Hi Keith , great tribute to brave lads. A mate of mine was killed 'over there' in 1982 age 18,we were the same age. I've had 42 years more than him up to now. If I speak to anyone about that time,I find most people know little or nothing about 'the troubles" or ' op banner' and the losses, ...on all sides , or don't really care . Keep up the good work mate ,there's still a lot of us out here that do care and remember , tab on 👍
It was a Terrible time for all concerned. My Missus is from East Belfast and she would not hear a wrong word spoken about British soldiers. She grew up with all of this madness, she was a true Brit. But I must say, I have met people, from both sides of the divide and the ordinary folk were as sick of it as we were. They are some of the most genuine and warm people I have ever met 🙏🙏
Hi Keith - another excellent video, did 5 tours in NI as a Sapper/ Cpl/Sgt in Londonderry, Belfast (2) & Long Kesh twice. in 1971 serving atached to 21 Engr Regt we were the first non Infantry unit to deploy as Infantry. We all grew up very quickly during these tours and were the making of many of us. Kev
Really true. I was a UDR l/cpl and we were always told it was a corporals war. I served 15 years here and as you said soldiers could be attacked anywhere anytime. My home was hit by a rocket thankfully I was not there at that time and it sure was a dangerous place in the 70's and 80's. I worked often with 2RGJ and they were great soldiers and great men especially l/cpl Pete Broom who drove us all around Derry/Londonderry in a pig where we had many hairy moments but he was always on the ball.
I did multiple 6 week tours on Tactical Supply Wing (RAF). We were the ones who fuelled the helicopters at various locations. Had to drive a tanker from Alders to omagh, even though I had other vehicles for protection, I was unarmed & felt pretty vulnerable, I can say.
Alright Keith good stuff mate I served in the 80s over there.We where in Germany in the morning flew over by 3pm we where out on the streets west Belfast. Remember the bomb detection equipment green chimp yellow chimp brown joker what names eh I was the brown joker at the front .My friend never came back private Ian O'connor killed in divis 87 .Your doing a great job mate.
I can remember bringing my car home on leave in the mid 70's with my car which had a BFG plate and getting some very funny sideways looks in London, it was worrying.
I remember a brick going out at Crossmaglen. The infantry brick had a colonel going out as just a bloke. The brick was commanded by a private. Until then, I believed the adage that the army was run by sergeants. We would never have seen that in the R Sigs.
Thanks for that Keith. From what you say and explaining that particular patrol in the province certainly that Corporal kept his head. RIP the three lads killed that day and the others who were injured. And possibly invalided out of the army.
Gd to c u out tabbing mucker! Lot's OF memories!! Top show as always keep this up n rolling out mucker well done green on mucker.! Have a great wk m8 n family 😊
Well Done Keith! Very Interesting and I can only imagine how difficult those operations were on a regular basis. Good to see you up and tabbing today! Sending you our best!
Fascinating stuff as always. Brilliant illustration of some of the vicious little actions that I think took place quite regularly through Banner. On the TV they usually talk about Warrenpoint or Loughgall, but they were outliers. There was a lot more low level stuff that helped keep everyone sharp. Late 80s/early 90s we heard a lot on the grapevine about machine gun attacks on helicopters that only rarely made the news.
Wow, what a video. I did two tours in the 70’s and still have dreams about the place. Respect to all that served there and especially the lads who never made it home.
Glad it was 4 1/2 months in the 80’s before it was increased. Remember the work was hard and long but worthwhile, it was literally 24 hours a day 7 days a week
The BFG plates were a ludicrous idea from an op sec viewpoint. It took an officer, (The RRW WO1 had just been picked up for a commission), to get killed for the BFG plates to be stopped.
The BFG plates were ok until the real trouble started in NI The purposes was to identify cars that were being driven tax free ( even fuel was completely free) on the German roads. The Idea was pushed by the German authorities. But they soon saw the light.
People forget how bad it was over here in the 70’s and 80’s and even the 90’s to a lesser degree. My Dad was here as a young lad I think it was south Armagh his first tour and got his eyes opened. He was at the Enniskillen bomb in 87. Never get to hear his stories he died in a fire at Magherafelt barracks in 94. Me step Dad served here too he was mostly Belfast for his tours I think. Me Granddad was RUC special branch he could tell you some stories if he was still about
Fascinating info, I remember the days back in the 80's & 90's with the US Forces License Plates in Germany. Terrible idea of Operational Security. Thank you for a very informative channel. SFC, U.S. Army (Retired).
I remember there was a general order to report cars with Russian diplomatic plates. We would pull off the road to try to find a public telephone to call into the MPs. It seems strange nowadays,.. we were all convinced that it wasn't 'if' the Russians would invade, but 'when'. And that lasted right up to the late 80s.
@@johnlustig4322 Thanks, I never knew the 248 part, was only 14/15 at the time, but remember my father reacting to seeing one when we were driving somewhere...
