Happy Birthday Rod....

Happy Birthday Rod, enjoy your day & have many more.....Neville.

Joined December 56' Graduated to 9th Lancers from Cambria. Met up with regiment in Detmold. Rode drum horse at the amalgamation of 9th and 12th in 1960. Nicknamed Topper now lives in USA from 73 to current. Duel nationality. Any correspondence from any of old cadets? Welcomed welcomed welcomed. Still keep in contact with a lot of old cadets and 9th/12th lancers.

Welcome to the site Jim. Hope someone will know you but in the meantime look through the Gallery as there maybe a few on there that you may recognize.

Copied from a Tanky website. Thought you might want to remember the old days.

This may apply too some of you

When you visit the National Army Museum, and your kit is in a glass case your No. 2 Dress shirt had a detachable collar.When bayonet fencing was an integral part of a PT lesson.

Sadly, I just need to look in the mirror or When you are talking about ARVs - and the one in your head is the Centurion. When you got issued 'new Army swimming trunks!


You remember Long John Silver when he had an egg on his shoulder and your 'sleeping system' was a couple of blankets, half a dozen blanket pins and a gas cape.

When your regiment or unit have been amalgamated or renamed twice and you and your OC are the only serving members of the original regiment/unit.
when the new QM does his handover/takeover and signs for you or When AFV recognition consisted of being able to tell the difference between a T54/55 and a T-62. still have a SOXMIS card.


Compo Chicken Curry and RAOC Bread with "Friday" on the wrapper - no indication of which Friday though. When 'Puttees' replaced 'Gaitors' Sleeping with one eye open to avoid getting 'bed ended'( tankey )

Compo came in tins (Tiffin and boiled sweets anyone??)

When all army vehicles were painted gloss green.The Fire Barrow!...........and the fire piquet. Charging round with a handcart and a hose, as the fully kitted out German Feuerwehr looked on in curiosity and mild amusement.When your first vehicle was a Commer Repair Vehicle

When you remember TV adverts to 'Join The Professionals' which showed squaddies miming laying a chickens' egg to a bemused German farm frau. When the SMG fired bulleted blank. When the sqn signaller was known as the 'wireless operator'
10 DM to the Pound, flared jeans and hoopy tank tops off duty, deciding whether or not to go for VHS or Betamax format in the SKC shop and a tax free Datsun.9 Finding out that the new nig is from plymouth.


active edge call out's at 4 in the morning, and not answering the door once you were a pad. The Red Shield wagons that followed you everywhere, until the NAAFI got them banned from camp. Who was the old German guy who drove the Red Shield wagon on Soltau? He knew exactly where you would be, even though your wagons were cammed up.

Evaporated milk. It was f****** awful. Coffee or tea (Guardroom brews always tasted the same) in a brown stained 57 pattern mug which had been in the guardroom since '1944.The loose tea and sugar or 'Acquiring' one of those AFV crew parkas

Standing in line waiting for your dosh - "pay and paybook correct sir!" salute, about turn and **** off smartly out the door!! You used a floor bumper Not only on the floors, but on the guardroom ceiling with one in each hand.....

with your Sir Stanley Mathews blue pt shorts and rolled down green socks onto thin trusty plimsolls Cleaning a spider barracks window with Windolene pink cream First three 238, initially wore BD and denims with blancoed webbing.
Issued brass/nickel cap badge with Kings Crown on the top.
On Stag with only a pick helve. Only got stickman once!
Most AFs completed by hand
Bedford QLs and RLs, Champs, Commers and Fordsons, Matadors and Churchill AVREs up the road in BAOR.
Going home on leave on steam trains


When yer R.S.M on his parade doesnt shout at yer get yer hair cut....because yer dont have any hair anymore... I can remember when Minis and Morris Travelers were used as staff cars.





just a bit of fun lads

Read more: https://fearnaught3.proboards.com/thread/983/old-sweat#ixzz4lxpknem8

Re: This may apply too some of you.
I think it applies to all of us Charlie.
A good read.

Those were the days Charlie plus the messy job of pouring very hot water down Browning barrels after firing to start the cleaning process.........

I remember the visitors course I was responsible for. We were cleaning the obturators after firing using the recommended method of using OM13 and rubbing very hard. One of them said I designed those and promptly used a wire brush.
When we thought about it these things were made of hardened steel.

I can't remember much of the above but I must have led a protected life. I did run away from Boy's Squadron with Henry Bradshaw. We 'borrowed' a yacht from the river in Wareham and sailed ( slowly) to Poole where we were arrested.
That was the most exciting time of my 25 years.

Was'nt Henry Bradshaw a vicar's son?

Henry was a vicars son. They lived very close to the Norfolk Broads which is where he learnt to sail. He also stood out amongst us lot with his very 'posh' voice. Quite a character when you got to know him.

Two corporals died in tank explosion in firing exercise, coroner hears
Matthew Hatfield and Darren Neilson of the Royal Tank Regiment died from injuries at Castlemartin range, west Wales
A Challenger 2 tank.
No other tank was involved and the Challenger 2 was not hit by a shell.
Two British soldiers died after an explosion in their tank during an exercise at a firing range, a coroner has been told.

Cpls Matthew Hatfield and Darren Neilson of the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) died from injuries they suffered at the Castlemartin range in Pembrokeshire, south-west Wales, on 14 June.

At the brief opening to their inquest it emerged that the cause of Hatfield’s death is believed to be burns, while Neilson suffered a cardiac arrest as a result of blast-related injuries.

DCI Ross Evans of Dyfed-Powys police said the emergency services were called to an explosion at the range at 3.30pm.


Guardian Today: the headlines, the analysis, the debate - sent direct to you
Read more
He said Neilson, 31, of Preston, Lancashire, was the tank commander and is believed to have been in the turret at the time of the blast. Hatfield, 27, from Amesbury, Wiltshire, was loading practice ammunition.

Both men were married with one child and had served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both were identified by their wives, Birmingham and Solihull coroner’s court was told.

Evans said: “At 3.30pm on Wednesday 14 June, the emergency services were summoned to Castlemartin – an MoD [ministry of defence] firing range, in Pembrokeshire.

“Prior to that, a training exercise had been taking place. Four men were taken to hospital and two have since passed away. An investigation has commenced.”

Louise Hunt, the senior coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, was told that the police and Health and Safety Executive were working closely with the MoD “to prevent any repeat incident”.

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Evans said the MoD defence safety authority was not expected to finish its investigation until February.

The coroner released the men’s bodies for funerals. One of Hatfield’s relatives told the coroner: “I’m glad now I’ve got Matthew back.”

Based in Tidworth, Wiltshire, the RTR is the oldest tank unit in the world. On 7 June the regiment, whose motto is “Fear naught”, posted on its Facebook page that Badger squadron had arrived in Castlemartin for its annual firing period.

On 11 June an update showed a video of a tank firing on the range. The accompanying post said: “FIRING! Here a crew from BADGER take on a tank target in Castlemartin. FEAR NAUGHT.”

It is understood the accident involved a Challenger 2 tank. No other tank was involved, and the Challenger was not hit by a shell. A worldwide ban on tank live-firing exercises involving British troops remains in place.

Paying tribute to the two men after their deaths, Lt Col Simon Ridgway, commanding officer of the RTR, said: “They were both exceptionally talented soldiers who loved what they did. The regiment has lost two real characters and feels truly honoured to have served with them; they will both be sorely missed.”

A pre-inquest review will take place on 12 February and a provisional date of 2 July next year for a full inquest has been set.

Hunt said she had been “directed to conduct the inquests” by the chief coroner, Judge Mark Lucraft QC.