A Major Career Change!>
Quote from DavidFullard on March 27, 2024, 4:55 pmI suspect in today’s modern army LEs filling regular officer staff appointments isn’t uncommon. In 1989 it WAS relatively uncommon.
We were getting ready to leave Tidworth, Fallingbostel bound. I was in my last few months as Ack Adjt’ and having shared with Colonel Mel that I never fancied any QM type jobs, he called me in and told me he had found THE job for me. It was SO2 G3 PInfo at HQ 1BR Corps. Did I want the job, it came with promotion? I said yes right away, no hesitation, no discussion with Veronika, nothing. All of that would come later!
PInfo ( I have no idea what it’s called now) was the army’s Public Relations set up. Someone high up must have once upon a time decided Public Relations smacked too much of commercialism and bullshit ergo it would better be titled Public Information. It WAS PR in every respect.
Six months after arriving in Fallingbostel ( we barely unpacked) I handed over to Eric Ingram and left for Bielefeld and the Corps Headquarters. V stayed behind while we waited for a MQ. John Tyson came down with me and drove our car back so that V had transport. In Bielefeld I was shown to a large but bare room in the Mess Annexe and as JT drove off I wondered what on earth I had let myself in for. 5 years previously I was SSM HQ Squadron now I was a Major in the Corps Headquarters in a mainstream SO2 post. I confess I had doubts about it all! Was this a step too far?
I reported to the PInfo offices promptly at 8:30 Monday morning. I was shown around by the outgoing SO2 who had completed the job for his ‘SQ’ ticket. He introduced me to the other staff, a German civilian lady secretary, a RAOC Sgt clerk, a German Senior Information Officer and a driver. The SO1 ( known as Chief G3 PInfo ) would arrive a bit later. The offices were cramped, the other half of the single storey block housed the SKC! A brand new ( very grand) purpose built PInfo building was under construction and would be ready imminently.
My introduction to the Chief PInfo, a Gunner Lt Colonel, was not an overly welcoming experience. He had railed against my appointment asking for a regular staff officer to be appointed. He told me I was on trial, that my German language skills and my CO’s recommendation had got me the job and he hoped I was adept at service writing because I would be preparing briefs for the Corps Commander. I would also attend Chief of Staff ( COS) ‘prayers’ every Monday morning from then on in. I thanked my lucky stars I had the foresight to bring with me a copy of JSP 101, the service writing bible.
My first months in the job were high pressure not to say stressful. The Asst COS, a RE Colonel, did a ‘walk about’ around the sprawling barrack complex once monthly. He visited us shortly after we moved into the new complex. He stopped at my desk and said ‘Ive heard good things about you but it’s early days you aren’t safe yet’ and smiled but he wasn't joking. I later learned his nickname was the ‘Smiling Assassin’.
COS Prayers was chaired by the then Brigadier Mike Palmer ( Ex Royal Anglians) later to become CGS/CDS, he was a thoroughly nice, kind man. He welcomed me with a handshake and kindness on my first ‘Prayers’ and I quickly became comfortable in that setting. He said he had an open door for me if I needed any advice. There was a lot to learn.
The Corps PInfo branch oversaw the PInfo branches of the army’s 4 Divisions, 3 in BAOR with 2 Div in the UK. We were in turn, media wise, answerable to PInfo BFG (Army/RAF) in Rheindahlen headed up by a Colonel and the Director of Army Public Relations (DPR) in Whitehall, a Brigadier. I visited both on occasions.
Anglo German relations and interaction with German media was high on our priority list. I undertook numerous German TV interviews and was often asked to do voice overs in German onto television items concerning the army in Germany. It was great fun. I made friends with the editors of the local German Press and received invitations to lots of interesting local social events.
2 months in and we were allocated a MQ, in fact it was a German hiring in a village circa 8 miles outside of Bielefeld. V being German was 100% at home and quickly got the lie of the land. Within a few months she was known in the local shops as Frau Major (to her embarrassment) and we made friends with our local
neighbours. A well paid job as manager of the O’Girke Travel and Insurance office in the camp complex provided V with an added interest in life during my frequent duty absences.
Meanwhile back in the office I was answering calls to the UK and German media on a regular basis, promulgating ‘lines to take’ to the 4 Divisions as appropriate. Main stream media (MSM) had stringers in Germany throughout our BAOR days. These ‘undercover’ journalists would visit known pubs and clubs in BFPO areas frequented by British soldiers. They would offer cash to soldiers for stories. Lurid media articles about ‘sex parties’ in officers’ messes in BAOR almost always emanated from careless (paid for) talk by soldiers in pubs to a ‘stringer’. I usually ended up doing the damage limitation afterwards. My phone number at home was known to all UK MSM news desks and calls in the early hours of the morning about some alleged ‘scandal’ were not uncommon.Those of course were the days of IRA attacks in BAOR. There was a particularly nasty IRA attack in Dortmund involving soldiers’ wives I recall and I spent a fraught 48 hours afterwards dealing with endless media enquiries, giving interviews to the German MSM etc etc. To this day I wonder how no media outlet picked up on possibly THE story of the year regarding the IRA. Security at the Corps HQ was strict. Access to the main building was only granted on production of HQ photograph ID. ID cards and the insides of all vehicles were checked at the guardroom entrance to the barracks. From there cars were directed to a heavily guarded holding point further inside camp where Pioneer Corps soldiers would run mirrors on long arms across the undersides of all vehicles, check engine compartments and boots etc. We were all under strict orders to check our own vehicles before entering them. On one particular day an Int Corps Captain drove into camp and made it into the holding point. A Pioneer Corps guard ‘swept’ his car after which he calmly approached the driver’s side of the vehicle and told the officer to follow him to a cordoned off area away from the buildings. The Captain was told under no circumstances to leave the vehicle. It turned out he had a pressure activated Semtex ‘parcel’ attached to the underside of his car. It would have exploded the second he exited the vehicle. He had parked the car on the road outside the Mess the night before….and not checked the car before getting in. A major disaster was avoided by the diligence of that Pioneer. Imagine the PR value to the IRA of a bomb exploding in the Corps HQ. The Int Corps Captain had a difficult few days afterwards! I was prepared for a media onrush. There was none. To this day that incident, known to practically everyone in the Corps HQ, never hit the MSM. It has no media value now! Another ‘missed’ media story was the burglary of the Corps Provost Marshall’s MQ whilst he and his wife were asleep in bed and their ‘guard dog’ was in its basket in the entrance hallway!
Once a fortnight I met with the OC SIB who briefed me on all of the ‘press worthy’ incidents that had been reported in BAOR. I thought I was street wise until the first of those briefings ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll took on a whole new meaning afterwards.
The PInfo job was extremely interesting with hardly a ‘slack’ news day, something somewhere was always happening. I had direct responsibility for organising the Corps ‘Editors Abroad Scheme’ whereby UK MSM editors spent a week in BAOR learning about the army and our role in BAOR. I was their 24/7 host during their visit throughout the Corps area until they shot off to Berlin to visit troops there. My alcohol intake that week was far from healthy! I also had responsibility for planning, organising and accompanying German editors’ visits to BATUS ( night firing etc) and Castlemartin Gunnery Ranges under the banner ‘export of noise’. These visits were designed to show the German media we used other facilities to fire our tanks etc outside of BAOR AND we hosted German tanks in Wales. These visits were enormous fun but damn hard work. Each of them required a brief to be written for the Corps Commander afterwards. I wrote them at home with my trusted JSP beside me and had them typed later in the office. My briefs seemingly passed muster, I received no adverse comments anyway!
