Trade Ailments

[Jim_P_Pulfrew]

As an officially decrepit old git I was sat in the Quacks this morning and a notice told me to let my GP know if I was a Military Veteran, so I did. He then informed me that if I could attribute the difficulty I was experiencing to my time in the mob, it is now NHS Policy to bump Veterans up the waiting lists. Useful info indeed!

So having organised my latest batch of tests and embarked on my 45 minute journey to work, I got to wondering if there was a link - and there potentially is a very strong one (there is something wrong with my spine which makes me walk like a wonky drunk bloke and other unpleasantness we won't go into).

I was a Tornado Sumpy for 20 odd of my 30 years in and it was considered to be part of the job to have bouts of lower back pain, due to the height of the RB199 from the floor requiring a stooped or limbo type stance to be adopted - especially when working on Nozzle or Bucket motors. But how would you prove it? Remembering that during the HP Compressor shortage we were doing two or three engine changes on rob chits a night plus all the other stuff - and by the end of the week the whole team could cheerfully say that 'their backs were in bits' ain't going to cut it with SPVA.

But proving my particular circumstance is not what this thread is about. It is about me thinking that many trades - and therefore many veterans - had there own specific 'trade ailments' such as:

Gunners (especially the old Bofors AAA rocks) have/had deafness issues. GDT Rocks are susceptible to upper respiratory problems because of prolonged CS exposure.

Armourers (and a lot of Sumpies) have knee problems.

Riggers used to be very prone to skin disease especially if they spent a lot of time with Skydrol.

POL staff also suffered skin difficulties

Firemen had some exposure to asbestos and so suffer the effects of that.

And one which may cause some 'lively debate' - Shineys with RSI.

All these and I dare say many others are 'known about' in an anecdotal form, but have any of these things ever been properly investigated and compared to Joe Public? Who would do such a survey? What would it prove we don't already know and what use could the results be put to?

I know we all cheerfully put our pink bits in the way of harm and with some humour attached to get us by - I remember the first EHT coming out to a base we operating from in Afghanistan before the yanks made it their biggest base over there and going pale because we were kipping in a hangar and waking up covered in dust every morning from the asbestos roofing and one wag saying it was just a way of the RAF getting around not providing us with nomex flying kit.

Apologies if this has been done before - me and the search box do not seem to have a positive relationship. And I must reiterate that this is not about me claiming vast amounts of compensation and disability pensions etc, if I ever need to go down that route it will be with somebody like the RBL with a hefty donation at the end of it all. I am just very interested to know what others think.

Jimps

 

[Kryten]

I wonder if any other members of the non-sploosher side of what was TG14 suffer from bad eyesight? Since I stopped looking through a stereoscope I swear to God that my eyesight has gotten worse - to the point of suffering from migraines....

Mind you, the same symptoms could also be blamed on certain nightly activities involving A Dyson, a tub of swarfega and the 1998 edition of FHM's 100 Sexiest Women......

 

[Barch]

A lot of ailments are very possibly down to maintenance and work practices that us old gits undertook with no thoughts to our future health.

Whilst working on the Jetstream line we were exposed to the very high pitch noise from the propellers for probably around 4 hours each working day. I have since been told that the recommended exposure time was a maximum of 40 minutes in eight hours within 10 yards of a running engine.

No wonder my hearing is shot - proving why is a different matter.

 

[techie_tubby]

There's the strange occurence of TG3 Radar techs having mostly baby girls. Working around all that RF must do some damage to your knackers. Has the MoD ever investigated it?

 

[rest have risen above me]

Apparently a lot of Leckies have problems with Distemper.

 

[Stevienics]

Curiously, those who regularly changed NWS motors on the flick knife can walk around a room with their eyes shut and feast on moths.

 

[shettie]

There's the strange occurence of TG3 Radar techs having mostly baby girls. Working around all that RF must do some damage to your knackers. Has the MoD ever investigated it?

I can relate to that - all the Jafads I knew had girls... Something about the male sperm being weaker and were fried by the RF...

 

[Barch]

Apparently a lot of Leckies have problems with Distemper.

Don't forget the fleas and worms.

