need 

to learn to do it. 

And to think they have employed me in Standards for the last 

two and a half years! 

All the above points have a bearing on Flight Safety, something 

that we as a trade do not always appreciate. We all have a 

responsibility towards Flight Safety, after all we will all be aware 

of recent incidents in the FI, Fairford and Al Udeid. Above is a 

table detailing the incidents involving aircraft, ACHE and movers 

over the last 12 months. 

It does not make pleasant reading and this does not include 

the many Atlas incidents and the dropped engine from a FLT 

in Al Udied. The cost of repairing an Atlas walkway is in the 

region of £1200.00. The cost of MT repairs now comes out of 

the Station Commanders Budget. That means another area of 

your station could be deprived of improved facilities to pay for 

your error! 

Managers, are you ensuring that the correct level of 

supervision is being practiced. SNCO’s, are you supervising your 

JNCO’s correctly, are the tasks being set within their capability. 

Every one is different. 

We need to ensure that our procedures are slick and smooth 

because, if we do not get our job correct then this has a knock 

on effect to the crew. HQ Staff, Operations Staff and the 

Engineers need to understand how their decisions affect the 

Movements Operation and the effect on the departure process 

of an aircraft. 

We are all aware that we are under increasing pressure to get 

the job done but there is a time to say ‘no’ or ‘stop’. Nobody 

deliberately goes out to damage equipment or aircraft but it 

does happen. The definition in QR’s of negligence is a fine line. 

Read it! 

WO Steve Beaumont 

Movements 11

The Annual ‘Pengelly’ Football Tournament - 

Joint Movements Squdron, RAF Akrotiri 

Back row standing (left to right). Cpl Taff Tucker, SAC Ben Sweeting, Cpl Mark Vaughan and Flt Lt Matt Buttling. 

Front row kneeling (left to right). SAC Matthew Mills, A/Cpl Adam Hodges (capt.) and Flt Lt Pete Vaughan. 

On 9 September 2006 seven personnel from the Joint Movements 

Squadron (JMS), RAF Akrotiri, travelled to RAF Brize Norton to 

participate in the annual ‘Pengelly Cup’ football tournament. 

The Pengelly Cup is the annual RAF Movements Trade 6-aside 

football competition. It is always a very competitive and 

extremely well-attended event which sees units from all over the 

world competing for the trophy. 

The tournament consists of a number of 6-a-side teams and all 

games are played on a full size pitch; normal Football Association 

rules are enforced. As any participants will tell you, this is a 

particularly demanding physical event which is played over an 

entire day. The JMS team consisted Flt Lt Pete Vaughan, Flt Lt Matt 

Buttling, Cpl Taff Tucker, Cpl Mark Vaughan, A/Cpl Adam Hodges 

(capt), SAC Ben Sweeting and SAC Matthew Mills. All personnel 

were selected from the squadrons’ own RAF Akrotiri league 

squad and had subjected themselves to regular football training, 

physical endurance events and Compulsory Physical Training with 

the Physical Education Flight prior to the competition. Despite 

the fact that we were all in good physical shape, we were not 

tipped as favourites and had to battle throughout the morning’s 

events just to stay in the competition. 

Fully refreshed after a high-carbohydrate lunch, the team 

were growing in confidence but were fully aware that we had 

the favourites to play against in addition to a number of other 

extremely talented teams. Fortunately, the training and selfdiscipline 

was paying off and, as a unit, we were like a well oiled 

machine - solid at the back, creative in midfield and clinical in 

front of goal! Unfortunately, we were drawn against RAF Northolt 

again in the quarter final and the game was a ‘nail biter’ with 

tremendous support from the spectators. After what seemed like 

an eternity of continuous bombardment from the opposition and 

lengthy periods of constant breaks up the wings to attack, the 

game somehow ended goalless…PENALTIES! Credit goes to Cpl 

Taff ‘the cat’ Tucker who played fantastically in goal and saved 

four out of five penalties, which was enough to send us into the 

semi-final against RAF Lyneham. 

Another difficult game was in front of us and we spent a long 

time working on our tactics to stay in the competition. Thanks 

to some excellent ‘footwork’ from SAC Ben Sweeting and the 

‘goal of the competition’ from Flt Lt Matt Buttling, JMS again 

emerged victorious with a very credible 2-0 win - we were off 

to the final! 

RAF Akrotiri (JMS) v RAF Brize Norton - 

the Pengelly Cup Final 2006! 

Word had quickly got around that we were in great form and 

that we had a good chance of winning. We knew we had 

to attack early in the game and keep up relentless pressure 

to build a good lead - this was a very credible opposition 

who had won this annual event numerous times in the past! 

Fortunately, despite the successes of previous games, this 

was undoubtedly our best game in the tournament in which 

we demonstrated solid defence, superb interplay and quality 

finishing in front of goal. With goals from SAC Sweeting (2), 

SAC Mills and Flt Lt Buttling, we were 4-0 up but completely 

drained after committing all of our efforts within the first half. 

RAF Brize Norton were not going to give in easily and they had 

youth on their side. However, despite some excellent attacks 

from the opposition and a late goal, JMS emerged victorious 

but completely exhausted. This was the first time that RAF 

Akrotiri had won the Pengelly Trophy since the competition 

began back in 1993! Roll on September 2007 and the 

defence of the title? 

Flt Lt Pete Vaughan 

OC AMF, JMS, RAF Akrotiri 


JATEU Airportability Section, RAF Brize Norton 

Planes Chains and Aut 

Introduction by Sqn Ldr Pete Biggs 

The Airportability Section at JATEU is the most challenging 

job from a technical movements perspective in the 

entire branch and trade. However, it is also one of the 

most enjoyable as we are the first to see new equipment in 

its development stage. The design advice stage of a task is 

as important as the actual trial and subsequent publication of 

the Tie Down Scheme (TDS), as it here we get the chance to 

influence the design to ensure it is both airportable and easy to 

deploy. However, one of the problems we have faced has been 

brought about by the introduction of that superb aircraft the 

C17A Globemaster III. The extra space and payload has allowed 

us to carry equipment, mostly from the Army, that would 

never have flown previously. Much of it was never designed 

for airportability and accounts for some of the complex and 

seemingly bizarre TDS you may have encountered over the last 

few years. We are now heavily involved in the development of 

the A400M and a special team has been established headed by 

WO Ray Ralph to look after the introduction of publications and 

procedures pertaining to that ac. Ray has done a magnificent 

job in the early stages of the project and it is the first time 

movers have been it at the ground floor and made significant 

input to the functionality of a new transport aircraft. I must 

not forget my current team (detailed below) who have done a 

superb job over the last three years coping with frequent UORs, 

aid to civil powers, and complex tasks such as the new NATO 

Submarine Rescue System. All ranks have approached the task 

with dedication and enthusiasm and have made a significant 

contribution to the operational capability of all three services. 

No organisation is infallible and we are always ready and able! 

to take questions and observations on TDS and problems you 

may have encountered in the field. 

I referred to the enjoyment of the job, and hopefully this is 

reflected in the articles below. It gives a flavour of the diversity 

of our tasks and the interest all ranks take in their work. After 

40 years in the RAF I am proud to have worked with them over 

the past three years and it has brought about an excellent end 

to my long career. 

Airportability Team 

Sqn Ldr Biggs (AP1) SAC Chris Drabwell (AP9) 

WO Steve Walke (AP2) SAC Paul Robb (Weasel AP10) 

Flt Lt Jim Symons (AP3) Mr Mark Hoddy (AP14) 

Mr Russ Foster (AP4) FS Steve Joyce (AP15) 

Capt Osmar Alaniz Cpl Ali Allardyce (AP16) 

(USAF AP5) 

Mr John Bloomfield (AP6) SAC Tom Ellery (AP17) 

Sgt Gary Hands (AP7) SAC Sim Rezazadeh (AP18) 

Cpl Paul Cheedy (Taff AP8) Flt Lt Sean Fothergill (AP19) 

Damaged Chinook Recovery 

In April of this year airportability section received tasking 

from Joint Helicopter Command (JHC) to recover a damaged 

Chinook helicopter from Khandahar Airbase in Afghanistan. 

Flt Lt Symons and FS Joyce were dispatched by C-17 to carry 

out an assessment of the damage and the necessary stripdown 

requirements required to get the airframe back to the 

UK. Arriving in Khandahar under the cover of darkness the 


utomobiles 

helicopter was eventually found in what is affectionally known 

as the Taliban’s last stand. A dilapidated hangar that had seen 

its fair share of mortar rounds and small to large calibre bullets. 

The assessment was made and pictures taken of the damage for 

further consideration back in the UK. 

Once back in the UK it soon became apparent that the only 

method of recovering the helicopter would be to transport 

it on aircraft pallets within the C-17A. This was completely 

unconventional and had never been attempted by the UK 

before. To achieve this the helicopter would require extensive 

strip-down and alteration. This would involve removing: all 

four undercarriage assemblies, the side helicopter fuel tanks, all 

damage, rotor heads, gear box and to remove as much from the 

top of the helicopter as possible to reduce its height. Additionally, 

with the removal of the undercarriage we had lost all the major 

restraint points which would be used to secure the helicopter 

within the C-17A. This was solved by requesting that six holes 

were cut in the airframe at floor level. Our plan was passed to 

the Marine Aviation Support Unit (MASU) at Gosport and Joint 

Helicopter Command (JHC) who initiated the required work. 