When I first arrived in Bielefeld, Lt Gen ( later FM) Sir Peter Inge was Corps Commander. I found him to be a taciturn man with a quick ( and bad) temper. I was once walking through camp when his staff car pulled up beside me. The rear window rolled down and he called me over. I threw up a smart salute and before I could say ‘good morning General’ he told me a soldier he had just passed had failed to salute his car and I was to sort it’. I chased after the hapless soldier and took his details to pass to the RSM. About 6 months into my tour Lt Gen Sir Charles Guthrie took over ( he also became a FM). I ‘minded’ a few media interviews he gave, Gen Charles was always ready to be briefed by me beforehand and be advised on what line to take.
One year into my 3 year tour I was very happily ensconced in my now not so new role. I was probably the most contented I had ever been in my military career. I had passed my initial ‘apprenticeship’ I was fully accepted and integrated into the Corps hierarchy. During the ACOS’s handover walkabout he introduced me to his successor as ‘ this is David, he’s an LE whom we have learned to trust’. Caveated praise I suppose!
In Part 2 I duet on stage with Germany’s only Country and Western star, I meet and talk with Princess Diana, I meet John Major and deploy to the Gulf at short notice after being substantiated in my acting rank.
I suspect in today’s modern army LEs filling regular officer staff appointments isn’t uncommon. In 1989 it WAS relatively uncommon.
We were getting ready to leave Tidworth, Fallingbostel bound. I was in my last few months as Ack Adjt’ and having shared with Colonel Mel that I never fancied any QM type jobs, he called me in and told me he had found THE job for me. It was SO2 G3 PInfo at HQ 1BR Corps. Did I want the job, it came with promotion? I said yes right away, no hesitation, no discussion with Veronika, nothing. All of that would come later!
PInfo ( I have no idea what it’s called now) was the army’s Public Relations set up. Someone high up must have once upon a time decided Public Relations smacked too much of commercialism and bullshit ergo it would better be titled Public Information. It WAS PR in every respect.
Six months after arriving in Fallingbostel ( we barely unpacked) I handed over to Eric Ingram and left for Bielefeld and the Corps Headquarters. V stayed behind while we waited for a MQ. John Tyson came down with me and drove our car back so that V had transport. In Bielefeld I was shown to a large but bare room in the Mess Annexe and as JT drove off I wondered what on earth I had let myself in for. 5 years previously I was SSM HQ Squadron now I was a Major in the Corps Headquarters in a mainstream SO2 post. I confess I had doubts about it all! Was this a step too far?
I reported to the PInfo offices promptly at 8:30 Monday morning. I was shown around by the outgoing SO2 who had completed the job for his ‘SQ’ ticket. He introduced me to the other staff, a German civilian lady secretary, a RAOC Sgt clerk, a German Senior Information Officer and a driver. The SO1 ( known as Chief G3 PInfo ) would arrive a bit later. The offices were cramped, the other half of the single storey block housed the SKC! A brand new ( very grand) purpose built PInfo building was under construction and would be ready imminently.
My introduction to the Chief PInfo, a Gunner Lt Colonel, was not an overly welcoming experience. He had railed against my appointment asking for a regular staff officer to be appointed. He told me I was on trial, that my German language skills and my CO’s recommendation had got me the job and he hoped I was adept at service writing because I would be preparing briefs for the Corps Commander. I would also attend Chief of Staff ( COS) ‘prayers’ every Monday morning from then on in. I thanked my lucky stars I had the foresight to bring with me a copy of JSP 101, the service writing bible.
My first months in the job were high pressure not to say stressful. The Asst COS, a RE Colonel, did a ‘walk about’ around the sprawling barrack complex once monthly. He visited us shortly after we moved into the new complex. He stopped at my desk and said ‘Ive heard good things about you but it’s early days you aren’t safe yet’ and smiled but he wasn't joking. I later learned his nickname was the ‘Smiling Assassin’.
COS Prayers was chaired by the then Brigadier Mike Palmer ( Ex Royal Anglians) later to become CGS/CDS, he was a thoroughly nice, kind man. He welcomed me with a handshake and kindness on my first ‘Prayers’ and I quickly became comfortable in that setting. He said he had an open door for me if I needed any advice. There was a lot to learn.
The Corps PInfo branch oversaw the PInfo branches of the army’s 4 Divisions, 3 in BAOR with 2 Div in the UK. We were in turn, media wise, answerable to PInfo BFG (Army/RAF) in Rheindahlen headed up by a Colonel and the Director of Army Public Relations (DPR) in Whitehall, a Brigadier. I visited both on occasions.
Anglo German relations and interaction with German media was high on our priority list. I undertook numerous German TV interviews and was often asked to do voice overs in German onto television items concerning the army in Germany. It was great fun. I made friends with the editors of the local German Press and received invitations to lots of interesting local social events.
2 months in and we were allocated a MQ, in fact it was a German hiring in a village circa 8 miles outside of Bielefeld. V being German was 100% at home and quickly got the lie of the land. Within a few months she was known in the local shops as Frau Major (to her embarrassment) and we made friends with our local
neighbours. A well paid job as manager of the O’Girke Travel and Insurance office in the camp complex provided V with an added interest in life during my frequent duty absences.
Meanwhile back in the office I was answering calls to the UK and German media on a regular basis, promulgating ‘lines to take’ to the 4 Divisions as appropriate. Main stream media (MSM) had stringers in Germany throughout our BAOR days. These ‘undercover’ journalists would visit known pubs and clubs in BFPO areas frequented by British soldiers. They would offer cash to soldiers for stories. Lurid media articles about ‘sex parties’ in officers’ messes in BAOR almost always emanated from careless (paid for) talk by soldiers in pubs to a ‘stringer’. I usually ended up doing the damage limitation afterwards. My phone number at home was known to all UK MSM news desks and calls in the early hours of the morning about some alleged ‘scandal’ were not uncommon.
Those of course were the days of IRA attacks in BAOR. There was a particularly nasty IRA attack in Dortmund involving soldiers’ wives I recall and I spent a fraught 48 hours afterwards dealing with endless media enquiries, giving interviews to the German MSM etc etc. To this day I wonder how no media outlet picked up on possibly THE story of the year regarding the IRA. Security at the Corps HQ was strict. Access to the main building was only granted on production of HQ photograph ID. ID cards and the insides of all vehicles were checked at the guardroom entrance to the barracks. From there cars were directed to a heavily guarded holding point further inside camp where Pioneer Corps soldiers would run mirrors on long arms across the undersides of all vehicles, check engine compartments and boots etc. We were all under strict orders to check our own vehicles before entering them. On one particular day an Int Corps Captain drove into camp and made it into the holding point. A Pioneer Corps guard ‘swept’ his car after which he calmly approached the driver’s side of the vehicle and told the officer to follow him to a cordoned off area away from the buildings. The Captain was told under no circumstances to leave the vehicle. It turned out he had a pressure activated Semtex ‘parcel’ attached to the underside of his car. It would have exploded the second he exited the vehicle. He had parked the car on the road outside the Mess the night before….and not checked the car before getting in. A major disaster was avoided by the diligence of that Pioneer. Imagine the PR value to the IRA of a bomb exploding in the Corps HQ. The Int Corps Captain had a difficult few days afterwards! I was prepared for a media onrush. There was none. To this day that incident, known to practically everyone in the Corps HQ, never hit the MSM. It has no media value now! Another ‘missed’ media story was the burglary of the Corps Provost Marshall’s MQ whilst he and his wife were asleep in bed and their ‘guard dog’ was in its basket in the entrance hallway!
Once a fortnight I met with the OC SIB who briefed me on all of the ‘press worthy’ incidents that had been reported in BAOR. I thought I was street wise until the first of those briefings ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll took on a whole new meaning afterwards.
