I'm on my Annual Deployment Exercise (ADE) at the moment, but it's proving remarkably easy compared to previous years. I've been pulled into Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) to write the enemy intelligence/plans, given my recent experiences ( Read more... )

I was sure this title was a slogan from something, but apparently not. I should nab it for my combined skydiving school/crocodile farm ( Read more... )

Too much to do! So here is a frantic, truncated post.

I have a two-week exercise (Grantham and Salisbury Plain) starting next weekend, and finishing on the 24th.

However, I also have to write my online Military Knowledge level 1 exam by the 23rd to be eligible for the Junior Officers' Tactical Awareness Course (JOTAC) in October. For which I have ( Read more... )

If you take a look at this German Army recruiting video, and jump to 1:10, you might see a familiar face ...

The remainder of the YROW program was so full I didn't even have time to blog in the evenings. It's a bit sad that I have to truncate my descriptions, but a full account of the rest of the week would bore my readers senseless. It would definitely be TL;DR ( Read more... )

We had quite an interesting trip this afternoon - after a parade at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw, we travelled in a police-escorted bus convoy to the Ministry of Defence for a dinner with all sorts of parliamentarians and diplomats. The four-bus convoy zoomed the ten kilometres to the Ministry through many red lights, drawing many ( Read more... )

Warsaw is exceptionally hot and humid ... fortunately we're wearing desert combats (I'm still not sure why - emphasising our operational role is the official reason, but it's still a bit odd ( Read more... )

I was aiming for a hat-trick this week; last Friday get my driver's license, Thursday get my Afghan medal and today get British passports for Y and I. You have all read how the driver's licence thing went - the less said the better. That's one down already ( Read more... )

I am still without driver's license. On the way to the test centre, there was an absolute downpour which flooded the roadworks between Golders Green and Barnet; traffic backed up completely and I spent 50 minutes inching forward through chaotic traffic and puddles. I arrived fifteen minutes late for my test, and the examiner said "Sorry, you're too ( Read more... )

I moved offices recently. The entire IT department packed up* and moved to a new office, where we have 60% less desk space and a lot more people around. But, it's not that bad. We're on the 4th floor of our new building so there's a lot more light; the kitchen is much larger and better than before, and has a dishwasher ( Read more... )