OSTs/Thursday Wars!

Thursdays Wars can be a pain in the arse but also be a laugh at times, unless the FOST movers and wreckers are seen to be hanging about like stale air!

I didn’t mind DOST so bad, only 3 or 4 weeks, grinding, fires, wars, things being ripped up, thrown at you and how can we forget about the whole ship turning on each other! Mind you I did use to like the RF attacks, they were fun! Been on both sides, RF and a culprit of throwing those rotten eggs at any one with a hint of gold on their shoulders :twisted:

But BOST/OST, never again thank god (only did 5 in total)! Only ever been sent on an extra week once and that’s because the frigging officers mucked up and guess who had to pay, us god damn JRs!

I always use to think people were joking about throwing themselves down the ladders, faking illnesses and going wibble just so they did not have to go through our lovely Flag Officer Sea Training weeks! Should of known better, within the week before OST 5 people managed to get a nice SOS for, guess how long, 7 weeks :roll:

There was this one CPOMA that was a darling, he would warn me about certain little things that were going to happen! All I had to do was slip him a wet (no idea’s people, just a plain tea!). I soon learnt that I would need to volunteer as casualty on certain ‘wars’, which was good as I could get my head down, which I hadn’t done for 48hrs. Call it a cop out but bugger it, like I care! Other things I hated, stupid O’Clock timings for cable parties! The SnS and officers curled up in their warm pits while we were soaked head to toe in sea water, trying to blind guide ourselves in the dark with the cable, capstans, bottle screws and mousing wire that always dug into you at the time you wish it wouldn’t!

I use to be the one caught in the odd places when the wreckers would throw a nice gas canister my way, the fire hoses let lose and guess who would have to clean the 2ft of water up! Its what OMs are for apparently, hang on I realized what that broom is on my branch badge now :roll:

Mind you the action scran wasn’t so bad at times :wink:

But the thing that sent shivers down my spin, the nightmares that haunted me, the taunting………………………it was down to those Green fowlys!

So, lads and ladettes.......lets open up our little stories of OSTs gone bad, Thursday Wars that seemed like they would never end! I must be the youngest on here, seeing as this was between 1999 - 2004, come on and show me up

 

Believe me, officers don't get any more sleep at OST than the rest - and a lot more stress when SWEO gets on your case. Most unpleasant all round. :cry:

 

Being a proud day-working, shiney-arsed, Writer faggot, I've gotta tell you that OST is effectively over for us once the Staff Sea Check is out of the way. After that it's all whole-ship bollocks, but it's definitely not so bad as for the Warfare lot. Ok, Yankee Patrol at 3am can interfere with your beauty sleep, and you Ops Room monkeys seem to need your Ops Room Narrative at the MOST inconvenient times, but on the whole the last BOST I did was like Butlins compared to the first.

Of course, I was Ops Department at the time. Branch Transfer to Writer ftw!

 

I remember a BOST many years ago on a Leander, when the Captain (a four ring Captain in Command who went on to become FOST), was hear to rant that nobody had noticed that the ship was being attacked by aircraft from astern. A certain Mechanician, who is not a million miles away from this dit, made and fitted two wing mirrors to the side of the bridge! Needless to say the Captain was not amused!

 

Can anyone with influence at Yeovilton stop the bleddy choppers flying over my house every Thursday on the way to the war it wakes me up

 

Post a complaint on the Wafoo's Forum - oops sorry, forgot its a closed forum :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

whilst on HMS Arkle Sparkle (ark royal) whilst in me pit after working thru the night on 8 about, a fostie proceeded to throw a smoke cannister into the mess. got out of bed bollocky buff and lobbed it back out and down to the passageway.
Fostie came back a 2 and half ringer and said 'you cannot do that!' I turned to him and said 'Well I bloody well have done and am now going back to bed!' that is what Partial Cag sign on the door means.

he wanted an arguement and whilst in the nude told him that whilst he was in his pit thru the night we were digging out on the freezing cold deck getting jets ready for the next night wave.

later found out he was living in 5 deck so told all the lads in the hangar (because every carrier wafu knows where the bunks are underneath them when working in the hangar) and told them to drop spanners and chain lashings directly over his pit space, for as long as possible.

funny old thing never got disturbed again during the whole BOST & COST with our Partial Cag sign!