The PInfo job was extremely interesting with hardly a ‘slack’ news day, something somewhere was always happening. I had direct responsibility for organising the Corps ‘Editors Abroad Scheme’ whereby UK MSM editors spent a week in BAOR learning about the army and our role in BAOR. I was their 24/7 host during their visit throughout the Corps area until they shot off to Berlin to visit troops there. My alcohol intake that week was far from healthy! I also had responsibility for planning, organising and accompanying German editors’ visits to BATUS ( night firing etc) and Castlemartin Gunnery Ranges under the banner ‘export of noise’. These visits were designed to show the German media we used other facilities to fire our tanks etc outside of BAOR AND we hosted German tanks in Wales. These visits were enormous fun but damn hard work. Each of them required a brief to be written for the Corps Commander afterwards. I wrote them at home with my trusted JSP beside me and had them typed later in the office. My briefs seemingly passed muster, I received no adverse comments anyway!
When I first arrived in Bielefeld, Lt Gen ( later FM) Sir Peter Inge was Corps Commander. I found him to be a taciturn man with a quick ( and bad) temper. I was once walking through camp when his staff car pulled up beside me. The rear window rolled down and he called me over. I threw up a smart salute and before I could say ‘good morning General’ he told me a soldier he had just passed had failed to salute his car and I was to sort it’. I chased after the hapless soldier and took his details to pass to the RSM. About 6 months into my tour Lt Gen Sir Charles Guthrie took over ( he also became a FM). I ‘minded’ a few media interviews he gave, Gen Charles was always ready to be briefed by me beforehand and be advised on what line to take.
One year into my 3 year tour I was very happily ensconced in my now not so new role. I was probably the most contented I had ever been in my military career. I had passed my initial ‘apprenticeship’ I was fully accepted and integrated into the Corps hierarchy. During the ACOS’s handover walkabout he introduced me to his successor as ‘ this is David, he’s an LE whom we have learned to trust’. Caveated praise I suppose!
In Part 2 I duet on stage with Germany’s only Country and Western star, I meet and talk with Princess Diana, I meet John Major and deploy to the Gulf at short notice after being substantiated in my acting rank.
Quote from DavidFullard on March 28, 2024, 6:30 pmOnce a year the German ‘RedTop’ Bild Zeitung holds it annual ‘Press Ball’. The Bild Zeitung is Germany’s equivalent of THE SUN. I was invited to the event along with our German Senior Information Officer. The whole of the Region’s ‘glitterazi’ were present, city dignataries et al. Germany’s top ( read only) Country and Western Star, Gunther Gabriel ( google him) was the entertainment. I somehow ended up at the bar drinking whisky with him. He was a big chap with a prodigious capacity for whisky ( I learned later he had a drink problem). Before I really knew what was happening we were both on stage in front of his band singing ‘Me and Bobby McGee’. The mics had auto tuning on them so my mediocre singing voice actually sounded okay. Pictures of our duet were emblazoned in the press the next day. My escape from the embarrassingly amorous advances of the wife of the city’s Chief of Police after my stage debut was cause for great hilarity later in the office.
My days at work at this stage were filled inter alia with writing plans for the forthcoming Corps Exercise Press Information Centre in which we were to take over a mid size German hotel in the centre of the exercise area and field the national and international press. Chief PInfo left most of the day to day operational matters to me and I was glad he did! He spoke no German so I attended all the local fun parties with Gerd our German SIO. Gerd would provide me with daily briefs and any press cuttings from German media on BAOR matters and I scoured the UK press each morning for similar. I produced 2x weekly German/UK press synopsises for the Headquarters and ‘flash’ briefings if more urgent matters needed publicising. The Corps Commander disliked being surprised by bad national press ergo I had a close professional relationship with his Lt Col MA.
The Corps exercise was a great success, visiting the Corps HQ in the field was an eye opener. The several armed pioneers around the ‘tented crucifix’ and the number of individuals manning radios, moving icons on maps etc were impressive reminders of the fact this was ‘top of the tree’ stuff! Back at the hotel I had adopted my operational role of Press Information Centre (PIC) Executive Officer. Pre Exercise commencement I was given DM5000 petty cash’ from the pay office for P’Info ‘exercise incidentals, hospitality. hosting journalists, and editors etc. The hotel provided us with 42 rooms and I had pre-recce’ed the village where it was and booked a further 10 rooms in B&Bs for PIC staff. We were also fed by the hotel, 3 meals daily. Exercises don’t get any better than this! PICs were large set ups. We had 4 RAOC photographers with purpose built mobile developing labs, circa 12 Territorial Press Information Officers flown out from the UK, Bunderwehr reps etc etc. During the Exercise we were visited by almost every UK MSM newspaper, TV and Radio Channels.most German outlets and a host of journalists from military specific magazines and publications. I had never experienced anything on this scale before and I breathed a huge sigh of relief at Endex that we had got through it with a ‘clean bill of health’ media ops wise. Better still, Chief PInfo declared my apprenticeship over!Halfway through my ERE tour the Chief PInfo incumbent changed and a RCT Lt Col took over. To say he and I were wary of each other is an understatement. He had a bit of a chip on his shoulder I think. I learned he had been told to ‘lean on me’ until he got his feet under the table. Leaning on me was fine, dropping on me like a dead weight wasn’t so good! We developed an understanding, I would watch his back if he left me to basically run things as I had been doing under his predecessor! Almost 18 months in post I felt really comfortable in the job. I had spent a good few hours reading JSP 101 and my service writing was now no longer dependent on access to it. I had developed extensive close contacts with the Divisional PInfo leads, the BFG leads and DPRs office. Life was really good. It got even better when my Majority was substantiated. And then……the Gulf erupted!
Suddenly my days were filled with frequent Corps briefings, hectic exchanges with DPR’s Whitehall staff, BFG staff and non stop requests for interviews and briefings by ( primarily) UK and German media. I remember organising a major press conference centred around SCOTS DG in Fallingbostel. The Desert Rats connection had taken over the media by this time. Circa 50 UK and German media assembled in ‘Fally’ where the 1Div PInfo So2 briefed them on the event, The Regiment had lined its tanks up on the aprons with all of their equipment laid out in preparation for loading and deployment to the Gulf. The event was significant enough for DPR to have flown in from Whitehall. Herding 50 or so journalists, photographers, cameramen and sound engineers around a barracks is no easy task. We got them all to the tank park where they were addressed by DPR, shown the impressive battle ready SCOTS DG MBTs and crews and were allowed to ask questions, film, do their ‘piece to camera’ etc etc. At the end of the proceedings DPR asked for questions. A feisty BBC female journalist asked him about rumours of Challenger spares shortages. DPR said there was no shortage and as she could see SCOTS DG were fully battle ready. She then asked if the tanks in the other half of the shared camp had been cannibalised to make one battle ready regiment out of 2. QRIH were next door and many of their tanks were clearly missing barrels and other ‘bits’. She had clearly been ‘briefed’ on the issue and gone walkabout undetected. DPR’s explanation, exchanging equipment between regiments was common practice, didn’t quite cut it. I, perhaps deservedly, took the brunt of his ire for the cock up as the event organiser even though ‘minding the media group was the responsibility of the 1 Div So2 as host unit. The cannibalised QRIH MBTs featured in that evening’s BBC news alongside film of SCOTS DG tanks and a piece to camera highlighting our army’s spares problems. Fortunately we recovered some ‘lost ground’ when I arranged for the same correspondent to interview Gen Patrick Cordingly in his MQ a few days later.
After our troops deployed to the Gulf and ‘settled in’ we hosted a number of VIP visits in BAOR. PM John Major (and his later to become head of the civil service media advisor Gus O’Donnel) visited families in Muenster whose husbands had deployed. A press conference I arranged and ‘minded’ got completely out of hand as the PM was jostled by some of the media photographers and journalists. Myself and his close protection minder literally pushed and dragged them back. The PM was totally unfazed, he came to me afterwards, shook my hand and asked me if I was Okay. He remarked I was likely used to such happenings. I was!