MASU would carry out any alteration to the airframe using their 

specialist repair engineers. The strip-down of the helicopter took 

23 days to complete with extensive liaison with MASU, Khandahar 

and JHC to ensure the strip-down was carried out correctly. 

The next piece of the puzzle involved organising the airlift 

and the handling requirements on the ground. It was decided 

that to complete this task the team would require a minimum 

of three hours ground time in Khandahar. This would take into 

account the inbound freight load and the on load of the damaged 

Chinook. Lengthy discussion took place with DTMA to achieve 

this minimum ground time. Finally, after extensive juggling by 

DTMA a C-17A was provided to achieve the recovery. This 

was not a dedicated aircraft but part of the standard scheduled 

re-supply aircraft. In order to organize the Afghanistan side of 

the task Flt Lt Symons, FS Joyce and two personnel from MASU 

deployed by Tristar to Kabul and then in-theatre C130 Hercules 

to Khandahar 72 hrs prior to the arrival of the C-17A. 

The last stage of the task involved carrying out the final 

preparation of the Chinook airframe in Khandahar. This activity 

took 48 hrs to achieve. In order to load the Chinook into 

the C-17A it would have to be positioned on linked aircraft 

pallets on an Atlas transfer loader. This was a tricky activity 

and would require the Chinook to be lifted by a Rough Terrain 

Container handler (RTCH) onto the Atlas. The RTCH and the 

Atlas were highly tasked assets and a great deal of persuasion 

and liaison had to be carried out with the command structure 

in Khandahar and the FMCC. Finally, after a rolling delay of 

many hours the lifting and slinging operation was carried out 

under the supervision of MASU who ensured that no further 

damage occurred to the airframe during this manoeuvre. The 

airframe was now positioned on the Atlas ready for loading 

into the C-17A. 

After a delay of 24 hrs due to a medical evacuation task the 

C-17A arrived. All our careful and meticulous planning and 

preparation proved extremely worthwhile with the successful 

on load of the Chinook and its return to the UK. In addition, 

this task had required the cooperation of a myriad of agencies 

and units to achieve the final aim. 

By Flt Lt Jim Symons (AP3) 

Urgent Operational Requirement 

Urgent Operational Requirement (UOR) - the means of ‘fasttracking’ 

the airportability process to allow an urgently required 

asset to deploy on MOD sponsored air transport aircraft ASAP. 

A ‘get-out’ from the normal trials process, an EXCEPTIONAL 

CIRCUMSTANCE to meet operational needs. 

DTG 120930L Jun 06 

‘Mr Walke!’ came the familiar bellow down the corridor. It 

was the Boss, Sqn Ldr Pete Biggs. Sticking his head around the 

corner, he grinned ‘I’ve had a call from J4 Movs; they need us 

to look at a two Estonian Armoured Personnel Carrier’s (APC’s). 

They need them out in Afghanistan sharpish!’ 


‘OK Boss’ I replied. ‘When do they expect us to 

shoe-horn in some recce time to look at them?’ 

‘No need to worry about that Steve, they’re already 

here. Speak to Stevie Con over at Exports, he’s got 

them’. 

And with that I had just become the recipient of 

yet another UOR. 

DTG 120945 - 1115L Jun 06 

Soliciting the assistance of the JATEU photographic 

and graphics sections, we move out on-masse for the 

Cargo Hangar. On arrival a cursory glance confirms 

that we have not seen them before. Setting the 

photography and graphics team to task (the front of 

the Tie-Down Scheme (TDS) should look something 

like the real thing!), I ask the FS Constantine to 

arrange an immediate re-deployment to Hangar 

92. 

DTG 121300 - 1700L Jun 06 

Lunch is spent creating the necessary paperwork 

to kick-start the JATEU ‘Juggernaut’. The two wagons arrive 

as promised. Now the lads start gathering information. Front, 

Rear and All-Up Weights, Dimensions, potential restraint 

points, details of any Dangerous Goods. All standard, but key 

information required to produce accurate TDS’s. The flurry of 

activity continues, I contact the Movs C-17A Cell, to confirm 

what else is travelling with the vehicles. They advise the offset 

scheme which allows greater load planning flexibility. The 

vehicle is positioned on the Mock-up ready for its assessment. 

I start writing. 

DTG 130800 - 141700L Jun 06 

Despite two days of attaching and re-attaching chains, other 

task priorities and a late request for a centre-line scheme, this 

small but extremely busy team completes the job and presents 

Provisional TDS’s to WO Ray Ralph. 

DTG 150800 - 0915L Jun 06 

After some minor adjustments both vehicles are safely loaded 

to RR6628. Feeling good about ourselves we put the kettle 

on, job done! 

‘Mr Walke!’ came the familiar bellow down the corridor. 

By WO Steve Walke (AP2) 

Welcome to JATEU 

It started with a phone call one afternoon whilst I was living 

the dream in Baghdad, Ah Allardyce you sound happy said the 

dulcet tones of WO Walke, are you still interested in working at 

JATEU? Well after two seconds I said yes of course. 

Three months later and it was day one. Up until this point 

I had never even visited JATEU and though I had a good idea 

what the job entailed I didn’t really know the in and outs 100 

per cent. Having just come from shift at the Air Movements Son 

at RAF Braze Norton this was a completely different role. It was 

still team leading but this was more in-depth. Using publications 

like the 11D (you remember that), you saw it on your controllers 

course and had an occasional look at it through your career. 

Additionally, it also involves using computers. This isn’t second 

nature to me as it is with most people but with persistence I got 

to grips with it. 

Now I am ready to start my first trial as the team leader. What 

will it be, a tank, a rocket launcher? No for me it was a mast trailer. 

After a discussion with the project officer as to the requirements 

its time to get started. Out comes the tape measure, the angle 

measurers and of course a cup of tea (helps the thought process). 

Now its time to take all the dimensions of the trailer and to get 

the JATEU photographers to take identification photographs of 

the mast. These will be used to create a diagram that will be put 

on the tie-down schemes. Next we accurately weigh the mast 

and you’ve guessed it, clear it through the 11D. Happy that you 

won’t break any part of the aircraft while loading, it is now time 

to get on with the practical loading of the mast onto the JATEU 

aircraft mock-ups. This should be easy I hear you say, it’s only a 

mast on a trailer. How wrong could I be. A great deal of wood 

and much cursing about the double axle, it’s finally on. 

Chains are then applied to restrain the mast 

up to its operating weight and then its time to 

check the angles of the chains. We do this to 

find the exact amount of restraint that every 

chain is giving within the system. Once this is 

collated it is then run through our assessment 

program to ensure it satisfies all regulations in 

the forward, aft and vertical planes. Once this has 

been completed the chain pattern is hand drawn 

and the photographers brought back to record 

the mast restrained within the aircraft. All happy 

with everything double checked its handed back 

to the project officer who writes the tie-down 

schemes and report. 

This of course is rough overview of a day in life 

of a JNCO at JATEU Airportability Section. Have I 

found it challenging? Yes. Is it different to normal 

sqn air movements? Yes. 

By Cpl Ali Allardyce (AP16) 


Camp Bastion UKM 

It was a beautiful sunny morning at Baghdad International. The birds were singing, the locals had not 

been mortaring us for several days and there was a choice of 15 different ice cream flavours available 

at the US mess for lunch. Then came the phone call: ‘Hi Matt, it’s the Boss. How do you fancy HERRICK 

again? Camp Bastion. British run, British built, bit dusty. Middle of nowhere. Your replacement’s on 

the way - bye.’ 

Bugger - I’d only tried about half the 

available ice-creams and had yet to make 

a dent in the vast selection of burgers. 

Still, swift to move, MAMS Operations 

had me back in the UK to get a SUSAT 

fitted (never a promising sign) and in no 

time I was in Kabul where the UK element 

of the ISAF Movements Detachment was 

cheerfully telling me how grim conditions 

were down in Bastion - ‘Camel Spiders? 

Bigger then cats down there. Not that 

you’ll have the chance to see any due to 

the constant dust storms. Got to go sir 

- the bar’s opening. Enjoy!’ 

Two hours and one rather rough landing 

later I was on the ground. A mover with 

full body armour, helmet and loaded rifle 

served to remind us that we had landed 

outside the wire and had us off and 

into cover in no time. A blast of dusty, 

scorching air from the Herc showered all 

present in debris and the Engine Running 

Offload (ERO) was complete, with the 

aircraft returning to the (relatively) benign 

surroundings of Kandahar. The heat was 

definitely more intense than up north, and 

in the darkness a jolting, disorientating, 

4 ton truck ride with choking clouds of 

dust reminded us that this was an austere 

environment. 

Therefore, in daylight, it came as 

quite a surprise to discover that Bastion 

is a small but well equipped front line 

army camp with all mod-cons for those 

seeking a government-sponsored holiday 

in the sun. 7 Para Royal Horse Artillery 

run the garrison, whilst 3 Para form the 

main infantry Battle Group for offensive 

operations in the Sangin Valley, just a 

few miles to the north. All other units, 

including chinooks, apaches, engineers, 

gunners, medics, logisticians, HQ units 

and RAF Tactical Landing Zone (TLZ) 

operations personnel are there to support 

the infantry. This was made quite clear in 

daily Battle Group briefings where detailed 

and graphic accounts of the fighting left 

no-one in doubt that we all had a key 

part to play in supporting those who 

were in daily and prolonged contact with 

the Taliban. 