 

Never did a BOST/FOST, we just went down south and got it right! having read Sharkey Wards book about Invincible I know which ship I would have been happier on!

FAO Fly Navy - is Rocky Stone still flying & about ? he was my DO at Gannet flying Seakings before flying SHAR.

 

Good dit about the Wing Mirrors Ratrat; you should have considered fitting training wheels for him too.

Was on the bridge of a certain leander during a War a few years back when the OOW called in a "Bandit" attack, giving the correct position, approximate distance, etc. Within seconds the entire Ops Rm, gunners, Exocet, every menacing bit of kit and the entire ships company were at their posts and ready to repel the attack with maximum force.

Two minutes later the Captain called for his third SITREP: "OOW where are those bloody bandits - they're not showing up on the Radar"? You could have heard a moth fart as far away as China in the silence which followed. Eventually the [now] sheepish OOW had to admit that the bandits were about half a dozen seagulls. No one was in a fit state to take the remainder of the morning seriously after that. CO was not amused.

 

Can't remember the ship but I was COW in the MCR in the middle of the Thursday war. As usual, we had fires. floods, you name it everywhere and the whole team were out and about plugging holes, fighting fires etc etc when the Jimmy phoned up.

He wanted to report his bridge windscreen wiper wasn't wiping properly !

Needless to say - I just put the phone down - the mans not real !

 

To the tune of 'Yesterday'

Yesterday, FOST was such an easy game to play,
Now I dread the war each Thursday,
Won't Gingerland just go away?

etc etc

 

You lot are lucky. I am conducting OST just about every week and have been doing so since last April. I am a FOSTY though. ;-)

 

brigham600 - you know you're not meant to ever admit that in public.

 

Enjoying the new BOST programme?

 

Not too bad. The new reporting style is okay and far easier for the searider and much faster to get completed. Not sure if it helps out the ship that much, especially if you have not had enough to time to verbally debrief them.

You been thru recently then?

 

It all hinges on who is present for the de-brief to be honest. If you can capture all the points passed across verbally then it's all good. There still seems to be differences between the departments as to the level of verbal de-briefing and how it is reflected in the report. I suspect this is more of a personality issue than anything else.

Without that verbal de-brief, for whatever reason, then frankly there's little point in you coming out - the old reports meant we could capture what was needed, now we just have to guess from the writing!

The real test of OST for me will come in the next 6 months - comparing the "FOST" way of doing an operational deployment versus how we have to do it for real. I'll keep you updated!

 

I remember from my time on FOST staff, (shorebased) that the sea riders did have a pretty hard job, they were always long gone when I got up and often just getting back when I rolled in from the pub. Mind you that was at Portland.

Peter

 

I am not too scared to admit it. I really enjoy the job and I can honestly say that I enjoy training the Comms departments and like to think they go away from OST with a lot more knowledge than they arrived with.

It is also good for me in that I was at Collingwood working at C school training the youngsters and its good to see them now, at sea and the other end of the training scale so to speak. Almost 'Cradle to Grave' in some aspects.

FOST is currently going through a lot of changes and I really hope they will be for the good of the fleet in the end, but it can be difficult constantly adapting to change after change right now.

 

Got to admit it, I am a FOSTIE as well, for the second time. Best job ever although the edge is knocked off by the long hours. FOST is going through a lot of changes but the problem is getting the silly old sods to move with the times. The last time the Thursday war scenario happened for real was the Battle of Leyte Gulf! Stand by to stand by guys. New BOST will be 8 weeks long starting September, first two weeks ensuring basic skills in place, four weeks "normal" stuff and the last two weeks are free play. At last. Pass my bandolier of smokes. Showtime. :lol:

 

Best thing about BOST/COST ?
Being taken out by a smoke bomb and told "you're dead Doc "
Worst thing ? Having the sick bay flooded.... Memories
G