I returned to Bielefeld afterwards to be told I was to deploy to Riyadh ( Saudi) in 6 days time. DPR wasn’t happy with the 1Div PInfo set up in their desert pre deployment area. I was to go and sort it out. The P Info plan was to ‘embed’ journalists with units on deployment for the duration of the conflict. Kate Adie, the BBC’s famous war correspondent was very successfully embedded with a SCOTS DG Troop ( I forget which one). Long story short I hopped on a Hercules in Brize and, after a 26 hour trip via Cyprus and several other Arabian airfields en route I landed at King Khalid airport Riyadh.HQ BFME was housed in a 4 story building just outside Riyadh city centre. I was given a suite in the Hyatt Regency as accommodation and a wad of Saudi cash as subsistence, war is hell. My frequent visit to I Div in the desert highlighted to me how lucky I was, Their ‘field accommodation’ was basic and the heat was beyond uncomfortable. The issues there were sorted and I stayed in Riyadh thereafter. I did meet a few interesting people in Riyadh including Harry Secombe, whom I collected from the airport at the start of his 4 day visit to troops. He was a charming, self effacing, hilarious man. He joked non stop. Paul Daniels visited the HQ and performed amazing close up impromptu magic. The then Prince Charles visited the HQ and walked around the offices chatting for almost an hour. Gen Roland Notley turned up one day and had a chat with me and I ‘lent’ my hotel shower facilities to Mark Auchinleck one day when he popped in from the desert. My meeting with a number of SAS at King Khlaid airport was a slightly fractious event when I told a couple of them to behave. It took the intervention of their OC to calm matters down. He apologised to me but I thought slightly less of them after that unnecessary bad behaviour. I exchanged far more cordial words with Gen Norman Schwarzkopf when he walked past a meeting I was attending with US press officers in the Hyatt Regency. He asked me if I knew why we had called the deployment Op Granby? He DID know. Luckily I did also!
A few months later, just as I was settled into life in Riyadh I was recalled to Bielefeld. The Corps Commander had decided I was needed more there than in Riyadh. My boss in Riyadh was singularly unimpressed! He was a 13th/18th Lt Col, Nick Southward. He was a great man, we got on like a house on fire. He rang me at home in Bielefeld asking me if I was prepared to return to Riyadh if he could get General de la Billiere to persuade Gen Guthrie to release me. I was but it never happened.Shortly after I returned to Bielefeld I ‘minded’ a press event in STC Sennelager . Princess Diana was meeting families of soldiers deployed in the Gulf. The Princess was relaxing in a room prior to meeting with the families and her media advisor asked me if I wanted to meet the Princess. I was taken to her room and spent 15 or so delightful minutes talking with her with just her media advisor and close protection detective present. The Princess was totally media savvy and impressively knowledgeable about the pressures on military families.
After the war finished the media ‘mop up’ was relentless. I recall I handled a story that alleged a high ranking British Officer had fired his MBT main armament at surrendering Iraqi troops. His wife was being chased by media at her MQ in BAOR as a result. I drove the 50 or so kms to the base where she lived and gave a non committal interview to the press there and convinced them to leave! There were other Gulf War incidents I dealt with which attracted media interest that are best left unspoken of.In Part 3 I face a huge choice
Once a year the German ‘RedTop’ Bild Zeitung holds it annual ‘Press Ball’. The Bild Zeitung is Germany’s equivalent of THE SUN. I was invited to the event along with our German Senior Information Officer. The whole of the Region’s ‘glitterazi’ were present, city dignataries et al. Germany’s top ( read only) Country and Western Star, Gunther Gabriel ( google him) was the entertainment. I somehow ended up at the bar drinking whisky with him. He was a big chap with a prodigious capacity for whisky ( I learned later he had a drink problem). Before I really knew what was happening we were both on stage in front of his band singing ‘Me and Bobby McGee’. The mics had auto tuning on them so my mediocre singing voice actually sounded okay. Pictures of our duet were emblazoned in the press the next day. My escape from the embarrassingly amorous advances of the wife of the city’s Chief of Police after my stage debut was cause for great hilarity later in the office.
My days at work at this stage were filled inter alia with writing plans for the forthcoming Corps Exercise Press Information Centre in which we were to take over a mid size German hotel in the centre of the exercise area and field the national and international press. Chief PInfo left most of the day to day operational matters to me and I was glad he did! He spoke no German so I attended all the local fun parties with Gerd our German SIO. Gerd would provide me with daily briefs and any press cuttings from German media on BAOR matters and I scoured the UK press each morning for similar. I produced 2x weekly German/UK press synopsises for the Headquarters and ‘flash’ briefings if more urgent matters needed publicising. The Corps Commander disliked being surprised by bad national press ergo I had a close professional relationship with his Lt Col MA.
The Corps exercise was a great success, visiting the Corps HQ in the field was an eye opener. The several armed pioneers around the ‘tented crucifix’ and the number of individuals manning radios, moving icons on maps etc were impressive reminders of the fact this was ‘top of the tree’ stuff! Back at the hotel I had adopted my operational role of Press Information Centre (PIC) Executive Officer. Pre Exercise commencement I was given DM5000 petty cash’ from the pay office for P’Info ‘exercise incidentals, hospitality. hosting journalists, and editors etc. The hotel provided us with 42 rooms and I had pre-recce’ed the village where it was and booked a further 10 rooms in B&Bs for PIC staff. We were also fed by the hotel, 3 meals daily. Exercises don’t get any better than this! PICs were large set ups. We had 4 RAOC photographers with purpose built mobile developing labs, circa 12 Territorial Press Information Officers flown out from the UK, Bunderwehr reps etc etc. During the Exercise we were visited by almost every UK MSM newspaper, TV and Radio Channels.most German outlets and a host of journalists from military specific magazines and publications. I had never experienced anything on this scale before and I breathed a huge sigh of relief at Endex that we had got through it with a ‘clean bill of health’ media ops wise. Better still, Chief PInfo declared my apprenticeship over!
Halfway through my ERE tour the Chief PInfo incumbent changed and a RCT Lt Col took over. To say he and I were wary of each other is an understatement. He had a bit of a chip on his shoulder I think. I learned he had been told to ‘lean on me’ until he got his feet under the table. Leaning on me was fine, dropping on me like a dead weight wasn’t so good! We developed an understanding, I would watch his back if he left me to basically run things as I had been doing under his predecessor! Almost 18 months in post I felt really comfortable in the job. I had spent a good few hours reading JSP 101 and my service writing was now no longer dependent on access to it. I had developed extensive close contacts with the Divisional PInfo leads, the BFG leads and DPRs office. Life was really good. It got even better when my Majority was substantiated. And then……the Gulf erupted!
Suddenly my days were filled with frequent Corps briefings, hectic exchanges with DPR’s Whitehall staff, BFG staff and non stop requests for interviews and briefings by ( primarily) UK and German media. I remember organising a major press conference centred around SCOTS DG in Fallingbostel. The Desert Rats connection had taken over the media by this time. Circa 50 UK and German media assembled in ‘Fally’ where the 1Div PInfo So2 briefed them on the event, The Regiment had lined its tanks up on the aprons with all of their equipment laid out in preparation for loading and deployment to the Gulf. The event was significant enough for DPR to have flown in from Whitehall. Herding 50 or so journalists, photographers, cameramen and sound engineers around a barracks is no easy task. We got them all to the tank park where they were addressed by DPR, shown the impressive battle ready SCOTS DG MBTs and crews and were allowed to ask questions, film, do their ‘piece to camera’ etc etc. At the end of the proceedings DPR asked for questions. A feisty BBC female journalist asked him about rumours of Challenger spares shortages. DPR said there was no shortage and as she could see SCOTS DG were fully battle ready. She then asked if the tanks in the other half of the shared camp had been cannibalised to make one battle ready regiment out of 2. QRIH were next door and many of their tanks were clearly missing barrels and other ‘bits’. She had clearly been ‘briefed’ on the issue and gone walkabout undetected. DPR’s explanation, exchanging equipment between regiments was common practice, didn’t quite cut it. I, perhaps deservedly, took the brunt of his ire for the cock up as the event organiser even though ‘minding the media group was the responsibility of the 1 Div So2 as host unit. The cannibalised QRIH MBTs featured in that evening’s BBC news alongside film of SCOTS DG tanks and a piece to camera highlighting our army’s spares problems. Fortunately we recovered some ‘lost ground’ when I arranged for the same correspondent to interview Gen Patrick Cordingly in his MQ a few days later.