Only yesterday, 6th Dec, there was an ex paratrooper in court looking to try him for murder for Bloody Sunday. Meanwhile, Blair gave the terrorists dont go to jail letters
Before the troubles started all service personnel could wear their uniform when going on leave and be proud to show it off. A lot of lads wore it when trying to hitch a ride home. Later because of the security risks all service personnel were banned from wearing their uniform unless on active duty and I believe that still stands today. When I was at IJLB in Oswestry in 1971 a young lad who was with us from Northern Ireland was not aloud home that year for Xmas and he was sent to Cyprus to spend his leave there.
Tony, I'm from Belfast, even back in the 80s when on a tour, our R&R had to be away from the Province. Quite a few boys got caught, when for example they got their flight over to say Manchester, then went up to a desk and booked a flight back to Belfast 😂😂😂. Usually fined a months salary, pretty costly.
Yes it was easy to hitch a lift in uniform in the 60s You could even choose the type of car you wanted to stop. After returning from the far east and stationed I that god forsaken hole Felixstowe it took me on an average 2 and a half hours to get to Cambridge on Friday nights. Germany was nearly as good hitching from Iselohn to Amsterdam in 67.was easy.
A friend of mine was patrolling in NI they had stopped at shop to do a reccy on this shop he was outside with another guy there was a shot Fired and the guy next to him was killed outright This screwed him up for years.
1988 WO1 Ritchard Michael Heakin 1RRW was executed by the IRA in Belgium went driving home from Lemgo Germany wiel his wife and children fly with the rest of the Battalion I wasn't in the Regiment then but I soon heard the full story when I did my first NITAT very sad and a very cowardly act by the IRA and as far as I know not one person has been arest in connection to this murder..but vetrans are still to this day been dragged before the courts over and incident that happened 55 years ago disgusting way to treat a vetran of Op Banner 😢
This resulted in the end of the special British Forces Germany (BFG) car registration number plates. Everyone in BAOR changed to West German number plates.
As an Ulsterman myself, having served in Northern Ireland, if they had let us loose to do the job properly, it would have been sorted out within weeks. Unfortunately, in a way the government were happy for, no doubt from advice by the Generals, to let it continue for as long as it did. My reasons for believing this, it was used as a training ground for hundreds of thousands of our troops. Fyi, the police station on the Springfield road is long gone. Was up that way just last week. Everything in that area is completely changed. You wouldn't recognise it tbh.
@OldhamSteve52 Gone as well. Think it's a shopping precinct type place, and houses. Actually haven't been up that way in years, so can't confirm it. I'm from the opposite side of Belfast.
@kevinadamson5768 Indeed they are. During the lockdown period, myself and my missus went sightseeing down to Tyrone and Fermanagh. I had a map from one of my tours, 88/89, with all our Battalion locations and PVCPs etc. All gone, even most of the rural police stations. Mainly all housing of some description. Obviously I didn't get around all the locations, but I would assume they are all gone. As far as I'm aware the only main camps still going are Lisburn and Palace barracks. There are a few Reservist camps dotted around. I think Ballykinler is still used for Training and Ranges. The ranges at Magillan, beside the prison were still there a few years ago, however, not sure if still used. RAF Aldergrove is still operating, but not sure to what degree. I actually stumbled across a recent UA-cam channel, shot very recently of the married pads in Omagh. Basically they were just abandoned when the troops pulled out. The houses are still there, but have fallen in a bad state of disrepair. They could be brought up to a living standard, if the local council or the government invested in it. Then again our new arrivals would probably have the benefit of living there, instead of the locals.
Hi Keith ... I was with the RAF on 72sqn ( RAF Aldergrove) who were flying Wessex helicopters supporting the Army. Our main duty was to fly the army around and drop them off to go out on patrol.. It was dangerous, and worring that the helicopter would be fired on when deploying army patrols on the ground, knowing that the helicopters airframe was not bullet proof ..i think the only bullet proof part on the A/c was the seat the Pilot sat on. I did three , three month tours 1969/71. 🫡..
@Plumduff3303 one thing that annoyed me back at that time , was when the BBC filmed our A/c's in action they always said 'Army helicopter ' when it displayed an RAF roundal and a 72 Sqn badge????
Three tours mostly on the border as a lance jack or full screw Royal engineers thanks for reminding me of the roll we played. I met a woman here in Australia with a broad Ni accent accent when I reluctantly told her that I had served there she couldn't stop thanking me. Saying that so many others would have died without us. True and it makes the loss of my comrades a little bit easier. Corp Mountford RE
The 3rd Battalion RGJs was used be The Rifle Birgade, the Old 95th. The battalion was later 2nd RGJs then 4th Rifles. The 4th Rifles was then in the new regiment The Rangers.