The UKMAMS detachment at Camp 

22 Movements 

Bastion consists of a 4 man team and a 

rather temperamental Lift King forklift 

truck. The personnel usually serve a 

6 week period in location, whilst the 

forklift often manages significantly less 

time before requiring some R&R! Whilst 

the remainder of Op HERRICK has been 

handed over to DWR personnel, Camp 

Bastion remains the responsibility of 

UKMAMS due to the requirement for 

EROs, the harsh environmental conditions 

and because all activity takes place outside 

the secured perimeter of the camp. 

Along with RLC ATLO personnel, the 

MAMS team form the Joint Movements 

Unit (Bastion). Their main task is handling 

of troops and baggage on R&R, end of 

tour and in-theatre movements. Cargo 

is also transported, particularly inbound 

ammunition and spares. VIP moves, 

aero-medical evacuation and, sadly, the 

transportation of deceased personnel 

also occur, but less frequently. As much 

activity as possible happens within the 

confines of camp at the TLZ operations 

tent and Movements Control Check Point, 

but some preparation and the actual ERO 

require personnel to be working outside 

the wire. The Ghurkhas currently provide 

depth force protection using their WMIK 

Land Rovers, with RAF firemen forming 

an immediate armed cordon around the 

aircraft and passengers. Tactical ATC 

ensure that the Hercules safely arrives and 

departs on the rough gravel strip. This 

teamwork ensures that the aircraft spends 

the minimum amount of time possible at 

risk on the ground. 

With a typical day consisting of several 

hours working in the full desert sun, 

at temperatures of up to 55ºC (whilst 

wearing body armour and helmet), air 

conditioned accommodation is a great 

blessing, as is sufficient water for a brief 

‘ship shower’ and the newly imported 

washing machines. Superb meals are 

conjured out of (virtually) nothing by 

the Army Catering Corps - particularly 

challenging when the supply wagons 

from Pakistan fail to arrive or turn up a 

couple of day’s late - and a fridge full of 

cold water seems like the ultimate luxury.

MAMS Detachment 

Flt Lt Matt Stott 

A small shop is provided by the EFI, with 

a weekly jingly market (although with 

only two locals in Toyota pickups, they do 

form a price-fixing monopoly on souvenir 

rugs) and Bastion mail does get in-theatre 

priority. 

Contrary to popular opinion, Camp 

Bastion is actually a very rewarding 

location in which to work and the Army 

really is grateful for what you can do 

for them, with Hercules and Support 

Helicopter crews held in particularly high 

regard. As ever, the ‘B@**#y Movers’ 

come in for some abuse, but when a para 

(who was in contact two hours ago) is put 

on an aircraft home, or when desperately 

needed ammunition is unloaded, I have 

heard it grudgingly conceded by Army 

personnel that maybe even RAF movers 

are a vital and welcome part of the Camp 

Bastion establishment. 


Tallil Air Base, Iraq 

After reading the spring/ summer edition 

of the Movements magazine, I decided 

to follow up the article written by SAMO 

Basra Air Station with one of my own. I 

was the JNCO in place at Tallil Air Base. 

‘Where is Tallil?’ I hear you ask. 

Well, it’s about 100kms North West of Basra 

just on the outskirts of Al Nassiriyah. 

I flew from RAF Akrotiri, my parent unit, on 6 

January 2006 and spent two wonderful nights 

in the Gateway House at RAF Brize Norton 

awaiting my connecting flight to Basra. 

I eventually arrived at Basra approximately 

2100 hours local time on the Monday night 

and was taken by the ‘shifties’ to the ‘daysies’ 

tent where I had a ‘pod’ already allocated for 

me. I spent the next two days at Basra, arriving 

in theatre, obtaining my FMT 6000, being 

shown around station and helping out the shift. 

Eventually it was the day of my flight. I was to 

travel to Tallil on one of the in-theatre Hercules, 

a flight which only takes about 25-35 minutes, and replace Cpl 

Dave Grattan. 

When we touched down at Tallil I was amazed at the size of 

the place, for a station which is so big, with so many people, it 

gets very little press. 

Tallil is mainly American run, with various pockets of other 

coalition forces dotted around. There are around 7000 US troops 

with about 70 per cent of these being US Army, the rest Air Force. 

The US were running around 10-20 sorties a day from C130’s and 

C17’s to Black Hawks and also training the New Iraqi Air force. 

Coupled with the occasional Romanian a few Italian C130’s and 

four Australian Hercs a week, it was quite a busy place. 

Dave met me at the aircraft and after doing the turnaround we 

began our handover. It started with a quick tour of the camp, 

Pizza Hut, Burger king, BX/PX and the infamous DFAC, or mess 

as we call it! (The Americans don’t do things by halves). 

We went into the mess for a bit of lunch, superb! 

If you like ‘corn-dogs’ and burgers then this was the place to 

be, but luckily there was an excellent salad bar and a Baskin’ 

Robin’s ice cream counter. After two days of handover it was time 

for Dave to depart. I moved into his ‘pod’ and settled in. 

We were accommodated in tent F9, within ‘Air Force Tent 

Cit’ or ‘Bedrock’. A seven man tent which had been adapted by 

those before us into a five man tent with a three seater settee, 

48” TV, DVD player and even cable! 

Also within tent city was a laundrette, either service wash of 

self service, a superb Gymnasium, with basket ball and volleyball 

courts to the rear, a library with DVD rental, and ‘The Hot Spot’. 

This is the place to be on a Friday and Saturday night for ‘Bingo’. 

It was basically a big welfare facility with TV lounges, pool room, 

table football, internet access, and a games room with a huge 

stack of board games. All these facilities were free, and were 

replicated in the US Army side of the camp. 

The workload at Tallil didn’t look to taxing, two in theatre 

aircraft a week, one on a Thursday evening and one on a Saturday 

lunch time. However, I was the only RAF mover here, so it was 

all to be done by me. I had an excellent partner in crime in the 

shape of an ATLO, to handle the passenger side of things, LCpl 

‘Mutty’ Muttysira, who had arrived only a week prior to me. 

Between us we came up with a workable plan of action, he 

would check in the passengers and send them out to me, and I 

would build the pallets and load them. 

After the first week, and the first couple of aircraft we became 

quite friendly with the ‘nine-man’ strong Australian detachment, 

of which two were RAAF movers. As my workload was fairly light, 

I offered to help them with their aircraft by driving forklifts and 

netting pallets etc, just to keep busy, and in return they helped 

me out with my aircraft. 

Due to the remote location and few aircraft we handled at Tallil, 

we had no ACHE, and so anything we needed was begged or 

borrowed from the Americans, who, with all their faults, never 

let me down and left me standing on the pan not able to turn 

the aircraft around. 

Just outside the main gate of Tallil camp, but still within the 

safety of a larger perimeter fence was Camp Mittica. Mainly 

run by the Romanians and the Italians but with a small British 

detachment, about 30, which during my time was Kings Own 

Royal Border Regiment. (KORBR). They also had a Postie and two 

Log support guys who often came down to Tallil on aircraft days 

to help break down the inbound pallets. This was also the closest 

means of communication with the rest of the world. We visited 

Mittica every morning and made phone calls to Basra to find out 

what intended loads they had for us that week, normally around 

thirty pax and two pallets on each aircraft. We also checked the 

flying programme on INET to see if there had been any changes 

to the timings or extra flights laid on. 

About 100kms North West of Tallil was Camp Smitty, where 

a 500 strong Para regiment were based, with a small group 

detached to Tallil. Our job was to support all these regiments in 

the form of R&R flights, receipt and despatch of airfreight and 

of course the RIP. (Relief in Place). But this will come later. 

Basically, 2Para would load up onto one of the Merlin IRT 

helicopters stationed at Smitty, along with any freight and 

mail, they would then make the 30 minute trip to Tallil, where 

we would do a rotors running offload, transfer the load to 

the inbound C130, and then the inbound load from the C130 

would be collected by the same helicopter about an hour later. 

Unfortunately, because the helicopters were IRT cabs, they 

couldn’t stay at Tallil for the day, which at times made things 

a bit easier, but mostly we found ourselves waiting around 

for helicopters when we had no idea what time they were 

coming. 

Any loads we built for the aircraft were done on the flight 

line as there was no load preparation area, and we had no 

passenger handling facilities so we often found we had to mix our 

passengers with those of the American passenger terminal in one 


of the two transit tents on the airfield. Because all the coalition 

forces are permitted to fly on each others aircraft it sometimes 

made it difficult to identify your passengers within the lounge, 

especially when half of them don’t speak a word of English! 

After returning from my (well earned) R&R we started our build 

up to the RIP. 2Para from Smitty were to be replaced completely 

by the end of April and this gave us a window of approximately a 

week to get all the new regiment into Tallil and up to Smitty, and 

then all the 2Para guys down to Basra for their flight home. After 

confirming the requirements with the 2Para Ops Watchkeeper 

we worked out how many aircraft would be needed and then 

the Force Movement Control Centre at Shaiba Logs Base gave 

us the timings and routings of each aircraft. I asked the WO at 

Basra if I would be able to utilise one of his men from Basra for a 

week as re-force, and SAC Ricky Deaton was detached to Tallil for 

10 days. After some long and sometimes frustrating days, with 

aircraft going u/s at Basra, flight restrictions due to heightened 

security states and constantly changing passenger and baggage 

figures, we eventually managed to get all 2Para guys out and 

Not the Strategic 

MAMS Review..... 