After our troops deployed to the Gulf and ‘settled in’ we hosted a number of VIP visits in BAOR. PM John Major (and his later to become head of the civil service media advisor Gus O’Donnel) visited families in Muenster whose husbands had deployed. A press conference I arranged and ‘minded’ got completely out of hand as the PM was jostled by some of the media photographers and journalists. Myself and his close protection minder literally pushed and dragged them back. The PM was totally unfazed, he came to me afterwards, shook my hand and asked me if I was Okay. He remarked I was likely used to such happenings. I was!
I returned to Bielefeld afterwards to be told I was to deploy to Riyadh ( Saudi) in 6 days time. DPR wasn’t happy with the 1Div PInfo set up in their desert pre deployment area. I was to go and sort it out. The P Info plan was to ‘embed’ journalists with units on deployment for the duration of the conflict. Kate Adie, the BBC’s famous war correspondent was very successfully embedded with a SCOTS DG Troop ( I forget which one). Long story short I hopped on a Hercules in Brize and, after a 26 hour trip via Cyprus and several other Arabian airfields en route I landed at King Khalid airport Riyadh.HQ BFME was housed in a 4 story building just outside Riyadh city centre. I was given a suite in the Hyatt Regency as accommodation and a wad of Saudi cash as subsistence, war is hell. My frequent visit to I Div in the desert highlighted to me how lucky I was, Their ‘field accommodation’ was basic and the heat was beyond uncomfortable. The issues there were sorted and I stayed in Riyadh thereafter. I did meet a few interesting people in Riyadh including Harry Secombe, whom I collected from the airport at the start of his 4 day visit to troops. He was a charming, self effacing, hilarious man. He joked non stop. Paul Daniels visited the HQ and performed amazing close up impromptu magic. The then Prince Charles visited the HQ and walked around the offices chatting for almost an hour. Gen Roland Notley turned up one day and had a chat with me and I ‘lent’ my hotel shower facilities to Mark Auchinleck one day when he popped in from the desert. My meeting with a number of SAS at King Khlaid airport was a slightly fractious event when I told a couple of them to behave. It took the intervention of their OC to calm matters down. He apologised to me but I thought slightly less of them after that unnecessary bad behaviour. I exchanged far more cordial words with Gen Norman Schwarzkopf when he walked past a meeting I was attending with US press officers in the Hyatt Regency. He asked me if I knew why we had called the deployment Op Granby? He DID know. Luckily I did also!
A few months later, just as I was settled into life in Riyadh I was recalled to Bielefeld. The Corps Commander had decided I was needed more there than in Riyadh. My boss in Riyadh was singularly unimpressed! He was a 13th/18th Lt Col, Nick Southward. He was a great man, we got on like a house on fire. He rang me at home in Bielefeld asking me if I was prepared to return to Riyadh if he could get General de la Billiere to persuade Gen Guthrie to release me. I was but it never happened.
Shortly after I returned to Bielefeld I ‘minded’ a press event in STC Sennelager . Princess Diana was meeting families of soldiers deployed in the Gulf. The Princess was relaxing in a room prior to meeting with the families and her media advisor asked me if I wanted to meet the Princess. I was taken to her room and spent 15 or so delightful minutes talking with her with just her media advisor and close protection detective present. The Princess was totally media savvy and impressively knowledgeable about the pressures on military families.
After the war finished the media ‘mop up’ was relentless. I recall I handled a story that alleged a high ranking British Officer had fired his MBT main armament at surrendering Iraqi troops. His wife was being chased by media at her MQ in BAOR as a result. I drove the 50 or so kms to the base where she lived and gave a non committal interview to the press there and convinced them to leave! There were other Gulf War incidents I dealt with which attracted media interest that are best left unspoken of.
In Part 3 I face a huge choice
Quote from DavidFullard on March 29, 2024, 8:47 pmOne morning a line of BFG cars was blockaded on the road outside the Corps HQ by German anti war demonstrators. I watched from just inside the camp gate by the guardroom. The SLO was there in his anglo German role but no other military bar a handful of Provost Staff. The German Police were keeping things low key and asked us not to get involved, I heard some screaming from one of the cars about 6 back in the queue. I went to the road and saw a very distressed British woman with her back to her car and a child in her arms with 3/4 protesters around her. The police were not intervening. I ran to where she was, and told the Germans to leave her, one decided not to. I grabbed his arm and he struck me with a Iraqi flag he was carrying, I threw him to the ground and escorted mum and toddler to the safety of the guardroom. The incident prompted the Police to disperse the protestors and peace was restored. The Service Liaison Officer [SLO] thought my actions unwise, the lady, her soldier husband and General Guthrie thought otherwise!
As I entered the last 6 months of my ERE posting my thoughts turned to my next job. I had received a letter from the CO in Sennelager asking me what I was planning to do next. There were no LE Major jobs open st RD at that time. The only RD job I would have accepted would have been HQ Sqn Ldr anyway so my options at RD were very limited. The COS Brigadier Walker had given me an unqualified recommendation for promotion to Lt Col before he left on promotion.I was sounded out for a post as MA to Chief Joint Services Liaison Officer (CJSLO) in Bonn.
As it happened CJSLO was an occasional visitor to the Corps HQ and PInfo particularly. He asked me if I would be interested in the post during one visit. I knew the then present incumbent, an Infantry Lt Col, from serving with him in HQ BFME in Riyadh. He advised me absolutely not to take the job for reasons that will stay between him and I. I was in a quandary,I would never get another ERE post either as a Major or Lt Col as exciting, interesting and diverse as my PInfo role again. I had travelled to Canada twice, Cyprus, Wales, Berlin, London, Riyadh, and all over BAOR. I had met celebrities, dignitaries, umpteen national press, TV and Radio journalists, politicians, Royal Family members et al. And then ……redundancy came on offer.
It looked like a lifeline! I faxed off my application for redundancy without telling my wife, my boss or anyone other than the HQ Paymaster who provided me with the financial details involved. They were very attractive. 6 weeks later I received confirmation of my successful redundancy application w.e.f, 6 months hence. I told my wife, she was remarkably sanguine about it. I was summoned to see the new(ish) COS, a ‘Tankie’ Brigadier He sat me down and asked me if I really wanted to leave as I had great reports and promotion to Lt Col was assured. I told him the job offers I had received were simply not attractive to me and at 44 I could still make a second career in civvy street. He understood completely.
I was bade farewell to in Bielefeld in style. All of the local German Press Editors, the Div PInfo IOs, regional ZDF and ARD TV Execs et al were joined by General Guthrie himself at a buffet lunch to see me off. The Corps Commander spoke very kindly and graciously about my 3 years in Bielefeld and I was given many lovely presents. BFG PInfo then dined me out in Rheindahlen and finally the Regiment did the same in Fallingbostel. Whilst there I ‘overnighted’ with Graham and Sandra Pearce.
Back in Bielefeld one day, as we were packing to leave, I confess I had a brief moment of doubt about leaving the Army. I held a Regular LE commission, I was safe till I was 55, I would hopefully have been promoted to Lt Col and left with a higher pension. It was only a fleeting moment, a new adventure awaited us.