Hi Keith, hope you and the tracer round are doing well. Whilst true for the vast majority of Cpls, unfortunately this cannot be said for them all. I did a High Risk Search tour in NI and our team commander (we operated in 6 man search teams) was about as much use as a chocolate fire guard, one of these muppets that does a course and thinks he’s an instant expert. It was basically down to my team 2ic and myself to keep on top of everything and effectively disregard the majority of what that muppet said. Like I said though, that was very much the minority.
All seems like yesterday. As a dependent (child), I remember playing in shopping trolleys in the car park in the evening, opposite the main NAAFI entrance in JHQ Rheindahlen, trying not to bump into the few cars that were left there overnight. School was cancelled the next day (found out by being stopped on the way there) - a 600 lb bomb was found in one of those cars, and was defused, just as well, would have taken out the whole center of camp.
One of the biggest problems on a contact was the patrol, commander spent most of his time confirming the confirm, location, casualty, numbers etc etc for the 18th time to Coy HQ, Bn HQ or even Bde HQ.
Be interesting to know how Corporal Lingfield got on after his military medal. I did two tours of NI in the 80,s both border, first one straight out of basic as a brand new guardsman and second one few years later as a l/cpl team commander. First one was a bit daunting straight to bandit country from the depot but the lads were great and showed me the ropes because I didn't have any pre NI training. On my second one I was a junior nco in the recon on the scimitar in Germany totally different from NI but this time I did do the full pre traing plus I had the experience still fresh in my mind from my first tour. I agree it was the junior nco, s who held it all together over there because they were the commanders out on the ground. A senior officer said Northern Ireland was the best training ground the British army ever had and I have to agree with him it was brilliant. Pleased to say my battalion never lost a man both tours we did and I would like to think it was down to professionalism, this was 1st battalion Scots guards. 😊
I don't agree one bit . If you didn't lose a man just luck , or not being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Stupid comment. Especially that one coming ( if true) from a so called Col. Now tell us all about the live contacts you lot had that would be interesting.
@@12dougreed why would I want to bullshit to keyboard warriors like you? I'm just relating my experiences in Northern Ireland from a grunts point of view and a junior commander as relating to the topic to this which was a corporals war. Been there done it got the tee shirt not bragging just stating facts.
@@12dougreed it wasn't a Colonel it was a general actually. Another general at the start of the troubles also said line the first ten IRA up against a wall and shoot them , then the next ten , pretty soon the IRA would fold but it was deemed too severe. If that did happen we wouldn't have lost 1,400 security forces . Do your own research.
I was involved in two contacts during the " troubles" a 500lb roadside bomb ( the first '' snatch' to get hit) and a pipebomb again on a mobile patrol. After hearing that I thought the commander must have seen the red mist to go on his own towards the firing point. He should have known that the IRA know the British army reactions to incidents... that firing point could have been armed with a device, (secondry) or their could have been another shooter waiting! When the shtf sometimes the adrenaline kicks in.
The British Army trusted its junior NCOs and gave them a lot of responsibility and a certain amount of freedom. The quality, experience and maturity of the NCOs was one of the major differences between the British Army and its NATO allies.
Still arr thr Best Army! Up to us young bucks now even no I'm 40.. I'm born bread belfast/Newtownards. So pround of our young Cadets. Need more reserves etc x
Great video mate, I can't think why it's called a police action by the government !! It wasn't that to us on the ground. Interesting point about the new unit coming in. We were the last infantry unit to use the SLR in Belfast, the Royal Scott's took us off who had SA 80, so the thing about the incoming battalion wearing the old units headress was binned, Op banner is rightly called the forgotten war, as us NI vets are now an embarrassment to the British government, Labour who are supposed to be for the working class were most of us came from now hate us with a passion for doing our duty to Queen and country
One of the first troops at start at NI was the Royal Green Jackets, the Foot Guards don't Corporals but Lance Sergeants. Both The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and The Highland Light Infantry also had Lance Sergeants instead corporals.
I think in that respect the Australian Army is similar. Very much runs on Corporals. Some Officer and Sergeants are pretty tight and get in. Others are tight and rarely seen. But overall its just left to corporal's to get the job done, most training with a 5 to 10 min pop in visit. Corporals are the backbone of a good Army. In my opinion its a good result if theres no micro management from above. Forms really tight sections that just work seamlessly
I completed 8 tours from a young Pte to Sgt. I loved every tour one of the tours I was a Snr Pte as a team or brick commander. Sat in Andy town cop shop when those full screws from the signals got murdered. Crocus street, I remember a player tried to chuck a grenade into the cop shop from there. It exploded before and he died. We were QRF for that. Lots of stuff went on all the time. Also after that RSM was murdered they changed the bfg plates to normal British looking plates or German if it was a left hand drive. The Ira actually murdered some Aussies in hire cars from uk because they thought that they were British squaddies in Belgium I think the town was new Bergen. But the Ira apologised so that was ok then…..