 

[briggfairy]

there doe's seem to be a high number of ac techies with joint problems from most prob from working in exposed cramped conditions often in akward / painful poses for hour after hour after hour, most people who have worked on hawks spend most of their day on their knees wearing out the cartilage to the point where it stops hurting.

that said a top secret building at a top secret istar base where people are normally chained to their desk to prevent them running off screaming is said to provide 70% of the entire stations physio patients.

 

[Jim_P_Pulfrew]

there doe's seem to be a high number of ac techies with joint problems from most prob from working in exposed cramped conditions often in akward / painful poses for hour after hour after hour, most people who have worked on hawks spend most of their day on their knees wearing out the cartilage to the point where it stops hurting.

that said a top secret building at a top secret istar base where people are normally chained to their desk to prevent them running off screaming is said to provide 70% of the entire stations physio patients.

As an ex-Hawk FLM and a Tight Head Prop of many many years I am double, nay treble done for then! Which brings me to another question, how much does having Wednesday Afternoons off for sport (though from what I read that is practically as dead as five pints at supper time is) compare to Joe Public a lot of whom probably don't even run for a bus from the time they leave school? Does that make us more susceptible to muscular-skeletal problems?

Jimps

 

[Kryten]

I can relate to that - all the Jafads I knew had girls... Something about the male sperm being weaker and were fried by the RF...

Ironic - on Shiney II during the GR1A days, everyone involved in degaussing the VHS cassettes ended up siring multiple offspring......it was like some kind of electro-magnetic insemination device.....I don't think it happened on the Stabbed Cat side of the house though, given that they indulged in rampant man love....

 

[stereolab]

As an officially decrepit old git I was sat in the Quacks this morning and a notice told me to let my GP know if I was a Military Veteran, so I did. He then informed me that if I could attribute the difficulty I was experiencing to my time in the mob, it is now NHS Policy to bump Veterans up the waiting lists. Useful info indeed!

So having organised my latest batch of tests and embarked on my 45 minute journey to work, I got to wondering if there was a link - and there potentially is a very strong one (there is something wrong with my spine which makes me walk like a wonky drunk bloke and other unpleasantness we won't go into).

I was a Tornado Sumpy for 20 odd of my 30 years in and it was considered to be part of the job to have bouts of lower back pain, due to the height of the RB199 from the floor requiring a stooped or limbo type stance to be adopted - especially when working on Nozzle or Bucket motors. But how would you prove it? Remembering that during the HP Compressor shortage we were doing two or three engine changes on rob chits a night plus all the other stuff - and by the end of the week the whole team could cheerfully say that 'their backs were in bits' ain't going to cut it with SPVA.

But proving my particular circumstance is not what this thread is about. It is about me thinking that many trades - and therefore many veterans - had there own specific 'trade ailments' such as:

Gunners (especially the old Bofors AAA rocks) have/had deafness issues. GDT Rocks are susceptible to upper respiratory problems because of prolonged CS exposure.

Armourers (and a lot of Sumpies) have knee problems.

Riggers used to be very prone to skin disease especially if they spent a lot of time with Skydrol.

POL staff also suffered skin difficulties

Firemen had some exposure to asbestos and so suffer the effects of that.

And one which may cause some 'lively debate' - Shineys with RSI.

All these and I dare say many others are 'known about' in an anecdotal form, but have any of these things ever been properly investigated and compared to Joe Public? Who would do such a survey? What would it prove we don't already know and what use could the results be put to?

I know we all cheerfully put our pink bits in the way of harm and with some humour attached to get us by - I remember the first EHT coming out to a base we operating from in Afghanistan before the yanks made it their biggest base over there and going pale because we were kipping in a hangar and waking up covered in dust every morning from the asbestos roofing and one wag saying it was just a way of the RAF getting around not providing us with nomex flying kit.

Apologies if this has been done before - me and the search box do not seem to have a positive relationship. And I must reiterate that this is not about me claiming vast amounts of compensation and disability pensions etc, if I ever need to go down that route it will be with somebody like the RBL with a hefty donation at the end of it all. I am just very interested to know what others think.