The last Movements Magazine was all about the SMR. This 

one isn’t (thankfully) but we thought we should give you 

an update on the progress so far. First and foremost, this 

is not just the ‘Strategic MAMS Review’, we know some of 

you out there (and you know who you are) like to keep 

mentioning it. During September, several presentations 

on ‘The SMR and You’ were given across the country, to 

enlighten as many Movements Tradesmen as possible on 

what the Review was all about. Inevitably, we missed a 

few individuals (mostly due to DOT), but the presentation 

has been sent out to all Units on a CD Rom and hopefully 

you will by now have all seen it in some form. 

The presentations will have told you that we have come up 

with some fairly radical measures to overcome the Trade’s current 

shortage of people to meet the operational challenges and that 

we have support from the highest level to enable this to happen. 

This is top level recognition of the key role ‘movers’ play in the 

current operational situation. Also, the feedback you have given 

us shows widespread agreement across the Trade that something 

needs to happen and some of you even agree with us on how 

the changes that need to happen. 

The most visible change is what is happening at UKMAMS. 

The alteration of the Sqn structure to form 1 Air Mobility Wing 

( 1 AMW) has to a great extent, but not entirely, been brought 

about by the Review. This is why the restructuring started before 

we had the authorisation to go public with the final report. You 

will now be aware that there is no longer a MAMF or BAMF, but 

now 44, 45 and HQ Sqns. They have been reorganised in this 

way to provide command and control of the personnel supporting 

the enlarged FU DWR commitment and to continue to support 

the enduring exercise and route tasking. 

To take on all the DWR as planned 1 AMW needs more people. 

Where from - we’re already undermanned for our crisis manning 

commitments, I hear you cry! Well, in the future, Units ( that 

is, MSFs, detachments and some formed units) will lose their 

DWR commitments so that the posts established to cover these 

can be reallocated to 1 AMW. This will happen over time as 

personnel are posted out of each Unit with those nice people at 

PMA making it happen. 

Unfortunately, events have overtaken us and we had planned 

the new regiment in. Thanks for your help Ricky!! 

Now I was inside the last two weeks to do, and it wasn’t long 

before my replacement, Cpl Taff Thomas from foreign Aircraft 

at Lyneham was getting off the aircraft and starting to ask the 

same questions I had asked just four months previously. 

I left Tallil on 10 May to return to Akrotiri. 

All in all I had an excellent tour, time went really quickly. 

Tallil was not really as hazardous as Basra but, but it had its 

moments! Instead of contending with the mortar attacks I had 

to live with the Americans, which sometimes can be even more 

dangerous!! 

Good luck to those who may be lucky or unlucky enough 

(depending on how you look at it) to do a tour at Tallil, and 

thanks to Taff who will be home and finished by the time this 

gets printed. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank 

all those on the Squadron at Basra for their support during my 

time at Tallil. 

Cpl Ben Milner 

Joint Movs Sqn 

RAF Akrotiri 

that all Op TELIC DWR posts would be taken over first with 

HERRICK to follow in short order. But, the op tempo of HERRICK 

increased greatly resulting in a demand for even more Movements 

support. So, it will take longer for 1 AMW to expand sufficiently 

to cover these posts as well. All being well, we are planning for 1 

AMW to start manning the HERRICK DWR posts from Oct 07. 

I am pleased to say that the PMA trade management staffs 

have been very supportive of our plans. They have also endorsed 

the proposal for the 3x3 year posting cycle, to include a tour on 

1 AMW followed by tours away from operational Movements 

role to provide some respite and to enable you have a life for a 

while. We are now in the process of drawing up policy to set 

out how this is to be done with PMA, which will ensure that all 

the requirements of harmony guidelines, personal choice, career 

planning, etc. will be included. 

Just because the changes at UKMAMS/1AMW are more 

visible, we have not forgotten those of you at Brize Norton 

and the other movements and mobility units. Brize is as busy 

as ever, and the additional burden of the HERRICK DWR is still 

very much a reality for the Sqn. We are looking at balancing 

the manning and commitments of AMS and 1 AMW. The SMR 

made recommendations for a more regionalised management 

of MSFs which we will shortly be turning our attention to how 

this might be achieved. 

A Movements flight dedicated to support of the United 

Kingdom Special Forces has been formed. Commanded by a 

Movements WO the flight provides better command, control, 

tasking and generally safeguards the interests of the RAF Movers 

assigned to UKSF units. Policy is being developed on suitability 

criteria, training, career management and support arrangements 

for our people working in this demanding organisation. 

4624 RAuxAF Movs Sqn are now tasked centrally by 1 AMW. 

This has enabled a more effective tasking process with savings 

in time and personnel. 

Finally, but most importantly, the new SMR team (Wg Cdr Alex 

Swift and Flt Lt Cath Baily) are now in place in and working 

on the implementation of the many recommendations and 

proposals. Any queries you might have on SMR should now be 

passed through to us. 

Wg Cdr Alex Swift 

SO1 A4 Ops Movs SMR 


Op HIGHBROW 

The ‘Movers’ Perspective fro 

The evening initially promised the delights of the TELIC 

freighter and maybe a bit of Ex JAGGED FLAME Tri-star 

action, well, that’s what the flying programme indicated 

on shift handover. OP HIGHBROW was a short- lived but 

extremely dynamic pax surge through AKT from Beirut to 

various civil airports in the UK. Joint Movements Squadron 

(JMS) handled 4553 Evacuated Persons (EPs) through 

Limassol port. Of the 4553, 2208 EPs were conveyed via the 

Terminal within a three day period of intense activity. 

The Start 

AKT, as most people know, is perceived to have a fairly sedate 

flying programme, consisting of a regular number of around 6 or 

7 ac staging through the base each week. In addition to this, we 

‘average’ about 20 other ac within the week. Given the unique 

geographical nature of AKT, this provides an ideal opportunity 

to handle the full compliment of the RAFs inventory of AT, in 

addition to any number of foreign ac, APCs, visiting dignitaries 

and numerous ex/op ac. 

When Op HIGHBROW began in earnest, all leave was 

immediately postponed and we reverted to a two-shift (day-night 

posture). The first ‘frames’ to arrive were the Americans in their 

CH53 ‘Jolly Green Giants’. These were closely followed some 

hours later by their in-theatre C-130s from King Faisal airbase, 

carrying the US Marine Corps. This was my first dealing with 

the Americans on a large scale and it was a definite experience: 

getting them to get onto their transport from the ac and get 

away to the accommodation took over four hours, this was 

partly due to the massive amount of ‘fire-power’ that they had 

brought with them - shotguns, pistols, machine guns, mortars, 

etc...troops in fighting trim....and then some! The first question 

from an American was ‘Hey, man, can I get a cheeseburger 

nearby?’ ‘They call them a full kebab with halloumi ‘round these 

parts’, I replied. 

After what seemed to be an eternity getting the Americans 

to their accommodation, I returned to Load Control to check 

on the next arrival - a C-17 containing elements of 27 Sqn and 

the support equipment for their CH47 Chinooks (the Chinooks 

were to arrive later in the evening). 27 Sqn got themselves 

sorted out quite quickly, as they had a liaison already at AKT 

who had been efficient in preparing for their arrival. I met the 

ac and busied myself sorting out the pax, leaving them with the 

‘off-load’ in the capable hands of the ‘mega man of movements’, 

Sgt Raisbeck. Interspersed between these moves were the Lion 

Sun and JAGGED FLAME ac. After the arrival of the Americans 

and 27 Sqn, the ‘ops’ rumour mill began in earnest with various 

conflicting messages and false alarms being generated, as the 

initial scope of Op HIGHBROW began. The final ac was the VVIP 

ac containing Javier Solano, the Spanish UN negotiator. That 

concluded the first night shift! I had a feeling that things were 


from the ‘Eye of the Storm’ 

about to become even busier......and I wasn’t disappointed! 

The following shift witnessed the arrival of the French in four 

C160 Transall ac and helicopters, who, on being informed that the 

Americans had taken four hours to sort their lives out, performed 

admirably in getting themselves sorted out. Thankfully, my scratch 

French learnt from TVs ‘Only Fools and Horses’ and ‘Allo’ Allo’ 

proved invaluable in promoting Anglo-French relations and 

ensuring, in no small part, the success of the Operation. Phrases 

such as ‘Le Forklift’, ‘La Atlas’ ‘Je suis un DAMO (rockstar)’ or 

‘Avez vous any ac paperwork?’ saw me through the day and left 

no room for confusion at all! The only thing remaining was to 

get hold of the UMO for recovery of 6 Sqn and 12 Sqn who were 

hoping to complete their ACP.....unlucky, as both ac operating 

space and accommodation on camp were becoming scarce very 

quickly!! It’s always a pleasure seeing a fast jet Sqn depart from 

stn, if only to make space at the bar. 