In the NZ Army we had an exchange program called Exercise Long look where pers from the British 🇬🇧 Army & the NZ Army did a 6 month exchange rotation a couple of Lucky/Unlucky when on Exchange in 1982 with units that deployed to the Falklands (a very very rare medal for Kiwis to be wearing) now in 1996 we had a 2 Para Corporal nicknamed Spider who served on op banner several times and had close mates who died from it (now Spider was in his 40’s as a Cpl because he had been promoted and demoted several times due to punch ons 😂) he was walking through A Coy Lines Dieppe Barracks where a one Ronald Curry Pte was ironing his SD’s and jawing off to a couple of mates about N Ireland 🇮🇪 (his family was Irish ☘️ and anti UK 🇬🇧 Government) one thing led to another and Spider grabbed the iron off Ron and sung it around his head like a Medieval Chain mace and clocked Ron in the middle of his head knocking him straight out by the time he was released from base hospital Spider was jetting his way back to the UK 🇬🇧 apparently Spider was sent down to NZ due to a punch up Spider had in the Sgts mess to get him out of it for 6 months. Ron to this day in cold weather or when he gets angry a little red triangle 🔺appears between Ron’s eyes above his nose 😂😂😂
It's the strangers who befriend you that you need to watch out for. I've lost count of the failed attempts, the near misses. I got abducted once and cuffed to a metal chair concreted in to the floor. They got to dislocate my shoulder and fingers before my unit busted me out. Talk about relieved.
@Plumduff3303 It all depends on who's after you and what they want. Revenge is cheap dirty and usually fairly quick. Information. That's when you get the special treatment. That's why tracking implants can be life savers. Dislocating all your joints over a number of days reduces you slowly to complete immobility with the promise that you will be put back together again, IF you tell them what they want to know. The excruciating pain and humiliation does work far better than water boarding etc. Reversible torture avoids ugly revenge scenario's in theory. In practice my interrogator got a pedicure with a belt sander by my CO.
Spare a thought for the 'extraodinary renditioning' of serving and ex serving pers at the whim of the Govt to answer frivilous or vexatious claims arising from on duty activitity that occurred between Bloody Sunday (72) and the GFA in 97. The public dont know the half.... That is NOT how to treat a workforce, but the MoD clearly believe otherwise and have thus far got away with it. (Ask me how I know? 😮)
Keith, I was on exercise in Belgium in 1989, , and we had an IRA unit probe our area, and try and get into the exercise area. We had to deploy a QRF to see them off. They had a stolen British Army Landrover that they were using as their disguise. By the way, maybe a long shot, do you have a brother called Tony Potter, ex Royal Signals?
@ thought so, your surroundings look typical fenland, the flatness, the roads (nightmare at night) and the random scattered houses, (I won’t mention the dykes in case someone reports me for a hate crime). I’m a neighbour to you, I live in Cambridgeshire. Cheers for the reply, and keep up the good work 👍
Think there was a shooting in Roermond, The Netherlands in the 80’s, near crossing to RAF Bruggen. NI was a good opportunity to save money. Field conditions, NI pay.
Keith a remember old BFG plates so they changed them to britt plates in Germany on a left hand drive???????? Stupid.... Then when a left Taunton in 93 they use the local celle plates but u still had right hand drive with local plates and if mem serves me right am sure 80 percent there was an ira cell watching Taunton from the flats across from guardroom just across road
I was in Northern Ireland only once, for around 2 hours. I had been on leave in the UK for only 2 days when I received a phone call from my Sqn Chief Clerk. "Sapper Lee, Gulf War's on, get the next flight back to Germany". The next flight back was a Hercules that stopped off at Belfast on the way. Landing at RAF Aldergrove we bundled into a bus and drove through an urban area. Gazelle helicopters weaved before landing, a tactical manoeuvre which heightened my sense of danger. Unarmed, I was shi**ing bricks. Arriving at the waiting area it turned out we hadn't even left the base, but had driven through the married quarters. I am happy that I did not serve in Northern Ireland. I never believed in the cause. For me, looking at the topography, it's very simple. Britain and Ireland.
So up to now I have watched most of your videos because it brings back my years that I enjoyed and disliked in the Army. But I am afraid you're site now seems to be overrun by Walter Mittys Especially on this one about NI To have my posts deleted when asking a question because it offends and being called a keyboard warrior Is the last straw. I shall be unsubscribing good Luck Doug Reed x RGJ
Ho Doug , Sorry to see you go. I can assure you I'm not deleting anything mate. I really don't have much control over what people post in the comments. I'm sure your Battalion were stationed in Celle West Germany with us during the 80s? I can't exactly remember which RGJ Bn it was now. But I remember them helping us out with pre deployment training before an op Banner tour 83 to 84. All the best mate 👍
SMG your timing on the subject of Northern Ireland and the tragic losses is impeccable . I was having a conversation with my offspring a few hrs ago about the N I conflicts and the losses, I personally didn’t go, but know about the threats on mainland and was in Birmingham during a bomb theat and as we later found out the pub was hit . Any way you have answered with great accuracy the losses during OP Banner , thank you for your help. As always total respect, Keep Tabbing 🇬🇧🫡
Re the Pira ASU that was based out of the Netherlands ( the hauge ) who were responsible for the majority of the cowardly attacks in BAOR including major Dillon Lee in Dortmund and Mrs Heidi Hazel the pad wife these cowards murdered. On June 16 1990 I am proud to say that whilst assisting Dutch Law enforcement in a purely “advisory role” lol when arresting the evil Donna Maguire I might have accidentally fallen over causing a collision between her most sensitive kind of intimate area and my size 10 GSG9 assault boots by ADIDAS ( how alley were those boots back in the day) bit better than standard British issue kit of that era . Purely accident of course, great channel mate many memories.
