A tale from days gone by!

[insty66]

I am posting this with the authors permission, it is not my tale and I am not in it. I just thought it was too good not to be sharedDT_Xtremez_14:

Remember the Good Old days of the cold war where nuclear destruction was just around the corner. We used to exercise our a**s off.

During Exercise Lionheart the Rock Apes decided the station needed livening up and that all the various armoured vehicles scattered round Laarbruch should be gathered together and used to attack the station. As I was looking after the hoards of Cross Servicing Loading that never happened, I was invited to take command of a Saracen (crewed by DB, PB and me) and told to attack XVs site along with some REs.

Being a well organised plan as soon as we entered Laarbruch via a Crash Gate near the Bloodhound site, our happy band were told to go and shoot up 20 Sqn instead. So off we went, me manning the 30 cal in the turret, PB in the back with a SLR sticking out one vision hole and a Storno out the other and DB driving.

On the Ring Road our small convoy was overtaken by Stirling Moss driving a Mini. He promptly missed the turning for 20 and slammed on the anchors This forced our tanks to do the same. Unfortunately armoured vehicles don't stop as quick as Minis and avoiding action was need to prevent a RTA. DB managed to swerve of the road and came to a grinding halt inches from the wall of 20 Sqns soft. We had no comms inside the Saracen so DB just engaged reverse and promptly reversed into another Saracen. With the reactions of a racing snake DB engaged forward and promptly drives through the barbed wire fence surrounding 20. By now DB was battle mad and despite me kicking him in the back of his head he decided to run over what he believed to be a burning tyre (cpx bomb crater) on the taxiway. Unfortunately the burning tyre was in fact half a 45 gallon drum filled with burning fuel. DB drove straight at it. Seeing what was coming I ducked in the turret but the first PB knew of it was when flames shot round the door seals and the vision slots.

We carried on our way along the taxiway, on fire, leaking fluids and dragging 20 meters of barbed wire fence, before the Saracen finally gave up the ghost. Needless to say we were in the poo. The exercise had to be suspended because we had totally fodded 20s site. Imagine our surprise the next day when we were told that the Rocks had no permission to launch the armoured foray and the only bloke in the clag was OC Regiment.

Happy days

If you recognise yourself pm me with your surname and I'll put you in touch with the author, if he wants to speak again that is!!

 

[Tin basher]

During Exercise Lionheart the Rock Apes decided the station needed livening up Yes they did the barstewards. A young J/T Tin Basher was plucked from his structures bay in South Wales and after many hours of travelling, waiting about, being yelled at by our khaki clad friends, etc. was plonked into the Lionheart /Bravedefender exercise at rainy Laarparts. (Held in 1984 for you young un's) The rocks did liven up the place up particularly the station cinema by chucking thunderflashes around the inside to stop us techies nodding off during a brief. Spent two weeks wearing rubber face welly and freezing my @rse off guarding the bomb dump for the bl00dy plumbers who where to busy playing uckers and pool to go outside in the cold the tw@ts. I remember the exercise being suspended for a while but never knew why until reading your post. Top egg banjo's though. Thrown through the Mally window to just for good measure on that trip as well. I also remember 51 Field "discussing" the seating arrangments in the Mally with the rocks when the rocks came back on camp. Happy daysDT_Xtremez_42:

 

[Vendee]

Here is one of my favourite Laarbruch exercise memories:-

It was 1981 and TACEVAL was in full swing. I was in the II (ac) sqn engineering HES. The air raid warning sounded and the already crowded HES filled up with even more people taking shelter from the raid. Everyone is masked up and the HES is lit in dim red "after dark" lighting.

In dashes a masked figure who I recognise as one of the squadron's fairy corporals. After he has caught his breath, he turns and starts talking to the figure standing next him :- "Fu$king hell, its fu$cking slippy out there. I've just driven the new sherpa into the HES wall. Still, I'll get one of the riggers to bash it out and slap on some green paint and no one will know the fu$cking difference!

A few minutes later, the all clear sounds and everyone takes their mask off. Our mortified corporal discovers that the person he was talking to was WO i/c MT section. Priceless.