We bought a house in North Lincolnshire to be near our daughter Diana. 2 weeks into my accumulated leave ( 5 months in total) my wife took a call from General Mike Walker in 2Div York. I was on the golf course. Gen Mike rang me back next day. Was I interested in a job in his HQ in York sorting the PInfo team out. I explained I was still serving and receiving my army salary for another 4 months. Long story short he fixed matters and for nearly4 months I received my Major’s salary and a Civil Service Senior Information Officer’s salary [equivalent to a Lt Col] it was worth the 100 +mile daily return commute. 3 months in and Gen Mike went off to Whitehall and Maj Gen Patrick Cordingly took over as 2Div Comd. On his initial walk round he asked me to make an appointment to see him. It turned out Gen Mike had asked him to secure me the job there permanently. After 3 months of haggling with Civil Service ‘jobsworths’ in the UK Gen Patrick told me the best he could achieve was a guaranteed job interview for an Information Officers post, a grade lower. I resigned and was short listed for a job as Curator of the Army Transport Museum in Leaconfield near York….until they discovered I was an LE officer whereupon I was gently ‘disinvited’ from the interviews.
But then I saw a job going in the NHS in Hull for an experienced PR person. I applied and was appointed. For the next 16 years, through 3 major NHS administrative structural changes, I went from Manager to Chief Executive and had a wonderfully fulfilling and successful second career. My army redundancy decision was 100% the right one.My 3 years in Army PR set us up for life. It secured me my NHS appointment and gave me the grounding for high level decision making, planning and stratigic thinking. Aged 59, a tad ‘burnt out’ [high salary but 60 hour weeks]and faced with yet another NHS major strategic upheaval I applied and was accepted for redundancy again. I spent the next 5 years undertaking ad hoc NHS external consultancy and ‘advisory’ tasks whilst enjoying occasional weekends in my TA Majors’ role. At 64 I packed both military and NHS work in and concentrated on my family. V perhaps understandably thought I should have done so earlier!
So that’s my career since leaving RD. There are some gaps in my story, some of the gaps are resultant from memory lapses, some of the gaps are intentional. Some things are best left unspoken, other things are required by the Official Secrets Act not to be spoken of!
If anyone gets this far I make no apologies for using this forum to tell my story. Apart from it being a wholly cathartic exercise for me there are precious few other contributors to keep the site going despite a healthy readership of articles posted.
One morning a line of BFG cars was blockaded on the road outside the Corps HQ by German anti war demonstrators. I watched from just inside the camp gate by the guardroom. The SLO was there in his anglo German role but no other military bar a handful of Provost Staff. The German Police were keeping things low key and asked us not to get involved, I heard some screaming from one of the cars about 6 back in the queue. I went to the road and saw a very distressed British woman with her back to her car and a child in her arms with 3/4 protesters around her. The police were not intervening. I ran to where she was, and told the Germans to leave her, one decided not to. I grabbed his arm and he struck me with a Iraqi flag he was carrying, I threw him to the ground and escorted mum and toddler to the safety of the guardroom. The incident prompted the Police to disperse the protestors and peace was restored. The Service Liaison Officer [SLO] thought my actions unwise, the lady, her soldier husband and General Guthrie thought otherwise!
As I entered the last 6 months of my ERE posting my thoughts turned to my next job. I had received a letter from the CO in Sennelager asking me what I was planning to do next. There were no LE Major jobs open st RD at that time. The only RD job I would have accepted would have been HQ Sqn Ldr anyway so my options at RD were very limited. The COS Brigadier Walker had given me an unqualified recommendation for promotion to Lt Col before he left on promotion.I was sounded out for a post as MA to Chief Joint Services Liaison Officer (CJSLO) in Bonn.
As it happened CJSLO was an occasional visitor to the Corps HQ and PInfo particularly. He asked me if I would be interested in the post during one visit. I knew the then present incumbent, an Infantry Lt Col, from serving with him in HQ BFME in Riyadh. He advised me absolutely not to take the job for reasons that will stay between him and I. I was in a quandary,I would never get another ERE post either as a Major or Lt Col as exciting, interesting and diverse as my PInfo role again. I had travelled to Canada twice, Cyprus, Wales, Berlin, London, Riyadh, and all over BAOR. I had met celebrities, dignitaries, umpteen national press, TV and Radio journalists, politicians, Royal Family members et al. And then ……redundancy came on offer.
It looked like a lifeline! I faxed off my application for redundancy without telling my wife, my boss or anyone other than the HQ Paymaster who provided me with the financial details involved. They were very attractive. 6 weeks later I received confirmation of my successful redundancy application w.e.f, 6 months hence. I told my wife, she was remarkably sanguine about it. I was summoned to see the new(ish) COS, a ‘Tankie’ Brigadier He sat me down and asked me if I really wanted to leave as I had great reports and promotion to Lt Col was assured. I told him the job offers I had received were simply not attractive to me and at 44 I could still make a second career in civvy street. He understood completely.
I was bade farewell to in Bielefeld in style. All of the local German Press Editors, the Div PInfo IOs, regional ZDF and ARD TV Execs et al were joined by General Guthrie himself at a buffet lunch to see me off. The Corps Commander spoke very kindly and graciously about my 3 years in Bielefeld and I was given many lovely presents. BFG PInfo then dined me out in Rheindahlen and finally the Regiment did the same in Fallingbostel. Whilst there I ‘overnighted’ with Graham and Sandra Pearce.
Back in Bielefeld one day, as we were packing to leave, I confess I had a brief moment of doubt about leaving the Army. I held a Regular LE commission, I was safe till I was 55, I would hopefully have been promoted to Lt Col and left with a higher pension. It was only a fleeting moment, a new adventure awaited us.
We bought a house in North Lincolnshire to be near our daughter Diana. 2 weeks into my accumulated leave ( 5 months in total) my wife took a call from General Mike Walker in 2Div York. I was on the golf course. Gen Mike rang me back next day. Was I interested in a job in his HQ in York sorting the PInfo team out. I explained I was still serving and receiving my army salary for another 4 months. Long story short he fixed matters and for nearly4 months I received my Major’s salary and a Civil Service Senior Information Officer’s salary [equivalent to a Lt Col] it was worth the 100 +mile daily return commute. 3 months in and Gen Mike went off to Whitehall and Maj Gen Patrick Cordingly took over as 2Div Comd. On his initial walk round he asked me to make an appointment to see him. It turned out Gen Mike had asked him to secure me the job there permanently. After 3 months of haggling with Civil Service ‘jobsworths’ in the UK Gen Patrick told me the best he could achieve was a guaranteed job interview for an Information Officers post, a grade lower. I resigned and was short listed for a job as Curator of the Army Transport Museum in Leaconfield near York….until they discovered I was an LE officer whereupon I was gently ‘disinvited’ from the interviews.
But then I saw a job going in the NHS in Hull for an experienced PR person. I applied and was appointed. For the next 16 years, through 3 major NHS administrative structural changes, I went from Manager to Chief Executive and had a wonderfully fulfilling and successful second career. My army redundancy decision was 100% the right one.
My 3 years in Army PR set us up for life. It secured me my NHS appointment and gave me the grounding for high level decision making, planning and stratigic thinking. Aged 59, a tad ‘burnt out’ [high salary but 60 hour weeks]and faced with yet another NHS major strategic upheaval I applied and was accepted for redundancy again. I spent the next 5 years undertaking ad hoc NHS external consultancy and ‘advisory’ tasks whilst enjoying occasional weekends in my TA Majors’ role. At 64 I packed both military and NHS work in and concentrated on my family. V perhaps understandably thought I should have done so earlier!
So that’s my career since leaving RD. There are some gaps in my story, some of the gaps are resultant from memory lapses, some of the gaps are intentional. Some things are best left unspoken, other things are required by the Official Secrets Act not to be spoken of!
If anyone gets this far I make no apologies for using this forum to tell my story. Apart from it being a wholly cathartic exercise for me there are precious few other contributors to keep the site going despite a healthy readership of articles posted.
Quote from Cliff_C on April 4, 2024, 2:24 pmThank you Dave.
It is always interesting to read to the autobiography of one than is known to you. I am sure that these "old soldier" forums have a wealth of entertaining material, enough for quite a few books.