Hi Keith , great tribute to brave lads. A mate of mine was killed 'over there' in 1982 age 18,we were the same age.
I've had 42 years more than him up to now. If I speak to anyone about that time,I find most people know little or nothing about 'the troubles" or ' op banner' and the losses, ...on all sides , or don't really care . Keep up the good work mate ,there's still a lot of us out here that do care and remember , tab on 👍
We all remember you on here .. a tough job well done ❤hats off 👏 👍
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It clearly affected and still affects you 42 years on. R I P all the brave lads and lasses who perished in NI
It was a Terrible time for all concerned. My Missus is from East Belfast and she would not hear a wrong word spoken about British soldiers. She grew up with all of this madness, she was a true Brit. But I must say, I have met people, from both sides of the divide and the ordinary folk were as sick of it as we were. They are some of the most genuine and warm people I have ever met 🙏🙏
You brought history to life with retelling this true story. Difficult times for brave lads on OP banner. R.I.P. brave warriors.
Thank you Steve, 🫡🇬🇧🪖
Hi Keith - another excellent video, did 5 tours in NI as a Sapper/ Cpl/Sgt in Londonderry, Belfast (2) & Long Kesh twice. in 1971 serving atached to 21 Engr Regt we were the first non Infantry unit to deploy as Infantry. We all grew up very quickly during these tours and were the making of many of us. Kev
Great video Keith. Being a Corporal used to be the best rank in the military in the past.
Such an interesting subject we don't hear about enough. Very brave young men. Thank you Keith for telling us about all this.
Thank you for your support 🫡🪖
Really interesting Keith, great insight into the British Army during the campaign in Northern Island
Swift and bold! I did two tours of op banner 85/86 Xmas Belfast and 89 based in Fermanagh 2nd battalion RGJ, was strange times!
Really true. I was a UDR l/cpl and we were always told it was a corporals war. I served 15 years here and as you said soldiers could be attacked anywhere anytime. My home was hit by a rocket thankfully I was not there at that time and it sure was a dangerous place in the 70's and 80's. I worked often with 2RGJ and they were great soldiers and great men especially l/cpl Pete Broom who drove us all around Derry/Londonderry in a pig where we had many hairy moments but he was always on the ball.
I did multiple 6 week tours on Tactical Supply Wing (RAF). We were the ones who fuelled the helicopters at various locations. Had to drive a tanker from Alders to omagh, even though I had other vehicles for protection, I was unarmed & felt pretty vulnerable, I can say.
Alright Keith good stuff mate I served in the 80s over there.We where in Germany in the morning flew over by 3pm we where out on the streets west Belfast. Remember the bomb detection equipment green chimp yellow chimp brown joker what names eh I was the brown joker at the front .My friend never came back private Ian O'connor killed in divis 87 .Your doing a great job mate.
Belting vid that one Keith... Keep the hits coming mukker !! 👍
These young men should not be forgotten, worked with some of the RGJ in Gib late 80’s, Per Adura Adastra 🫡 thanks Keith for keeping the story alive.
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing 👍
Greets from the Netherlands 🇳🇱, TW.
Hi Tonny, thank you. 🇳🇱 🫡🇬🇧
I can remember bringing my car home on leave in the mid 70's with my car which had a BFG plate and getting some very funny sideways looks in London, it was worrying.
big friendly giant ?
I remember a brick going out at Crossmaglen.
The infantry brick had a colonel going out as just a bloke.
The brick was commanded by a private.
Until then, I believed the adage that the army was run by sergeants.
We would never have seen that in the R Sigs.
Brilliant film keith and hats off to that brave patrol
Cheers Ian 👍
Brilliant again Keith . Only one tour back end of banner 96/97
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Thanks for that Keith. From what you say and explaining that particular patrol in the province certainly that Corporal kept his head. RIP the three lads killed that day and the others who were injured. And possibly invalided out of the army.
Gd to c u out tabbing mucker! Lot's OF memories!! Top show as always keep this up n rolling out mucker well done green on mucker.! Have a great wk m8 n family 😊
Been out of action for a week with a bit of a chest infection, on the mend now. Always great to hear from you Jay. Take care mucker 🫡🇬🇧🪖
Well Done Keith! Very Interesting and I can only imagine how difficult those operations were on a regular basis. Good to see you up and tabbing today! Sending you our best!
