A Cautionary Tale

[kedge]

Now it can be told - a cautionary tale

In early July, on one of those stinkingly hot & sunny days with the temperatures approachng 30 C, the planners for a two day event arranged a rendezvous to compare notes after a morning wandering the area. One planner was worried about his car and its contents oveheating in such conditions, but as a scientist, found a suitable method of avoiding this before setting out.

At the appointed hour, the other members of the planning team arrived at the rendevous to find one of their cars surrounded by armed soldiers. As they approached, one of the soldiers spoke.

"Step away from the cars please: we have a serious security situation"

Now it so happened that the competition area was a military training area where at this time a royal personage was learning to command a tank, so security was at a considerably higher level than usual.

"But we know this car" the planners said. " It belongs to a colleague"

"Stay clear of the car" came the reply. "There's a suspicious package underneath the car. We've sent for the bomb squad - we're going to have to do a controlled explosion"

At this point, our missing planner approached from the heath. "Keep clear of the car sir, " said a soldier, pointing his weapon at the planner, "there's a suspicious package underneath it" .

"Suspicious package be blowed" said the planner, "that's my lunch!"

[DesignatedDriver]

yeah, the Army can over-react on stuff like that....


My dad told me about one of his worst experiences with the Army.
It was shortly after a certain "group" had stolen a large amount of munitions from the Army.
He was stopped at one of the many checkpoints throughout the area and rather stupidly wound down his window and when approached by an officer in full protective gear and sporting a rather large gun, asked "Whats the matter? You lost something?"

They dragged him out of the car, ripped everything out of it, including the seats, and then left him standing beside his inside out car.

Suffice to say he hasn't been quite so glib with the Army since.

[Copepod]

in the early 1990s, I was the only member of my Territorial Army medical unit to have a car pass for my bike, as I had neither a car nor a driving licence at the time. My colleagues took great delight in searching my bike, with a mirror & torch on a long stick, when I entered the barracks. It wasn't that long ago, when we only wore uniform in barracks or when on exercise, not when travelling in unmarked coaches or cars etc.