I certainly enjoyed reading it. I am not well at this time and this has cheered me up. Thanks.
All the best
Cliff
Thank you Dave.
It is always interesting to read to the autobiography of one than is known to you. I am sure that these "old soldier" forums have a wealth of entertaining material, enough for quite a few books.
I certainly enjoyed reading it. I am not well at this time and this has cheered me up. Thanks.
All the best
Cliff
Quote from DavidFullard on April 4, 2024, 7:11 pmThank you Cliff, I am sorry to hear you are unwell old friend. If I can be of any help you need only let me know. We have 3 men down from the ‘Famous Five’. Apart from you Mick seems to have a lot on in his family life and Bob is understandably still coming to terms with life after losing Kay. John and I have been holding the fort as you can see.
I send you my best wishes for a speedy recovery and like I said here if you need me.Stay safe
David
Thank you Cliff, I am sorry to hear you are unwell old friend. If I can be of any help you need only let me know. We have 3 men down from the ‘Famous Five’. Apart from you Mick seems to have a lot on in his family life and Bob is understandably still coming to terms with life after losing Kay. John and I have been holding the fort as you can see.
I send you my best wishes for a speedy recovery and like I said here if you need me.
Stay safe
David
Quote from jkwebster06 on April 5, 2024, 8:59 pmCliff, I echo David's thoughts, get well soon & wish you a speedy recovery. With regards " A Major Career Change", mine was nowhere nears as full as yours David, and can be summoned up thus ; Very similar to Senne, shouting at people & locking 'em up !! For 20 years I was stationed at HMP Liverpool where we locked up on average 1600 prisoners (peaked at 2000 mid 80's), for crimes ranging from murder to kiddy fiddling, some of the most violent and drug crazed baddies imaginable but I genuinely took to the job like a duck to water. Maybe I will tell the odd tale in due course, suffice to say I became well known both by the staff AND inmates ! John (JKW)
Cliff, I echo David's thoughts, get well soon & wish you a speedy recovery. With regards " A Major Career Change", mine was nowhere nears as full as yours David, and can be summoned up thus ; Very similar to Senne, shouting at people & locking 'em up !! For 20 years I was stationed at HMP Liverpool where we locked up on average 1600 prisoners (peaked at 2000 mid 80's), for crimes ranging from murder to kiddy fiddling, some of the most violent and drug crazed baddies imaginable but I genuinely took to the job like a duck to water. Maybe I will tell the odd tale in due course, suffice to say I became well known both by the staff AND inmates ! John (JKW)
Quote from Cliff_C on April 7, 2024, 5:38 pmThank you for the "well wishes" gents. Its nothing life threatening. I suffer from spinal stenosis. Have had back pain even in the "mob" but always just got on with it. Round about 2000 it just got unbearable and after numerous visits to the doc, one visit he said " we have an old physiologist in today, go through and see what he thinks"! After some prodding etc the physio told me what he thought it was "a bulging disc due to not enough space in spinal canal"! He then proceeded to tell me the long route that I would take before eventually getting an MRI and then consultation with a consultant. He was right, and in 2018 I went under the knife and had lumbar decompression surgery. As soon as I woke up from the unaesthetic I knew it was a success, I just cannot describe the feeling of instant pain relief, it was great to say the least. The consultant said I might never be bothered with it again or the symptoms might return in four years, if they did then I was to get in touch and see what he could do. Well guess what? and it isn't as easy as he says. I had to go through my GP again and start the long slow process again. Even though they know what is causing my pain, I was told that NHS Grampian have changed there policy regarding the surgery I require, I will not "go on the list" until the pain is at my feet and I am loosing control of my leg!
I am always in pain but not always severe, I can control it. This last two weeks though the pain has been unbearable I take a mix of oxycodon and pregabalin which just take the edge off. I am sure that you guys all know what pain is like as you have experience/chronic sufferers due to different causes, just depressing as you know what it causing it, how long it is going to last and then there is the requirement to ensure that I drink prune juice otherwise the opioids will block me up! Mind you, if I take too much then I must make sure to keep my cheeks together.
All the best gents
Cliff
Thank you for the "well wishes" gents. Its nothing life threatening. I suffer from spinal stenosis. Have had back pain even in the "mob" but always just got on with it. Round about 2000 it just got unbearable and after numerous visits to the doc, one visit he said " we have an old physiologist in today, go through and see what he thinks"! After some prodding etc the physio told me what he thought it was "a bulging disc due to not enough space in spinal canal"! He then proceeded to tell me the long route that I would take before eventually getting an MRI and then consultation with a consultant. He was right, and in 2018 I went under the knife and had lumbar decompression surgery. As soon as I woke up from the unaesthetic I knew it was a success, I just cannot describe the feeling of instant pain relief, it was great to say the least. The consultant said I might never be bothered with it again or the symptoms might return in four years, if they did then I was to get in touch and see what he could do. Well guess what? and it isn't as easy as he says. I had to go through my GP again and start the long slow process again. Even though they know what is causing my pain, I was told that NHS Grampian have changed there policy regarding the surgery I require, I will not "go on the list" until the pain is at my feet and I am loosing control of my leg!
I am always in pain but not always severe, I can control it. This last two weeks though the pain has been unbearable I take a mix of oxycodon and pregabalin which just take the edge off. I am sure that you guys all know what pain is like as you have experience/chronic sufferers due to different causes, just depressing as you know what it causing it, how long it is going to last and then there is the requirement to ensure that I drink prune juice otherwise the opioids will block me up! Mind you, if I take too much then I must make sure to keep my cheeks together.
All the best gents
Cliff
Quote from jkwebster06 on April 7, 2024, 8:04 pmHi Cliff - PAIN !?! Tell me about it. I had my right hip replaced 2 years ago which cost me £15k. My left hip now needs replacing & I was due the surgery at the same private hospital this coming Thursday (11th) but this time it was NHS funded, obviously in an attempt to bring the Waiting Lists down ( I wasn't going to pay again !). Having been through the various steps successfully ( I thought) towards having the procedure, last Wednesday I was told that my Pre Op indicated that my surgery had been refused on the grounds that the complications that did arise last time were too much of a risk for a private hospital to cope with ( to be fair, I was "blue lighted" to the local NHS hospital on that occasion). The upshot is that I've now been put on the NHS List with a 9 (NINE) month wait before I can be sorted in a fully equipped NHS hospital - SH*T !!
So PAIN, we're partners for a lot longer now ; when walking the dog I'm basically crippled so what it'll be like in 9 months God knows - there's been times lately when I've been looking out for a butcher to saw my leg off ! Still, it is what is, I'm hoping to see a GP this week to see what he can prescribe (I'm already on pregabalin twice a day plus other pain killers) but don't want that mix you're on which needs constant cheek together clenching !! Good luck with your problem Cliff & hope the Grampian NHS change their policy towards treating you. John (JKW)
Hi Cliff - PAIN !?! Tell me about it. I had my right hip replaced 2 years ago which cost me £15k. My left hip now needs replacing & I was due the surgery at the same private hospital this coming Thursday (11th) but this time it was NHS funded, obviously in an attempt to bring the Waiting Lists down ( I wasn't going to pay again !). Having been through the various steps successfully ( I thought) towards having the procedure, last Wednesday I was told that my Pre Op indicated that my surgery had been refused on the grounds that the complications that did arise last time were too much of a risk for a private hospital to cope with ( to be fair, I was "blue lighted" to the local NHS hospital on that occasion). The upshot is that I've now been put on the NHS List with a 9 (NINE) month wait before I can be sorted in a fully equipped NHS hospital - SH*T !!