The Middle 

The process for the movement of the EP pax was simple. The 

various ships, including HMS York and HMS Bulwark, sailed to 

Beirut to collect UK passport holders and to return to Limassol 

port where they were offloaded by the Joint Service Port Unit 

(part of JMS). Here, the pax were checked by the Foreign and 

Commonwealth Office (FCO) officials to determine those who 

were entitled to travel and those who were not. At this point, 

the EPs were processed into the Republic of Cyprus or offered 

a flight home via AKT. If the EPs wished to fly back to the UK, 

they were sent to the Entitled Persons Holding Centre for feeding, 

briefing, showering (and sleep in many cases). From here, all 

EPs were called forward to the Air Terminal via a UKMAMS/RLC 

MCCP and swiftly loaded to the array of chartered ac that we 

dispersed all over the pan. At each stage, the provision of accurate 

information was the key. Often, a rumour would start as the 

ship left Beirut regarding the number of pax wanting to fly to 

the UK; this would later shrink by a significant percentage only 

to drastically increase again at the port in Limassol! This was 

totally unavoidable due to the hostile environment which the 

EPs had recently endured. When they say ‘you had to be there 

to appreciate it’, I now know what they mean! 

At AKT, unlike BZZ or LYE, the Air Ops set up does not routinely 

have Movs input directly on hand in Ops HQ. This poses its own 

challenges which again requires constant communication and 

complete trust in each other. Similarly, the Joint HQ at Episkopi 

has limited Air Movs input at the J4 level, which created its own 

issues regarding realistic timings to prepare all movs processes. 

If nothing other than ‘testing times’, this also provided suitable 

‘Lessons Identified’ for future ops of a similar nature. In the case 

of the Op HIGHBROW, JFACHQ and SLE with J4/JMS input again 

proved the point.... .’ logistics, it doesn’t just happen!’ 

The civilian ac chartered to convey the EPs provided us with 

a fantastic variation of commercial AT. Ranging from 737- 

200s to 747s, the charter flow also included 757 and various 

Airbus, with pax compliments ranging from 35 to 540 pax. The 

scrutiny and security required was obviously a key factor to be 

considered throughout this Op, and our American dispatchers 

were ‘well versed’ on such protocol, insisting on a full pax 

manifest being sent to their Ops in the US before they would 

depart the airfield. 

The Sqn also managed to get involved in Heli Movs, through 

the setting up of a Heli Mov pax departure centre. This was a 

particularly active cell during the early days of the Op, where we 

were heavily involved in the initial evacuation of the infirm, elderly 

and aeromedical EPs. As the Op entered a sustained phase, the 

cell was the focal point in the movement of VIPs and diplomats to 

and from theatre. The success of this Heli Mov venture was very 

much due to the energy and enthusiasm of SAC Carl Hendy. 

The End 

I have almost completed two years as a DAMO in Cyprus, 

and have done the odd ‘hub and spoke’ move and any number 

of Trooper QTRs and Trooper ‘turnbacks’. All of which have 

proved to be very challenging periods of my tour. However, the 

activity during Op HIGHBROW can only be described as ‘absolute 

bedlam’! I was also amazed at how many people contributed 

to ensure that the EPs were handled quickly, efficiently and 

compassionately. I was also amazed out how many people came 

‘out of the woodwork’ to get ‘in on the action’......I didn’t realize 

that we had that many people within BFC? Probably something 

to do with the ‘mass media frenzy’ which descended upon us on 

day one! Thankfully, I restricted my appearances to Sky News. 

On the other hand, DAMO B (Flt Lt Beccy Screech) managed 

to get on BFBS, Sky News and the Denver Post (front page!). 

Suffice to say that she was suitably slabbed! With movs spt from 

UKMAMS, 29 Regt RLC (South Cerney) and RAF Northolt, the 

Sqn did a superb job, at a frantic pace, and with very little notice. 

On a more personal note, overall I have enjoyed the experience 

of the emergency evacuation and realize that participation in 

this event was truly memorable…I trust it won’t happen again 

during my time as a DAMO at Basra this Christmas or anytime 

in the next 10 years or so? 

Flt Lt Matt Buttling 

DAMO A Shift 

Air Movs Flt 

Joint Movs Sqn 

RAF Akrotiri 


Where have all the Movers gone? 

By Sqn Ldr Scott Rogers 

Where indeed, have all the movers gone? Well, firstly, not off on redundancy but that’s probably enough said 

about that. Neither is the answer prison, nor The Priory for some top quality drying-out action. Some may 

even say that various people might have gone down the ‘Wild Geese’ route and be working for ‘Air America’ 

in places best not talked about…, actually I’m not sure about that last one, but has anyone seen Mr B1 lately? 

Which still leaves the question: 

where have all the movers gone? 

Well, pull up a sandbag and I’ll tell 

you, if you’re lucky you may even 

get an honest answer. Before I 

go any further you should note 

that, unlike the last edition of 

the Movements magazine, this is 

not about the SMR but instead is 

the famous Movs RO ops update 

- our chance to give you the big 

picture, share your pain, maybe 

even show you that we do care. 

Let’s begin with a wander round 

the op theatres. 

TELIC - the op equivalent of a 

slightly doddery old relative who 

smells of cabbage, forces you to 

eat Werthers Originals and loves 

to dance to the Timewarp (ask 

your SAMO/WO, they’ll be old enough to 

remember). UKMAMS have now taken 

responsibility for the Iraq portion of TELIC 

with A Flt in-situ at Basra and B Flt gearing 

up to replace them. The handover from 

NFU to FU manning at the beginning of 

Oct went smoothly and so far, it’s ops 

normal. Perhaps the only down side is 

the presence of Dave ‘Rocket Magnet’ 

Ward (the SAMO) who seems to be the 

sole target of the insurgents. Rumours 

that he’s to be put on the far side of the 

airport in a 9’ by 9’ fluorescent yellow tent, 

complete with ‘Aim Here’ sign cannot be 

confirmed at this time. 

With Basra humming along the focus 

of our attention continues to be Al Udeid. 

It’s fair to say that EID is something of a 

challenge at the moment. Problems are 

occurring on a daily basis, but, I should 

add, this is mostly due to the significant 

increase in workload over recent months. 

Changes to the ac basing plot plus rerouting 

of schedules, and the theatre 

RiPs, have all added to the pain. That’s 

one hard pressed group of movers out 

in EID. How do we change this? Well, 

the answer to their woes is quite simple: 

more manpower. Easy to say, harder to 

achieve. We have, in effect, 

slapped a Band-Aid on EID 

at the moment - more Aux 

manpower (including a 

WO), UKMAMS reforce and 

the flexing of manpower 

between BSR and EID. All of 

this helps; however, without 

being too crude, the plaster 

is beginning to seep a little 

bit and a proper field dessing 

is required. So, more warm 

bodies will have to be put 

into EID in the near future 

so that their steady state 

manning is sufficient for 

the task. 

Continuing our grand tour 

of all places hot, dusty and 

sometimes unfriendly, let’s 

move on to HERRICK - you know, the op 

that reminds you of an overly cocky young 

relative who drinks alcopops, wears way 

too much bling and is in your face all the 

time. As you know, the Trade is currently 

supporting Kabul, Kandahar and Bastion. 

The first two are manned through DWR, 

while UKMAMS have the joy of hanging 

out at BSN. I’ll give you one guess what 

our biggest concern is for HERRICK at the 

moment…no, it’s not the black hole that 

P1Ps keep disappearing into, although that 

does give Mr Beaumont the odd wobbly 

moment. No, it’s our old favourite: lack of 

manpower. By the time that 

you are absent-mindedly 

spilling your food/beer* 

(*delete as appropriate) 

down this page the APOD 

will have moved from Kabul 

to Kandahar. Good news, 

you may think, a chance to 

get away from that nasty KIA 

Napa place. Now that might 

be true, but the flip side is 

that we have had to find 

another random handful of 

movers to support 24 hour 

Tristar ops at KDH. Cue 

drum roll, flashing lights 

and an over-excited middle 

aged starlet…step forward, 

UKMAMS and 4624 RAuxAF 

Sqn, who after all, haven’t 

got much else on at the 

moment.

However, it’s not all doom and 

gloom - we’ve (almost) managed 

to break two corporals out of 

the Aviation Safety posts at BSN 

and KDH. A slack handful of RAF 

Musicians came available (rather 

like a supermarket special offer 

- buy one, get one free), so we 

nabbed them and are about to 

start using them for our own 

dark purposes.... Otherwise, 

life carries on in its own little 

way out in the ‘Stan. We do 

hope to transfer the CATO posts 

from KBL to KDH in the New 

Year thus reducing the number 

of movers in that part of the 

world, hopefully. One other piece of news 

- we’re trying to obtain the short term 

lease of 3 x Rough Terrain FLTs to replace 

those nasty old Liftking things. This will 

be for up to a year and is intended as a 

stopgap until a long term replacement can 

be procured. A potential candidate has 

been identified and is being checked out, 

unfortunately the example shown at the 

recent WO’s conference was lacking one 

minor detail.......tines. We’re hoping the 

real thing might just come with the pointy 

bits attached. 

Those are the main op highlights - what 

can we draw out of that little spiel? Simple 

really, a continuing shortage of manpower. 

