Last military flight
Posted: 27 Nov 2009, 14:13
I'm not sure whether to post this in Real Life Military or here.
Anyway, today I flew my last flight in the military after over 25 years as aircrew and over 20 years as a pilot. In that time I've accumulated nearly 8,000 hours - 6,500 of them as a pilot. It was a really touching surprise to find the whole squadron waiting for my return from that last sortie, with a bottle of champagne and a speech from my Boss. I hate having my photo taken, but I was unable to escape on this occasion.
I joined the Army nearly 33 years ago as a tank crewman, so I think it'd be fair to say I've seen one or two changes. One I find almost amusing is that when I joined, my regiment was desperately under-manned and we had to 'borrow' soldiers from another unit to complete an infantry tour in Belfast during the early part of 1978. Some things never change, do they?
Some things, however, have remained constant - the British squaddie's sense of humour, dedication and commitment. You can't beat the loyalty of 'the team', of those friends and colleagues who would lay down their life for you, and for others, selflessly. We see this quality on our TV screens almost daily from Afghanistan and I'm immensley proud to have served with this superb group of people.
The courage displayed by these young men and women is utterly inspiring and I hope the youth of today hold them in the regard which they're due, forever.
I start my new job on 7 Dec (my 50th birthday) as a civilian instructor on the sister squadron to that on which I now serve, and I hope I can continue to mould future generations of military pilots for many years to come. More, I hope that these young aviators from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army and Royal Air Force will remain safe and live to serve longer than I have.
Fear naught
Anyway, today I flew my last flight in the military after over 25 years as aircrew and over 20 years as a pilot. In that time I've accumulated nearly 8,000 hours - 6,500 of them as a pilot. It was a really touching surprise to find the whole squadron waiting for my return from that last sortie, with a bottle of champagne and a speech from my Boss. I hate having my photo taken, but I was unable to escape on this occasion.
I joined the Army nearly 33 years ago as a tank crewman, so I think it'd be fair to say I've seen one or two changes. One I find almost amusing is that when I joined, my regiment was desperately under-manned and we had to 'borrow' soldiers from another unit to complete an infantry tour in Belfast during the early part of 1978. Some things never change, do they?
Some things, however, have remained constant - the British squaddie's sense of humour, dedication and commitment. You can't beat the loyalty of 'the team', of those friends and colleagues who would lay down their life for you, and for others, selflessly. We see this quality on our TV screens almost daily from Afghanistan and I'm immensley proud to have served with this superb group of people.
The courage displayed by these young men and women is utterly inspiring and I hope the youth of today hold them in the regard which they're due, forever.
I start my new job on 7 Dec (my 50th birthday) as a civilian instructor on the sister squadron to that on which I now serve, and I hope I can continue to mould future generations of military pilots for many years to come. More, I hope that these young aviators from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, British Army and Royal Air Force will remain safe and live to serve longer than I have.
Fear naught
My log book is pretty full, in fact I'm on my third now. I started in training on Chipmunk fixed wing and Gazelle helicopters and went on to fly Gazelle and Lynx operationally. I've been teaching on the Squirrel (Eurocopter AS350BB) for a number of years, but in those logbooks are ;
