Scariest Place You've Ever Served?

[vim_fuego]

Either on permanent/temp tour or det. Can be work orientated or on the razz.

No thousand yard stares whilst you say 'The Stan' in a croaky voice unless you can put some meat on the bones of it.

 

[muttywhitedog]

Did four tours at Kandahar whilst with the Harriers. First night of first tour, I was sat eating my first meal when the whistle of an incoming rocket went straight over the mess tent and exploded about 100m away.

I laughed my tits off whilst sat under the table, but on reflection, that was the day I realised that some folk actually wanted me dead.

Following Sunderland FC has had a few hairy moments. I was at Stamford Bridge in the mid-80s for a League Cup Semi Final, which involved lots of cops on horses keeping knife-wielding Chelsea fans away from us. Old Trafford train station in the 80s wasn't a pleasant experience either where visiting fans were chased off the platform and onto the tracks by Man Utd hooligans.

 

[Dan_Brown]

Several tours inc Op Granby, Op Banner, Afghan, but Basra Jul 07 - Nov 07 (or roundabout) fecked me up:

Several rockets daily at all times of day and night.
Then we got the Phalanx guns - scary and noisy.
Then we got to build our own 'coffins'.

Despite the amount of people that tour affected and other tours too, why do UK Units still insist on testing/sounding the incoming rocket alarm?

 

[busby1971]

FI, Duty whatever, Top NAAFI at closing time, very scary experience seeing young lads dragged back to be abused by some major units.

 

[FootTapper]

IMAR - Iraqi Military Academy Rustamiyah on the outskirts of Baghdad.

NATO compound was about 30 NATO staff and three buildings, tucked in the corner of a base of several thousand Iraqi military. The anti-kidnap measures were so strict you had to radio the ops room before you left one building and radio as soon as you arrived at the next one...

Cool place though

 

[Wobbly_Jon]

Driving on any road in any town or city in the Middle East anytime during day or night, even worse during Ramadan when the rags fell asleep at traffic lights.

 

[Allflapnofly]

Driving Course at big Welsh Base as a dashing but naive 17 just very nearly 18 year old.....Post Naafi Bop and beered up, then somehow forced onto a large coach bound for the Rhondda..... When on board surrounded by a platoon of Gargantuan size Valley Commandoweirdo type Amazonian female of the species, who in unison gave a chorus of "Who's a handsome boy!".....Scared an' Scarred for life....If I hadn't managed to force my way off as we exited the main gate thanks to a concerned and sympathetic coach driver....Well, who knows what the outcome would have been?....So many hickeys on my neck I felt part Dalmatian.....The Gulf an' stuff was a walk in the park after that severe trauma.....

 

[vim_fuego]

FI -Agree with the NAAFI closing time being a bit hairy...and going down the bottom end later at night (38 Fac?) wasn't for the faint hearted or on your own. Also being trapped on a bus coming back from the Herc Bar with a bunch of p1ssed up pongo's who simply choose me to vent on...the bus was met at 12 Fac by rozzers and dogs to herd them off.

Nims - Anytime you smelt burning was a cause for increased pulse rate and everytime someone up front yelled 'birds' when you were at 200' and you felt the aircraft violently jink to avoid you then waited and worried for any subsequent 'No. 'x' engine struggling' call. I never liked hearing 'height!' being yelled either when at 200' in the dark...meaning the pilot was now below that without any outside reference.

E3 - Losing all the hydraulic fluid one night meant a very dodgy approach and landing plus 6 tyres burst. Smelling burning in the cabin meant lots of activity as its a big jet to search and find the source.

Gib - Often as not, aside from it being a bit whiffy on rally hot days, fairly relaxed, until you drunkenly wandered into (in days of yaw) the Buccaneers and the Matlows got wind of crabfat being on their turf...that was when you exercised your right to a swift and covert exit if possible or learned to run faster.

Oman - the amount of tarmac yo need to get up on a full fuel load on really hot days...you sit there watching the runway length markers whizz past and still no 'up-diddly-up'.

Florida - When you play the rednecks at pool and they suggest a side bet...you then beat them becuase their pool table pockets are the size of dustbins compared to UK tables and they tell you the cash is in their car outside...so you stupidly follow and they pull a gun on you and suggest the bet is off. Also going to any bar where mullets dominate...or crossing any road in the first few days of the det and looking the wrong way!

Norway - Finding out what aquavite is and convincing the barmaid you can handle more than the advisable amounts, pushing on through a couple of bottles then sleeping on some steps for a day.

COD Bicester - Using transit there for a couple of nights and on seeing there was a bop that night, getting spruced up and cutting down to it. Then chatting to a pretty young thing to then be rounded on by a massive Mili-tant (Viz) lookalike Army lesbian who threatened all manner of retribution if I continued to try and steal her bird. Odd thing was I don't actually think the pretty young thing wanted to be her girlfriend...but that's the Army for you!

There's more....

 

[Tin basher]

Lucky enough to avoid anything to war like but did spend 5 years at that big Welsh base.

With my strong, at the time, northern accent and as a rugby league loving Englishman with no liking of union, a guy who didn't get or understand union (Still don't) any bar was a potential issue, East camp Naafi boops were to be avoided for reasons mentioned earlier. I arrived at Cardiff station as a British citizen and left 5 years later never more committed to being an Englishman after all the anti.

 

[E Flammis]

Bishops Court NI 74-76 bandit country. The Down Patrick commandos, Ladies Division, came to the NAAFi bop every Saturday night looking for a husband to escape from that Godforsaken country. There local IRA planted a milk churn next to the NAFFI games room outside wall. The Army tried to get its little tractor thing up the steep hill to blow the top off the milk churn. However, the explosion took down the wall as well as the milk churn lid. At least we got a new snooker table. We were in the local rugby team league we had to get changed into our rugby kit to inspect all vehicles entering the camp before the game. They were more interested in kicking the shit out of us than playing rugby. One Sunday morning a looked out of the Fire Station and saw a person, hood up going up to the NAFFI, he looked suspicious to me so I took my pistol out of the fridge (!!) and crept out of the building. I challenged him and he shouted, ' Mother was of God i'm the duty electrician'. One of fridges went tits up during the night, we both were glad it never came to anything serious. Give NI back to he Irish tow it out into the Atlantic and sink it.