The op tempo is right up there and is 

likely to remain so. Indeed, it may even 

increase with, for example, the need to 

increase manning at EID. Supporting these 

extensive commitments continues to cause 

pain across the board, regardless of unit 

size or location. The ongoing transfer of 

the DWR commitment to UKMAMS is 

helping the wider Trade, with approx 30 

NFU slots now struck off the list. However, 

we still have real concerns about our ability 

to sustain the current pace of life. 

From the dizzy heights of my first floor 

office each day sees a succession of crises 

and I don’t just mean those involving the 

lack of chocolate biscuits to dunk in my tea. 

Trying to support all the op commitments, 

and let’s remember, that also involves a 

considerable amount of work here in the 

UK (eg ammo outloads from BZZ), while 

also meeting exercise and admin tasks is 

what they call a ‘challenge’ in staff officer 

speak. But you already knew that - what 

you want to know is what are we highly 

paid, intelligent and extremely good 

looking staff officers doing about it? 

The simple answer is the SMR, but 

that, of course, is a longer-term fix. 

As regards the here and now, we’re 

constantly looking at novel solutions that 

will release more manpower to go and 

fight the good fight. A few examples: 

supporting BZZ with CMLO manpower 

from ALD; releasing Movers from guarding 

commitments at BZZ and LYE; 

extensive use of NHT personnel 

to reforce UKMAMS and the 

MSFs; grabbing every Auxiliary 

that we can lay our hands on. 

These are just some of the 

ways in which we are trying 

to make best use of every 

possible manning resource. 

And yes, we do try and inject 

reality into some of the more 

obscure requests that come 

our way - every request for 

support is scrutinised and 

rejected, if not essential. That 

said, if you have any bright 

ideas please let us know (just 

remember that some things are outside 

my gift - I can’t order the retreat from 

Afghanistan). We may have looked at it 

already but we don’t claim to have the 

monopoly on original thinking (don’t look 

so surprised!). 

Having spread a thick layer of doom and 

gloom there are a few bright spots. We’ve 

laid our hands on a pot of money from 2 

Gp (no, we didn’t steal it) which is going 

to pay for 25 SERCO personnel to reforce 

BZZ AMS, and to pay for more Auxiliary 

Man Training Days in UK - think local 

reforce for units. Rejection of DXP tasking 

for UKMAMS is also being authorised by 

this office to allow them to concentrate 

on op support and the maintenance of 

their Force Readiness Cycle. Lastly, we 

may also be considering forming a crack 

team of Movs-qualified Supply Officers 

who will be parachuted into the areas of 

greatest need with explicit instructions to 

make the tea, collect strops and generally 

get in the way. The idea is to spread fear 

and confusion…amongst the enemy, not 

the Movers! 

1 

Name changed to protect the innocent....oh, 

what the heck, Neil Baldock. 


com·mu·ni·ca·tion 

n. 

1. The act of communicating; transmission. 

a. The exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, signals, writing, or behaviour. 

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them 

collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his 

eyes are glazed. The other guy takes out his phone 

and calls the emergency services. 

He gasps: ‘My friend is dead! What can I do?’ The operator 

says: ‘Calm down, I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.’ 

There is a silence, then a gunshot is heard. Back on the phone, 

the guy says: ‘OK, now what?’ 

Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday I was 

sat down at the computer trying to put together something for 

the last Movements magazine. Yet, here we are again and the 

Editor is once again hanging around my desk asking whether my 

next article is ready! So, here it is, and welcome to the second 

Movs Stds article from the team based at HQ STC. It’s been a 

really busy period since the publication of the last Movements 

magazine. Capt Arry Renton and I have been out and about and 

visited lots of you at your units and in your various roles, and I 

must say, what is obvious to us at almost every location we visit 

is that you are working hard, very hard. 

The problem is that just working hard doesn’t always achieve 

the desired results, and by that I mean that there are sometimes 

smarter ways of working to achieve the same end result. The 

other issue that seems to keep popping up is that no matter how 

hard you all work, or whatever you do, Movers still seem to get a 

hard time from pretty much everyone else. The question I keep 

asking myself, and I hope you are too, is why? If we, as a trade, 

are working so hard all of the time - and being so professional - at 

what we do, how come it’s neither appreciated nor recognised? 

So we come to the theme of this article - communication. 

• Spotted in a toilet of an office: 

Toilet out of order. Please use floor below 

You’ll hopefully recall from the last article we wrote that we 

requested your feedback, comments, in fact anything at all that 

you thought might have been relevant so that we could help you 

do something about it. Unfortunately, although I am in regular 

communication with a few key players at the various units, we 

Camp Bastion ATLO check-in- both simple but effective. 

36 Movements 

Camp Bastion ATLO arrivals map. 

haven’t received a great deal from anyone else. So, my first plea of 

the article is to get writing, emailing or phoning and let us know 

what your thoughts are. Of course, the chain of command exists 

for a reason and any issues should always be raised that way, but 

don’t forget that we’re here to help - it’s our job! 

OK, sounds great, but what have we in the Movs Stds office 

been doing? How have we been communicating the message 

that the Movements trade are working hard and often in very 

difficult circumstances? Well, in lots of different ways actually. 

Representatives from both the Movs Role Office, HQ LAND 

and J4 Mov at PJHQ recently visited both Op HERRICK and TELIC 

with a view to observing the passenger process and offering 

advice and suggestions as to how it could be improved. The 

visit was highly successful and confirmed to me that the Movers 

are working hard and in conditions which are pretty basic to say 

the least. So, without going into too much detail here, what 

was the outcome? Well, a report was raised highlighting many 

of the problems and issues faced and this was fed through the 

chain of command and is getting some excellent visibility at the 

higher levels; I am sure that much good will come out of it, and 

the OOA units should already be seeing many improvements. 

Indeed, the Stds team are looking to go back out and check this 

for ourselves over the coming months. 

There are other issues we have been busy with too. You 

should all be aware of the new PRO form that Capt Renton 

has introduced; it took a lot of hard work to get it where it is 

now and we are getting some really valuable feedback from the 

PROs. You can help too, and this is not just aimed at Brize staffs 

either, when the PRO form is issued (and that includes HERRICK 

and TELIC flights), it’s really important to get the PRO onside as 

early as possible. Make sure they are briefed properly, given all 

the required information as soon as practicable and they are 

introduced properly to the passengers. We see all too often that 

a bad report from a PRO has started right at the beginning of the 

process when he wasn’t briefed properly or in a timely manner 

and didn’t have the required information to hand. 

OK, lots of information from the PRO is probably a good thing, 

but so what? Well, this information is invaluable in lots of different 

ways. We can and do use this information to address issues in 

a bid to improve the process from the passenger’s perspective 

which often can be something as simple as letting the passengers

An example of some well built pallets, correctly stored on 3 

pieces of dunnage. Pity about the fod hazard - can you spot the 

ac nearby? 

know exactly why they are being delayed or -if possible - for how 

long. That said, the passengers aren’t always right, and although 

we take all passenger comments seriously, part of Capt Renton’s 

remit is to write or, in many cases, telephone these people to 

put them straight and inform them why something was done a 

certain way (it’s that communication thing again!). Of course, 

it’s not just passengers that complain. We often hear about sqn 

cdrs out on the units ‘demanding’ something from an MSF (and 

usually wanting it ‘yesterday’) but not actually bothering to inform 

or communicate it until late in the day. Strange then, that the 

answer is occasionally ‘No’ and that it’s the Mover’s fault! More 

of that later though... 

• Outside a shop selling second hand items: 

We exchange anything - bicycles, washing machines, etc. 

Why not bring your wife along and get a wonderful 

bargain? 

We also use the information gained from the PRO Reports to 

compile a list of trends, and this is valuable for lots of reasons. 

If we spot a trend starting, we can highlight it swiftly and do 

something about it, but likewise if we receive a complaint and 

it appears to be a one off, then we don’t over-react and we 

deal quietly with it and wait to see if it happens again. We also 

provide statistics for your Bosses (and ours) so that they can get 

an indication of how the trade is performing in certain areas. 

Additionally, these statistics can also be pushed higher up the 

chain of command, when necessary, to inform those senior 

officers about the Movements process that may have had a poor 

experience themselves and believe that to be the norm, and we 

can often show that this isn’t always the case. 

Earlier in the article, I talked about smarter ways of working. 

What do I mean? Well, having visited a number of MSFs over 

the last few months, we have seen lots of good practises at the 

various units, although admittedly some could be improved (Note: 

most Movements sections are not called MSFs anymore, but we 

use the term for clarity). The recurring theme at most units is 

again one of communication, and by this I mean between the 

unit and the MSF and the MSF and HQ STC (both the Movs Role 

Office and the LSC). On a reactive level, most units are getting 

the job done. Flying sqns meet, work out what they need and 

then inform the MSF without a thought to the fact that the MSF 

staffs might need to plan ahead also. That said, lots of units have 

some form of Mobility Committee but they’re not always working 

smart or in the best possible way. There also appears to be a lack 

of control of, and training provided for, unit users of MSFITS2. 

As the acknowledged Movements specialists on units, it’s your 

responsibility to ensure that all unit personnel are properly trained 

and using MSFITS2 appropriately. 

The AP100c-75 (chapter 10) sets out specifically an MSF’s roles 

and responsibilities, and it’s this document that we, in the Stds 

office, use as a check list when we come to visit (top tip: if you 

haven’t already, get hold of a copy and give yourself a health 

check to see how you would match up against it). That said, we 

are aware that Mission Command on units means that stn cdrs will 

- quite rightly - do things how they want to do them. That’s fine. 