@buzsalmon thank you Buz. Was a tough operation out there, it's becoming a "forgotten war' in many respects. All the best mate 👍 🇺🇸🫡🇬🇧
The M60 was a big concern for lots of us in Belfast at that time. I think the Ballymurphy gun team had one but I may be mistaken....
The pira on the border had one and also an American sniper rifle, lost a few lads to them, think that was after I was there though early 90,s
Bernard McGinn part of south Armagh pira team
Fascinating stuff as always. Brilliant illustration of some of the vicious little actions that I think took place quite regularly through Banner. On the TV they usually talk about Warrenpoint or Loughgall, but they were outliers. There was a lot more low level stuff that helped keep everyone sharp. Late 80s/early 90s we heard a lot on the grapevine about machine gun attacks on helicopters that only rarely made the news.
Wow, what a video. I did two tours in the 70’s and still have dreams about the place. Respect to all that served there and especially the lads who never made it home.
A most interesting story. Thank you for sharing from the Netherlands.👍
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Brilliant informative video, thank you
Glad it was 4 1/2 months in the 80’s before it was increased. Remember the work was hard and long but worthwhile, it was literally 24 hours a day 7 days a week
With no overtime payments, shocking when you think about it. 😢
The BFG plates were a ludicrous idea from an op sec viewpoint. It took an officer, (The RRW WO1 had just been picked up for a commission), to get killed for the BFG plates to be stopped.
The BFG plates were ok until the real trouble started in NI The purposes was to identify cars that were being driven tax free ( even fuel was completely free) on the German roads. The Idea was pushed by the German authorities. But they soon saw the light.
As ever Keith, your story telling was impeccable, and made me feel like I was there, and I never served in NI.
People forget how bad it was over here in the 70’s and 80’s and even the 90’s to a lesser degree. My Dad was here as a young lad I think it was south Armagh his first tour and got his eyes opened. He was at the Enniskillen bomb in 87. Never get to hear his stories he died in a fire at Magherafelt barracks in 94. Me step Dad served here too he was mostly Belfast for his tours I think. Me Granddad was RUC special branch he could tell you some stories if he was still about
Fascinating info, I remember the days back in the 80's & 90's with the US Forces License Plates in Germany. Terrible idea of Operational Security. Thank you for a very informative channel. SFC, U.S. Army (Retired).
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Hats off to you sir 👏
I remember there was a general order to report cars with Russian diplomatic plates. We would pull off the road to try to find a public telephone to call into the MPs. It seems strange nowadays,.. we were all convinced that it wasn't 'if' the Russians would invade, but 'when'. And that lasted right up to the late 80s.
@@tonycrankhead3634 Yes, the 248 number plate seemed to appear quite often near to bases and exercises in the UK.
@@johnlustig4322 Thanks, I never knew the 248 part, was only 14/15 at the time, but remember my father reacting to seeing one when we were driving somewhere...
I actually served in the same regiment at the same time, and the CSM is a man named eakin a great bloke.
Really enjoy your channel. Thank you.
Thank you for your support 🫡🇬🇧🪖
Great respect as always .UTRINIQE PARATUS
Another excellent story Sir.
Remember the event in Belgium. I had passed that way on BFG plates the week before!
Amazing bravery.🫡🇬🇧❤️
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Great video, keith, go safe fella
Cheers Pete 🫡👍
Tanks Keith, you stay safe too mate.
Only yesterday, 6th Dec, there was an ex paratrooper in court looking to try him for murder for Bloody Sunday. Meanwhile, Blair gave the terrorists dont go to jail letters
We were told in 79 in the T.A we were targets
Before the troubles started all service personnel could wear their uniform when going on leave and be proud to show it off. A lot of lads wore it when trying to hitch a ride home. Later because of the security risks all service personnel were banned from wearing their uniform unless on active duty and I believe that still stands today.
When I was at IJLB in Oswestry in 1971 a young lad who was with us from Northern Ireland was not aloud home that year for Xmas and he was sent to Cyprus to spend his leave there.
Tony, I'm from Belfast, even back in the 80s when on a tour, our R&R had to be away from the Province. Quite a few boys got caught, when for example they got their flight over to say Manchester, then went up to a desk and booked a flight back to Belfast 😂😂😂. Usually fined a months salary, pretty costly.
Yes it was easy to hitch a lift in uniform in the 60s
You could even choose the type of car you wanted to stop. After returning from the far east and stationed I that god forsaken hole Felixstowe it took me on an average 2 and a half hours to get to Cambridge on Friday nights. Germany was nearly as good hitching from Iselohn to Amsterdam in 67.was easy.
A friend of mine was patrolling in NI they had stopped at shop to do a reccy on this shop he was outside with another guy there was a shot
Fired and the guy next to him was killed outright This screwed him up for years.