So PAIN, we're partners for a lot longer now ; when walking the dog I'm basically crippled so what it'll be like in 9 months God knows - there's been times lately when I've been looking out for a butcher to saw my leg off ! Still, it is what is, I'm hoping to see a GP this week to see what he can prescribe (I'm already on pregabalin twice a day plus other pain killers) but don't want that mix you're on which needs constant cheek together clenching !! Good luck with your problem Cliff & hope the Grampian NHS change their policy towards treating you. John (JKW)
Quote from DavidFullard on April 7, 2024, 8:43 pmBoth stories make for sad and dismal reading. No-one should be left in pain in today’s world of modern medicine. The practice of delaying surgery until a certain level of pain and and immobility is reached ( Cliff) is barbaric. Delaying simple bread and butter hip surgery is equally appalling! The nonsense of the private healthcare in John’s case is systematic of bad planning and poor pathways of care. The NHS referred you to the private hospital. A glance at your medical notes would have told them you needed to be in a hospital that could deal with any untoward complications arising from surgery. A neck of femur fracture at 77 is no fun!
I drove my next door neighbour 26 miles to a NHS hospital for a simple bilateral inguinal hernia repair. He had passed all his pre op tests. I drove home and waited for the pick up call. It came at 1530. No surgery. Roger has a pacemaker, there was no cardiologist in situ that day in the cottage hospial carrying out his surgery. He waited another 6 months! Systemic appallingly shoddy planning.
Apropos pain. We are the 3 Musketeers. My periperal neuropathy pain wavers between annoying but bearable to extremdly painful and debilitating. I also take Pregablin at maximum safe dose. I moved from high dose Gabapentin. I live off opioid painkillers which, as. Cliff points out, cause constipation. My neuropathy is incurable. I console myself the alternative would have been worse.
Anyway I just hope things take a turn for the better for you both. I read today Poland is THE place to go for hip surgery £7500 for a hip replacement in a clinic that rivals the NHS according to the media.
Both stories make for sad and dismal reading. No-one should be left in pain in today’s world of modern medicine. The practice of delaying surgery until a certain level of pain and and immobility is reached ( Cliff) is barbaric. Delaying simple bread and butter hip surgery is equally appalling! The nonsense of the private healthcare in John’s case is systematic of bad planning and poor pathways of care. The NHS referred you to the private hospital. A glance at your medical notes would have told them you needed to be in a hospital that could deal with any untoward complications arising from surgery. A neck of femur fracture at 77 is no fun!
I drove my next door neighbour 26 miles to a NHS hospital for a simple bilateral inguinal hernia repair. He had passed all his pre op tests. I drove home and waited for the pick up call. It came at 1530. No surgery. Roger has a pacemaker, there was no cardiologist in situ that day in the cottage hospial carrying out his surgery. He waited another 6 months! Systemic appallingly shoddy planning.
Apropos pain. We are the 3 Musketeers. My periperal neuropathy pain wavers between annoying but bearable to extremdly painful and debilitating. I also take Pregablin at maximum safe dose. I moved from high dose Gabapentin. I live off opioid painkillers which, as. Cliff points out, cause constipation. My neuropathy is incurable. I console myself the alternative would have been worse.
Anyway I just hope things take a turn for the better for you both. I read today Poland is THE place to go for hip surgery £7500 for a hip replacement in a clinic that rivals the NHS according to the media.
Quote from jkwebster06 on April 7, 2024, 9:12 pmBack on topic - career change after the military ; On joining HMP Liverpool I was 40 years of age and, to the inmates, looked old AND experienced compared to the other fresh faced newly recruited Prison Officers, and this worked in my favour because they thought I knew "the ropes". Inmates are past masters at jail craft, knowing all the tricks to intimidate or even corrupt naive young Prison Officers, whereas my old demeanour meant they thought I'd come from another jail ( I had, but only from HMP Lewes where I'd spent 6 months before getting my requested transfer to Liverpool). I was put on "G" Wing, a large Wing with 5 landings "fully occupied". To say I was disgusted at the state of the wing is an understatement and I volunteered for the job of Wing Cleaning Officer on a semi permanent basis - previously it was a task detailed daily and hated by the staff ! I got all the Wing Cleaners together, inmates of various sentences / offences, gave them the "news" & my requirements in clear terms and the option to "retire". Some did, most didn't, but by the end of the day I'd sacked all but 2 ! I then recruited a full team and treated 'em like a small troop, even getting them to "fall in" for hands / finger inspection prior to serving at the hotplate. With regards cleaning, their respective landings I inspected rigorously, even writing "50p" in any dust I found, warning them I'd done so (but not where) and if they hadn't found it that's how much I'd fine them if it was still visible ! It worked a treat - I also had the landing on the "TWO's" , the main thoroughfare through the jail, highly polished - it gleamed and set the tone for the whole Wing. I wasn't always popular with staff on other Wings though because their bosses (Principal Officers) would tell them to do similar improvements on their Wings ; none ever matched up to "G" Wing though !
I became known very quickly throughout the jail, not just for my methods of getting the Wing cleaned, but also because of my highly bulled shoes (old habits are hard to stop - I genuinely bulled my shoes for every working day for 20 years at Liverpool). "Shiny Shoes" was my nickname, never to my face of course, but I often heard "Watch out, here's Shiny Shoes "! Cleaning Officer was not my only job of course, in those days we escorted prisoners not only to the local Courts but to various jails - I even went to Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, was part of the escort of "Charlie Bronson" to Downview Prison, and spent many hours in Crown Courts. Within the jail at Liverpool were loads of daily tasks undertaken by staff, the majority involving contact with inmates - Visits, Exercise Yard, Security etc, some staff had their favourites like me, who always preferred getting my "troop" grafting to get the Wing spotless ! John (JKW)
Back on topic - career change after the military ; On joining HMP Liverpool I was 40 years of age and, to the inmates, looked old AND experienced compared to the other fresh faced newly recruited Prison Officers, and this worked in my favour because they thought I knew "the ropes". Inmates are past masters at jail craft, knowing all the tricks to intimidate or even corrupt naive young Prison Officers, whereas my old demeanour meant they thought I'd come from another jail ( I had, but only from HMP Lewes where I'd spent 6 months before getting my requested transfer to Liverpool). I was put on "G" Wing, a large Wing with 5 landings "fully occupied". To say I was disgusted at the state of the wing is an understatement and I volunteered for the job of Wing Cleaning Officer on a semi permanent basis - previously it was a task detailed daily and hated by the staff ! I got all the Wing Cleaners together, inmates of various sentences / offences, gave them the "news" & my requirements in clear terms and the option to "retire". Some did, most didn't, but by the end of the day I'd sacked all but 2 ! I then recruited a full team and treated 'em like a small troop, even getting them to "fall in" for hands / finger inspection prior to serving at the hotplate. With regards cleaning, their respective landings I inspected rigorously, even writing "50p" in any dust I found, warning them I'd done so (but not where) and if they hadn't found it that's how much I'd fine them if it was still visible ! It worked a treat - I also had the landing on the "TWO's" , the main thoroughfare through the jail, highly polished - it gleamed and set the tone for the whole Wing. I wasn't always popular with staff on other Wings though because their bosses (Principal Officers) would tell them to do similar improvements on their Wings ; none ever matched up to "G" Wing though !
I became known very quickly throughout the jail, not just for my methods of getting the Wing cleaned, but also because of my highly bulled shoes (old habits are hard to stop - I genuinely bulled my shoes for every working day for 20 years at Liverpool). "Shiny Shoes" was my nickname, never to my face of course, but I often heard "Watch out, here's Shiny Shoes "! Cleaning Officer was not my only job of course, in those days we escorted prisoners not only to the local Courts but to various jails - I even went to Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, was part of the escort of "Charlie Bronson" to Downview Prison, and spent many hours in Crown Courts. Within the jail at Liverpool were loads of daily tasks undertaken by staff, the majority involving contact with inmates - Visits, Exercise Yard, Security etc, some staff had their favourites like me, who always preferred getting my "troop" grafting to get the Wing spotless ! John (JKW)