Jimps

Back in the day, when pay was calculated in Accounts Flights, manually to a great extent, I recall handwriting bank pay-in slips for 50% of the staff at Lossiemouth, my oppo did the other 50%, that will give you RSI. These were the days when anyone from Accounts was very popular, advances of pay in particular. Then came P&A Clks, and the rest is history.

 

[Vushtrri]

Dealt with a death due to mesothelioma many moons ago..about 23 years just after leaving the mob. After chatting to the poor old dear whose husband had pegged it went straight to the quack and requested that he note my comments about spending day after day in the early 80's crawling underneath asbestos lagged pipes in the heating ducts around Halton dragging don10 telephone cable...used to get covered in the stuff .

 

[Stevienics]

...how much does having Wednesday Afternoons off for sport (though from what I read that is practically as dead as five pints at supper time is) compare to Joe Public a lot of whom probably don't even run for a bus from the time they leave school? Does that make us more susceptible to muscular-skeletal problems? Jimps

Mountaineering plus hockey = 3 knee ops and several spells in hospital with degenerative disc disease, so yes.

On the up side I was pretty pants at work, so the trades on the whole were better off for my diversionary activities and subsequent treatment.

 

[6A1]

A lot of ailments are very possibly down to maintenance and work practices that us old gits undertook with no thoughts to our future health.

Whilst working on the Jetstream line we were exposed to the very high pitch noise from the propellers for probably around 4 hours each working day. I have since been told that the recommended exposure time was a maximum of 40 minutes in eight hours within 10 yards of a running engine.

No wonder my hearing is shot - proving why is a different matter.

My hearing is shot - two full strength hearing aids and I spent longer on Jetstreams than Barch. I seem to remember that the exposure was 20 mins at full chat and 40mins at 85% per 8 hours. I also had Varsity (pistons), Andover (Dart) Vulcan and JP all at 1st line. As above it is very difficult to prove, however if we had been WAAFs and pregnant no problem for compo !!
I am classified as not deaf enough.
Incidentally as a leckie, we were up to our elbows in Trich and MEK, as a result no distemper, fleas or lice !

 

[Tin basher]

My hearing is fading due to years around rivet hammers but hearing fade is natural and occurs with age. The crucial bit comes when you measure your personal hearing loss curve against the expect age curve on the big graph. To cop a payout various figures have been bandied about over the years but a 20% loss is the anecdotal figure most often quoted. Apparently there are lots of people graded around the 18% mark so a bit deaf but no payout. As to sport injuries cricket has given me a kn@ckered left knee from bowling to many overs of military medium, as a right hander your left knee takes a bit of pounding every delivery. But I played civvy cricket on Saturdays as well as Station stuff on Wednesdays so again showing a definate cause would be difficult.

 

[Fu Fu Valve]

For a sumpy of 23 years service the doc at my last medical was amazed that my hearing was in grade 1. Looks like all those years of sticking in-ear plugs in then the ear def's on top helped then!

My knees, ankles and achilles tendons are completely shot though; to the point where a doc when i was still in told me i'd never be able to run for 5 minutes or more ever again. Makes playing footy with the kids painful thats for sure...

 

[Rigga]

With my first 4 years stood next to Gazelles and Whirlwinds (Astazou & Gnomes) followed by another 20 years of Line and Sched work (especially Riveting) has laid my hearing "impaired" with long bouts of Tinnitus over the last few years.

When I left the RAF I was advised to apply for loss of hearing through RBL and I got £1500 as a one-off payment....not enough.

In this day and age of compensation: Go for it! - and get what you can, not what you think you can.

 

[needsabiggerfuse]

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - tinnitus. Been there for years thanks to AI23b (Lightning) 2nd line servicing. Trod the path and found I was, would you believe it, not past the threshold. I was told, off the record, that there was a host of submariners and their ilk who would stampede through the system should the level be lowered. In the meantime, it comes in pretty useful when Mrs 'Fuse says something that I'm supposed to have heard.

 

[T93]

I can relate to that - all the Jafads I knew had girls... Something about the male sperm being weaker and were fried by the RF...

Am I One of the few that have Sons?