As long as the job is getting done, we have no issue with that. As 

I’ve already stated, our remit when we visit is not to tell you how 

to do your job, but rather to observe how you do it and then offer 

better ways of working if appropriate. The bottom line is that 

MSFs are working hard but not always effectively. The AP100c-75 

is there to support you in setting up committees or deployment 

plans and so are we. If you are having problems getting started 

on units, for whatever reason, communicate that to us and we 

will gladly come and offer some help; you’d be surprised how 

effective a letter and/or report can be at highlighting a particular 

issue when written to the right people. 

• In an office: 

Would the person who took the step ladder yesterday 

Please bring it back or further steps will be taken. 

Another issue we regularly come across is the lack of access 

to, or just lack of, Stop Press Communiqués. These are issued 

regularly but, with the best will in the World, WO Beaumont 

can only send them out to those addressees that he has in his 

database. If your contact details change, communicate that 

fact to us and we can ensure that you are kept in the loop and 

everyone is informed about any pressing issues. 

Hopefully, you will all be aware that the AP3150 has gone 

through a complete re-write and has been re-issued on the 

internet (both SMIs and AMIs). The various sponsors have put 

a great deal of work into the publication both for your and the 

trade’s benefit. We consider this issue to be a good base from 

which to start but we need your feedback as to what you think 

of it. Inevitably, there will be parts that need correcting or even 

some things missing from the document. The front of the AP 

details specifically how to address this, so please let us know what 

you think. It’s a good document and will grow to be a better 

one with your input. 

• On a repair shop door: 

We can repair anything. 

(Please knock hard on the door - the bell doesn’t work) 

Something else we regularly spot on our travels is the lack of 

Movers wearing the official Movements armband. Why? Are 

they hard to get hold of? Are they uncomfortable to wear? The 

Thankfully, this wasn’t one of our pallets! 


point is, it’s really important that you are identifiable as Movers 

- it’s that communication thing again - and the armband is one 

of the best ways to achieve that visibility. However, if there’s a 

problem with it, then we must get it changed. I can help there 

but not until I know what’s wrong. So, if you have any thoughts 

on the armband, or perhaps you would like to see something 

totally different, then let me know. Send in your comments, or 

even better tell me exactly what you want. Who knows, it could 

be your design that gets officially adopted. 

Remember that definition at the beginning of the article 

about communication? Read it carefully and you’ll spot a very 

important word in there - exchange. Communication is not just 

about talking, signalling intentions, or even writing articles! If 

the information isn’t received at the other end, then everyone 

concerned has wasted their time, including the person trying to 

communicate. The message I’m trying to get across is that the 

onus is on you as well. Capt Renton and I can’t be everywhere at 

once, much as we’d like to be, which is why we rely so heavily on 

you to tell us what’s going on - or even going wrong. I haven’t 

met a shy Mover yet, so let us know what you think or any ideas 

you have for making things better - communicate with us. 

Finally... 

A judge was interviewing a woman regarding her pending 

divorce, and asked, ‘What are the grounds for your divorce?’ 

She replied, ‘About four acres and a nice little home in the 

middle of the property with a stream running by.’ 

‘No,’ he said, ‘I mean what is the foundation of this case?’ 

‘It’s made of concrete, brick and mortar,’ she responded. 

‘I mean,’ he continued, ‘What are your relations like?’ 

‘I have an aunt and uncle living here in town, and so do my 

husband’s parents.’ 

He said, ‘Do you have a real grudge?’ 

‘No,’ she replied, ‘We have a two-car carport and have never 

really needed one.’ 

‘Please,’he tried again, ‘Is there any infidelity in your marriage?’ 

‘Yes, both my son and daughter have stereo sets. We don’t 

necessarily like the music, but the answer to your questions is 

yes.’ 

‘Ma’am, does your husband ever beat you up?’ 

‘Yes,’ she responded, ‘about twice a week he gets up earlier 

When we state that 3 pieces of dunnage must be used, this isn’t 

what we had in mind! 

than I do.’ 

Finally, in frustration, the judge asked, ‘Lady, why do you want 

a divorce?’ 

‘Oh, I don’t want a divorce,’ she replied. ‘I’ve never wanted a 

divorce. My husband does. He said he can’t communicate with 

me.’ 

I know, bad jokes all of them, but if you think you could do any 

better, send it in along with any other comments you may have 

to me or Capt Arry Renton at: 

Sqn Ldr Geoff Ingram 95221 6467 

or Geoff.Ingram103@mod.uk 

Or Capt Arry Renton 95221 6866 

or Grant.Renton907@mod.uk 

See you soon... 


The Trade Sponsor is in a hole! 

So what’s the Trade Sponsor been up to lately? 

It has been a varied first five months in the job after taking 

over from Taff Wood, a hard act to follow by anyone’s standards! 

Before I update you on what is going on in leafy Buckinghamshire 

a few Q&As (old sweats skip to para 4): 

What is the Trade Sponsor supposed to do? 

Well, I set the training requirement for the DMS. In the old 

days this meant working with the training development wing 

at RAF Halton and Course Design at the Movements School to 

ensure the courses delivered suited the needs of the trade. Now 

following the defence training review I am officially a ‘Customer’ 

of the Defence College of Logistics and Personnel Administration 

(DCLPA) who are based at Deepcut with their own set of training 

design people. I now have to involve Halton and the school then 

go to DCLPA for approval and more importantly as they now 

have my training budget, money! For those familiar with the 

old way of doing business the new system will seen needlessly 

bureaucratic, that’s because it is! I also brief units on changes 

and developments in policy that affect the trade and using the 

feedback I get adapt our training to overcome any shortfalls. Run 

the WOs’ Confernece and brief the SAMOs’ Conference. 

What does the trade Sponsor actually do? 

Well in addition to my battles with DCLPA I also vet all the 

Establishment Variation Forms (EVFs) that are raised by units, so 

every disestablishment or establishment of movers posts have to 

be signed off by me before they can proceed. This is a relatively 

new task as prior to 1 September 2006 these could be processed 

without any trade input so anyone wanting to make a budget 

saving could chop a movers job without looking at the knock-on 

effect to the trade. 

I spend a significant amount of my time processing nonestablished 

manpower requests with A1 Ops, CMLO. Usually 

trying to find an elusive someone to fill a post left empty by 

someone going on DWR eg robbing Peter to pay Paul. It is a case 

of trying to share the pain and ensure that key posts are kept 

occupied for the benefit of the trade. Most people now realise 

that to make the most of our limited manpower we have to help 

each other out. Unfortunately there are still some unhelpful 

dinosaurs out there with the old ‘if I let someone go ‘they’ will 

assume I’ve got too many staff and cut my manning’ attitude! 

Where possible I try to use those medically downgraded to back 

fill posts to share the pain or make use of local acting rank to 

allow say an experienced corporal to fill a sergeant’s post. Many 

units have been especially helpful for which I am very grateful. 

I also assist with the Movs Standards Visits to units as we no 

longer have a WO employed on this full time. 

I have been out on the road briefing the SMR with various 

people from the Movs Role Office; taking part the PJHQ lead 

Joint Operational Movements Manning and Process Review 

(JOMMPR) which involved visiting both Herrick and Telic locations 

and running my first WOs’ Conference. 

So what issues are causing concern 

to the commanders at HQ STC? 

First and foremost the reputation we currently have for 

passenger handling is atrocious! Some criticism is I believe 

unfounded, such as the recent comments from an Air 

Commodore about the passenger handling in the operational 

theatres, we all know that because of our manning levels and 

WO Duncan Andrews in a crater left by a 107mm rocket at 

Basrah. 

because we are part of a ‘Purple’ organisation we as RAF Movers 

do not handle passengers in Iraq or Afghanistan. Other recent 

headline grabbing comments from MPs and high ranking others 

can only been seen as an own goal, just how important was that 

it that someone knocked off from their shift on time? 

The other issue that gets people worked up is consignment 

tracking, you know the one; VITAL. Yes I know we did not receive 

any additional manning to do the VITAL work and it is currently an 

additional task at a time when we are already over-tasked but it’s 

here to stay and we have to live with. Looking ahead the SACS 

replacement system will be fully linked to VITAL so you’ll be able 

to swipe and it will be arrived and ready for manifesting with 

no further work! Until then we are stuck with it as it is, it’s not 

going away, in fact the more you ignore it the more the powers 

that be will get upset. DSCOM spend a small fortune tracking 

how well we arrive and depart freight on the system. 

So apart from pax handling and VITAL what issues are 

affecting us movers? What else but JPA! 

The list of unintended consequences of JPA gets bigger by 

the day; people being posted out of units with no nominated 

replacement; pay and allowance problems; SAC pay bar sent 

incorrectly; Q annotations being recorded incorrectly and best 

of all, PMA having no-idea how many people are in the trade or 

where they are! We can help ourselves in some ways and keep 

our fingers crossed! 

Things you must do on JPA: 

Register your choice of preference for UK posting. (Do 

not register your preference for an overseas assignment 

via this facility). 

All overseas assignments will be advertised through the monthly 

Chf Clk’s Bulletin and only personnel who respond to such adverts 

will be considered. 