❤❤❤
1988 WO1 Ritchard Michael Heakin 1RRW was executed by the IRA in Belgium went driving home from Lemgo Germany wiel his wife and children fly with the rest of the Battalion I wasn't in the Regiment then but I soon heard the full story when I did my first NITAT very sad and a very cowardly act by the IRA and as far as I know not one person has been arest in connection to this murder..but vetrans are still to this day been dragged before the courts over and incident that happened 55 years ago disgusting way to treat a vetran of Op Banner 😢
This resulted in the end of the special British Forces Germany (BFG) car registration number plates.
Everyone in BAOR changed to West German number plates.
As an Ulsterman myself, having served in Northern Ireland, if they had let us loose to do the job properly, it would have been sorted out within weeks. Unfortunately, in a way the government were happy for, no doubt from advice by the Generals, to let it continue for as long as it did. My reasons for believing this, it was used as a training ground for hundreds of thousands of our troops. Fyi, the police station on the Springfield road is long gone. Was up that way just last week. Everything in that area is completely changed. You wouldn't recognise it tbh.
What’s happened to North Howard St Mill?
@OldhamSteve52 Gone as well. Think it's a shopping precinct type place, and houses. Actually haven't been up that way in years, so can't confirm it. I'm from the opposite side of Belfast.
I went on Google earth the other week to have a look at the checkpoints and police stations etc but they have all gone. 😮
@kevinadamson5768 Indeed they are. During the lockdown period, myself and my missus went sightseeing down to Tyrone and Fermanagh. I had a map from one of my tours, 88/89, with all our Battalion locations and PVCPs etc. All gone, even most of the rural police stations. Mainly all housing of some description. Obviously I didn't get around all the locations, but I would assume they are all gone. As far as I'm aware the only main camps still going are Lisburn and Palace barracks. There are a few Reservist camps dotted around. I think Ballykinler is still used for Training and Ranges. The ranges at Magillan, beside the prison were still there a few years ago, however, not sure if still used. RAF Aldergrove is still operating, but not sure to what degree. I actually stumbled across a recent UA-cam channel, shot very recently of the married pads in Omagh. Basically they were just abandoned when the troops pulled out. The houses are still there, but have fallen in a bad state of disrepair. They could be brought up to a living standard, if the local council or the government invested in it. Then again our new arrivals would probably have the benefit of living there, instead of the locals.
@stuartbrown8259 I was there in 89 co Fermanagh. Did all the pbcp,s.and police stations. All gone now.
Hi Keith ... I was with the RAF on 72sqn ( RAF Aldergrove) who were flying Wessex helicopters supporting the Army.
Our main duty was to fly the army around and drop them off to go out on patrol..
It was dangerous, and worring that the helicopter would be fired on when deploying army patrols on the ground, knowing that the helicopters airframe was not bullet proof ..i think the only bullet proof part on the A/c was the seat the Pilot sat on.
I did three , three month tours 1969/71.
🫡..
❤❤hats off to you sir
@Plumduff3303 one thing that annoyed me back at that time , was when the BBC filmed our A/c's in action they always said 'Army helicopter ' when it displayed an RAF roundal and a 72 Sqn badge????
Noisy old buggers them. 😂😂
Three tours mostly on the border as a lance jack or full screw Royal engineers thanks for reminding me of the roll we played. I met a woman here in Australia with a broad Ni accent accent when I reluctantly told her that I had served there she couldn't stop thanking me. Saying that so many others would have died without us. True and it makes the loss of my comrades a little bit easier.
Corp Mountford RE
Thanks James, all the best mucker. You RE lads were worth your weight in gold over there in those dark days .
The 3rd Battalion RGJs was used be The Rifle Birgade, the Old 95th. The battalion was later 2nd RGJs then 4th Rifles. The 4th Rifles was then in the new regiment The Rangers.
Are you x 3gj, ?
@12dougreed I was in 5th RGJs, my older brother was in the old 4th RGJs then in RAF.
Hi I am x 3gj ( rb) and 3rgj do you know Bill Taylor ( col) 4rgj ?
Painful memories but well prepped afterwards for the Falklands.
Have a good one Keith, all the best.
Hi Keith, hope you and the tracer round are doing well. Whilst true for the vast majority of Cpls, unfortunately this cannot be said for them all. I did a High Risk Search tour in NI and our team commander (we operated in 6 man search teams) was about as much use as a chocolate fire guard, one of these muppets that does a course and thinks he’s an instant expert. It was basically down to my team 2ic and myself to keep on top of everything and effectively disregard the majority of what that muppet said. Like I said though, that was very much the minority.
You always get the odd one slipping through the net. 😮
All seems like yesterday. As a dependent (child), I remember playing in shopping trolleys in the car park in the evening, opposite the main NAAFI entrance in JHQ Rheindahlen, trying not to bump into the few cars that were left there overnight. School was cancelled the next day (found out by being stopped on the way there) - a 600 lb bomb was found in one of those cars, and was defused, just as well, would have taken out the whole center of camp.
