airboatr wrote:
DIsclaimer:
although these are unwritten laws of the forum ( my perception anyway)
If you can take it. don't dish it out
if your being picked on , it probably because they like ya.... but then again maybe not
Well Joe, let me see if I can explain this......
Many years ago my mates and I found ourselves on a large US airbase somewhere in Europe. We had a few days RnR and were invited to visit
It was a big base...shopping mall, bowling alley, cinema and burger bars...where mum and the kids eat their burgers whilst dad sits in full combats, carrying an M16 and wearing a respirator because the tannoy had announced a gas attack...the tannoy also regularly announced that 'steel rims must be worn at all times'......to us this was surreal
I should mention at this point that back then (it might still be true) the US military in Europe were strongly discouraged from fraternising with British service personnel and under no circumstances were they to go drinking with them (us) We'd heard this from a few sources, so assumed it was true
So anyway, we found the bar and decided to go through the cocktail list starting at the top...the cocktail shaker man was not well pleased..I don't know why, we were only ordering eight of each
We took a corner table, kept to ourselves and spent a pleasant evening doing what British squaddies do....although I'm not sure the 'dance of the flaming ars***les went down too well...must have been a cultural thing
Sorry Joe, to get back to your point...later in the evening we were approached by US Military Policemen. The first thing they asked was 'Why is your buddy under the table and why are you kicking him...?' Our response was 'He's our mate and it's his birthday.....'
So there you have it
As a postscript I should add that the next day the US Military got back at us. Apparently eight F4s needed instrument checks and we were kitted out and sat in the back seat. 30 minutes of bone-shaking terror with the jock saying 'Don't puke in that mask boy....'
The day after that we were invited for a chat with our CO......
ATB,
Derek