Preferences are to be recorded, as follows: 

1. Select ‘JPA - Self Service - Employee Armed Forces’. 

2. Select ‘Employee Preferences’ - Do not select ‘Employee 

Appointment references’ or ‘Employee Sea Preferences’. 

3. Enter Preference Category. Select either Last Tour of Duty 

(LTD) or Routine or RAF_No_Move as appropriate. Only select 

LTD if you qualify for a Last Tour of Duty under AP 3392 Vol 2 


Leaflet 1508. You must select RAF_No_Move if you don’t want 

a posting! 

4. Enter Preference Priority. Indicate that your preference 

is for preferred Location as PMA will trawl for volunteers by 

geographic location not employment preference. 

5. Enter up to 3 Preferred Locations. Only select UK counties. 

Do not select the regional areas or countries. You do not 

have to express a 2nd or 3rd choice and can leave the relevant 

boxes blank. If you are already located in one of the selected 

counties, you will be deemed to have attained your area of 

choice. However, if you wish to serve at a particular unit within 

a county, this should be reflected in the free text comments. 

6. Add a Negative Location (if you have one). 

7. Enter up to three job preferences. You should note that the 

preferences notified under this category will not be used as the 

prime factor for selection and will be considered as a career 

aspiration only. 

8. Enter Additional Comments. If you wish, you can use the free 

text comments fields to amplify your selections. For example, 

you may wish to be collocated with your spouse/partner (if so, 

enter their Service details) or your own house may be in that 

area. Do not write your life story! 

Bedfordshire 

List of Counties and 

Associated Units for Movers 

Buckinghamshire 

Cambridgeshire 

Essex 

Fife 

Grampian 

Greater London 

Hampshire 

Lincolnshire 

Norfolk 

North Yorkshire 

Oxfordshire 

Rutland 

Suffolk 

Wiltshire 

HQ DISC (Chicksands) 

RAF Halton 

RAF High Wycombe 

RAF Wittering 

MCTC Colchester 

RAF Leuchars 

RAF Kinloss 

RAF Lossiemouth 

MOD London 

RAF Northwood (PJHQ) 

RAF Northolt 

RAF Odiham 

DLO Andover (DTMA) 

RAF Coningsby 

RAF Kirton Lindsay 

RAF Waddington 

RAF Marham 

RAF Leeming 

RAF Benson 

RAF Brize Norton 

RAF Cottesmore 

RAF Honington 

RAF Lyneham 

RAF|Logistic Support|Mobile Supply (MSFs) 

RAF|Instructional Duties|Phase I 

Training at Halton) 

(Instructor duties Recruit 

RAF|Instructional Duties|Phase II (Instructor duties incl DMS) 

RAF|Instructional Duties|Phase III 

RAF|Logistic Support|Movements 

RAF|Logistic Support|ITOC 

Joint|Logistics| 

Joint|Warfare| 

RAF|Logistic Support|DTMA 

(Any Movs Post) 

(ITOC incl ATMC) 

(Any joint logs posting) 

(JATEU) 

(DTMA) 

So for JATEU AP Sect (Air Warfare Centre) you would apply for: 

C_Oxf 

For Oxfordshire 

Joint|Warfare| (use %joint to find on choices) 

Add ‘I wish to work at JATEU AP Sect’ in the free format remarks 

area) 

Don’t forget to click submit! 

Overseas Lists 

For posts becoming available before 1st Jan 2007 the old lists 

are being used. 

For Posts becoming available after 1 January 2007 the posts 

will be advertised in the Chief Clerks Bulletin. 

Trade Qualifications 

You must check your own trade qualification on JPA to ensure 

that they match any paperwork you given by the training 

organisation that awarded the Q, this is especially important 

for lifed Qs such as CAA DG. Confirm that the records held 

by your STF matches your JPA record. There have been several 

recent instances were personnel proceeding on DWR have been 

nominated for courses unnecessarily because their JPA record 

was not correct - don’t let this be you! 

Job preferences for Movers: 

RAF|Logistic Support|Air Movements (Air Movs eg BZZ Sqn) 

RAF|General|RAFLO 

(RAFLO) 

RAF|Logistic Support|MAMS (MAMS) 

RAF|Logistic Support|Mobile Air Movements (MAMS) 

NVQ National Recognition 

Two movements personnel working towards their Aviation 

Apprenticeship through the TG 18 (Movs) Accreditation Centre 

were selected as finalists in the National Passenger Transport 

Awards 2006. 

They are: 

SAC C Smith and SAC J Tooze both from RAF Brize Norton 

There are only three finalists selected in the aviation category so 

we have a very good chance of winning this award (held on 26 

Oct 06 at the Institution of Civil Engineers, London). 


Training update - 

some thoughts on Dangerous Goods (DG) Training 

Concern has been expressed by MSFs that they are 

regularly moving DG by road in the USA and Canada 

but are not qualified under US or Canadian law. FS Ian 

Dewar from the TAC at Halton has been to Heathrow 

on a course is currently working developing training 

to be delivered at the DMS. This is likely to become 

part of the Mobility PET course. 

I am trying to reduce the time spent on DG training 

particularly for Pre-Employment Training (PET) for 

OOA Dets. I have asked FS Dewar along with FS Mick 

Sullivan from the DMS to review the existing training 

and they held a meeting with the HQ STC DGSA, Mr 

John Hughes to look at the statutory requirements 

and are now working on restructuring the way DG 

training is delivered. The initial thoughts are: 

BMT - Retain awareness training. 

FMT - Retain CAA DG. Reduce DG by road training 

to 3 days (removing packing/rail/sea) and increase to 

the life of the Q to 5 years. Rail and Sea would then 

move to the Mobility PET course. 

TMT 1 - Included a refresher DG by road package 

valid for 5 years. Retain MEC (Explosives). 

The Mobilty PET course would be extended to include 

the new Crane Supervisor Q and DG by Rail/Sea and 

CFR 49. 

CFR 49 may become a stand alone course. 

If all of Ian and Mick’s work pays off we should 

have reduced the training time and acheived better 

progression as we progress through the ranks for DG 

training. 

And finally....Passenger Handling again: 

Customer Service - it begins long before the flight... 

Greet the passenger with a smile 

Confirm their destination and onmove details 

Treat them as you would expect to be treated 

Learn to listen 

Under-promise and over-deliver 

Follow-up on promises 

Go the extra mile 

Offer the customer options 

Treat with respect and deference 

Smile! 

If they don’t reciprocate, let your line manger deal 

with it 

You just Smile! 

With thanks to: 

Business Aviation Seminars for Information, Concepts 

and Solutions (BASICS) 

Dear Dan… 

Dear Dan 

Until recently I was looking forward to a cheeky little six week 

det in Basra, you know the score, a bit of work here and there, 

with plenty of sun and maybe a jaunt to the D’Eid for a change of 

scenery. Now I’m being told that they’ve all become Elton John fans 

out there, and honestly, that scares me. I’m a heavy metal man, no 

lightweight soft rock for me! What’s going on? 

Yours loudly 

Slash 

Dear Slash 

I’m afraid you’re a little bit confused, and not just in your choice 

of music (I like both types myself, country and western). The only 

Elton John fan out there is the SAMO, Dave Ward. Since he arrived 

in theatre a few weeks ago he’s been the sole target of the insurgents 

- he’s getting rocketed about every 10 minutes at the moment. 

Apparently BFBS keep playing requests for Dave ‘Rocket Man’ Ward. 

Remember, if you meet him, don’t stay near him.....run away! 

Dan 

Dear Dan 

I’m a bit worried about a certain WO in our Trade who may 

be feeling the effects of old age. I was at the DMS the other day 

doing a bit of TMT and was looking forward to a brief from the 

Movs Role Office. Anyway, the poor old WO left the presentation 

on his desk in the ivory tower. So we had to make do with the old 

boy burbling on about ‘the good old days’, how ‘it was so much better 

back then’ and ‘have you seen the price of incontinence pants these 

days’. Is there anything we can do for him? 

Mandy 

Dear Mandy (or is that Andy M?) 

Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. We’ll be taking the old 

war horse down the vets later...... Seriously though, we’re keeping a 

close eye on him, we’ve taken all sharp objects away from him, put 

a glass for his teeth next to his PC and the stairlift is being installed 

on Mon. Can’t do much about the smell of cabbage though........ 

Dan 

Dear Dan 

I’m outraged, positively foaming at the mouth. I’ve been in this Air 

Force 28 years, man and boy and nothing like has ever happened to me..... 

some thieving get tried to wander off with my natty bomber jacket this 

morning. Did he not notice the hoofing great rank slides? I ‘m a WO, 

don’t you know - how dare some lesser mortal fiddle with my gear? They’ll 

want the shirt off my back next..... 

Mr B 

Mr B 

Don’t panic, I’m calling the Crimewatch hotline now. We’ll have Fiona 

Bruce round in a flash. Are you available for a reconstruction? Hang on a 

moment…we’re getting an update from the CCTV people. Ah…we’ve got 

our man - you might want to have a word with a certain Air Commodore 

engineer. Still, it’s an easy mistake to make, one big thick stripe versus 

your gallopers. Best we keep this one quiet, we wouldn’t something as 

embarrassing as the Air Commodore wandering off in a WOs jacket to 

become public knowledge...... 

Dan

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