RAF MOVERS

Have just been home for a spot of R&R and had a nightmare journey both ways thanks to the RAF and that miserable excuse for a civilian contract company (Omni Air International) who are responsible for the main leg back to the UK.

Took me three and a half days to return (stuck in Al Udeid for over two of them because the civ air plane was broken and no replacement was offered / available). Other PAX missed weddings, funerals, births, birthdays, holiday start dates, etc and very little reason given for it. I/C refused to show his face until we were about to move on and even then all I heard was "Blah, Blah, not my fault, Blah, Blah". Also had the pleasure of standing up in the same set of DC’s for the duration and lost two days R&R with the folks.

Took me almost two to return here when every Herc I got “Went Tec†as the RAF put it. Omni bastards showed the same movies both ways too.

I’m feeling a lot of hate right now and am considering a Fatwa. Anyone got any advice? All together now …. One …. two ….. three …. Breathe … four ….

SF

 

It's been said that the Army and the Navy are two competing services united in a deep and abiding contempt for the RAF, but there's a special circle of hell reserved for the incompetent jobsworth cnuts that are the RAF Movements Clerks. The ARRSE forums have countless pages of vitriol lavished on these oxygen thieves. We can just be thankful that most of the time we in the Andrew move ourselves to and from theatre and aren't as completely reliant on them as our comrades in green.

 

I can fully concur with both sentiments aired here, I returned from a six month stint in the sandpit in April. Flight home went really smoothly but my RnR in Jan was nothing short of a gangfcuk. We had a different civvy carrier for the final leg, Excel airways, just as sh1te and indifferent though. I only had to suffer 1 day at EID so I didn't have it as bad as some. As for the RAF Movers and Police though....on my way back, I absent mindedly left my gerber on my belt, and had it (quite rightly so) taken off me as we went through the scanner at Brize, I was given a receipt and told it would be given to the aircrew and I could collect it in Basra. I was happy with that, but when I got there, presented my receipt, there was no gerber, and I was met with indifference.
I passed through Basra APOD a week later to do some work, and I popped in and spoke to an Army CPL who was most helpful and tried his best, even called Brize and Al-Udeid, quoting the number on my ticket, and he had to admit, it must've been stolen.

So not only are they crap, they're thieving scum as well.
BTW, my wife's RAF and she makes no effort to defend what she deems as the lowest of the low in her service. She claims that an RAF recruiter once told her that movers and police are the people they recruit having scored the lowest on their entrance tests, and wouldn't have a cat in hells chance of being offered another job. This titbit is only 3rd hand though, so if anyone knows any different I'd be happy to stand corrected.

 

Didn't really think I was alone in my experience. Whilst hanging around in Udeid I was told that it was the third time it had happened in a month!

One of our guys got stuck for five days in Basra & Udeid and he was heading home on compassionate leave.

SF

 

An RAF mate of mine told me that RAFPOL were the people with the lowest recruitment scores - he was amazed that in the RN you had to be a minimum LH in your source branch to transfer to the regulators, and there was no direct entry.

I've only ever flown Crab Air once, and they were bang on time, nice flight (much better leg room in a VC10 than many civ air), hot meal etc. However, I have heard this is not typical!!!

Have dealt a bit with UKMAMS, good guys but I think they're the best of the RAF movers.

 

Im still trying to get the cash for a very expensive leatherman that the RAF have misappropriated as they wouldnt let me on an RAF flight with it in my pocket. Was forced to put it in the "secure" baggage..yeah secure in someone else's pocket....something about the risk to passengers...excuse me I was in CS95 with ID card..on my way to an exercise in Norway...are we on the same side...do I f**king look like Ali Mohammed Jihad Fatwah...feck sake...I was on a flight with 200 booties...not even a matelot would be that stupid to try and hijack that flight....please!!!!

 

I seem to recall a case being mentioned in the press where sqauddies in CS95 were allowed to board a transport aircraft complete with personal weapons and bayonets, yet small items such as Leatherman, nail scissors, needlework sets, etc were confiscated. Who was it that said "rules are for the guidance of the wiseman and the obedience of fools"?

 

Not so much tears Jenny, but most of the threads over here go from a valid point (and all of us get p1ssed about by movers) to general crab slagging sessions where it is just the same old [email protected] recycled.

Maybe if the Senior Service took their blinkers off every now & again we wouldnt call them whinging t0ssers!

Guys/gals, check out the rest of the thread over on the goat before launching into your usual 'slag crabs off, they must be [email protected]' way of thinking - you might actually learn something.

 

Like the Meaning of Life??????

 

Sounds like a gash site to me Jen!

 

Oh man.

Is this the time to mention I have done time as an RAF Movements Officer?

I can count past 15. honest.

Fully expecting incoming 8O

'Crab air'

 

I was co-located with RAF Movers from 02 to 03 and, as a group, they were extremely helpful and co-operative to RN requirements, mostly cargo, medevacs and personnel transfers. C130's are always in short supply and the number of unserviceable airframes is huge. So the ones that are working are run to excess. In any branch in any service there are always going to be deadbeats and the RN is no exception. As for RAF Movers being low scorers in the recruiting process I cannot believe that, most are very bright and dedicated despite a very slow advancement system and also coping with regular operational deployments. My experience of UKMAMS teams has not been pleasant and I would rather work with the RAF Movers any day. As for RAF Police couldn't agree more with the threads. Demand has meant that a lot of new entries are rated up before their time so that they can be deployed in a rank that enables them to arrest someone!

 

I've removed certain posts from here

 

Why? for what reason?

 

Because either:

a) she doesnt't want to upset the crabs, or
b) just becaue she can!

 

It seems like you're not alone in wanting to declare a fatwa; the latest criticism of the incompetent sideways walking movers is in today's Telegraph: Tory TA major says the RAF let our troops down.

In a nutshell, he's written to the Station Commander at Akrotiri complaining that troops returning from Helmland were dicked around at Cyprus for no other reason than the convenience of crabs (shift change being cited several times). The conclusion of the letter is "Overall, it was an appalling experience that gave the impression of a station being run entirely for the convenience of the RAF (and particularly the 'shift' system) with scant if any concern for returning troops from theatre"