Character building experiences of service life

[CaptMoonbeam]

Whatho all

Apologies if its a bit long winded, I've a change of circumstances lately which gave me the time to catch up and gasbag with some mates over the “character building" jobs that service life threw at us over the years.

One of mine too good not to share with the Mess here was a deployment as a “surge,” to bolster a capability in theatre. Although being in the middle of a “dry” season, I wasn’t there for long enough to feel deprived of the creature comforts of home, and as an officer I'd give those already in-country a break. So I put my hand up for the s___est of the s___ jobs; supervise the double destruction of paper documents that Headquarters generates.

So once the documents had gone through the shredder, it needed to be burnt.

Now, this camp was quite “rough,” with no running water. And there was quite a bit of “solid” waste, especially from the s___house (latrines, or heads, if you like).

This waste was collected and slopped into an old 44 gallon drum. For burning. Once some petrol got the s___ going, another “willing volunteer, not” would put in the shreds by the handful – my job was to keep the flames burning by stirring in the shreds with a stick, an old broom handle. There was a certain art to ensure a stirring motion got the flames to the material so it was evenly destroyed a second time without catching the draft upwards. Care was needed to not smother the flames; or let the stick catch on fire, as it was the only broom handle we had.

This made me an actual “flaming s___-stirrer,” a badge of honour I proudly hold.

I look forward to hearing your great experiences of service life.


Capt Moonbeam
Terry

[BobP]

Brings back memories of Viet Nam. We didn't have a shreader so had to burn all our classified material. The incenerator ran non stop and we used 55 gallon drums to burn more. Being 19 I guess I grew up pretty fast in those days. As we say "been there, done that".

[Gangleader147]

Being based in Germany someone higher up decided to volunteer the regiment to clear up all the fallen leaves around all regiments married quarters after we had cleared the camp. Upon completion it looked odd so we had to go and collect the leaves and spread them back on the ground.

Then sweeping dust off the gravel.....