One of the biggest problems on a contact was the patrol, commander spent most of his time confirming the confirm, location, casualty, numbers etc etc for the 18th time to Coy HQ, Bn HQ or even Bde HQ.
Be interesting to know how Corporal Lingfield got on after his military medal. I did two tours of NI in the 80,s both border, first one straight out of basic as a brand new guardsman and second one few years later as a l/cpl team commander. First one was a bit daunting straight to bandit country from the depot but the lads were great and showed me the ropes because I didn't have any pre NI training. On my second one I was a junior nco in the recon on the scimitar in Germany totally different from NI but this time I did do the full pre traing plus I had the experience still fresh in my mind from my first tour. I agree it was the junior nco, s who held it all together over there because they were the commanders out on the ground. A senior officer said Northern Ireland was the best training ground the British army ever had and I have to agree with him it was brilliant. Pleased to say my battalion never lost a man both tours we did and I would like to think it was down to professionalism, this was 1st battalion Scots guards. 😊
I don't agree one bit . If you didn't lose a man just luck , or not being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Stupid comment. Especially that one coming ( if true) from a so called Col.
Now tell us all about the live contacts you lot had that would be interesting.
@@12dougreed why would I want to bullshit to keyboard warriors like you? I'm just relating my experiences in Northern Ireland from a grunts point of view and a junior commander as relating to the topic to this which was a corporals war. Been there done it got the tee shirt not bragging just stating facts.
@@12dougreed it wasn't a Colonel it was a general actually. Another general at the start of the troubles also said line the first ten IRA up against a wall and shoot them , then the next ten , pretty soon the IRA would fold but it was deemed too severe. If that did happen we wouldn't have lost 1,400 security forces . Do your own research.
@@kevinadamson5768 are you sure about that?
@@kevinadamson5768 I take it that you have already received the new cold war medal for serving in BAOR ? It is not a clasp to go on your GSM .
I was involved in two contacts during the " troubles" a 500lb roadside bomb ( the first '' snatch' to get hit) and a pipebomb again on a mobile patrol. After hearing that I thought the commander must have seen the red mist to go on his own towards the firing point. He should have known that the IRA know the British army reactions to incidents... that firing point could have been armed with a device, (secondry) or their could have been another shooter waiting!
When the shtf sometimes the adrenaline kicks in.
The British Army trusted its junior NCOs and gave them a lot of responsibility and a certain amount of freedom. The quality, experience and maturity of the NCOs was one of the major differences between the British Army and its NATO allies.
Still arr thr Best Army! Up to us young bucks now even no I'm 40.. I'm born bread belfast/Newtownards. So pround of our young Cadets. Need more reserves etc x
Great video mate, I can't think why it's called a police action by the government !! It wasn't that to us on the ground. Interesting point about the new unit coming in. We were the last infantry unit to use the SLR in Belfast, the Royal Scott's took us off who had SA 80, so the thing about the incoming battalion wearing the old units headress was binned, Op banner is rightly called the forgotten war, as us NI vets are now an embarrassment to the British government, Labour who are supposed to be for the working class were most of us came from now hate us with a passion for doing our duty to Queen and country
One of the first troops at start at NI was the Royal Green Jackets, the Foot Guards don't Corporals but Lance Sergeants. Both The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and The Highland Light Infantry also had Lance Sergeants instead corporals.
I the guards it's two chevrons for l/cpl three for l/sergeant and full platoon sergeant or gold sergeant in the grenadiers. 😊
@kevinadamson5768 I'm know some former 2nd Foot Guards and 5th Foot Guards, The former Welsh Guards was in guards at RAF Halton.
@DaveAinsworth-y8h I was Scots.
We never had lance sergeants. In fact visiting lance sergeants from other units were not allowed in our sergeants mess RGJ
@12dougreed were they not?
I think in that respect the Australian Army is similar. Very much runs on Corporals. Some Officer and Sergeants are pretty tight and get in. Others are tight and rarely seen. But overall its just left to corporal's to get the job done, most training with a 5 to 10 min pop in visit. Corporals are the backbone of a good Army. In my opinion its a good result if theres no micro management from above. Forms really tight sections that just work seamlessly
I completed 8 tours from a young Pte to Sgt. I loved every tour one of the tours I was a Snr Pte as a team or brick commander. Sat in Andy town cop shop when those full screws from the signals got murdered. Crocus street, I remember a player tried to chuck a grenade into the cop shop from there. It exploded before and he died. We were QRF for that. Lots of stuff went on all the time. Also after that RSM was murdered they changed the bfg plates to normal British looking plates or German if it was a left hand drive. The Ira actually murdered some Aussies in hire cars from uk because they thought that they were British squaddies in Belgium I think the town was new Bergen. But the Ira apologised so that was ok then…..
Hi Keith Ref Op Banner we did OP Fondant FEB 87- MAY 87 reminded me and the pewter tankard that I've still got lol
I did a two and half year tour in Northern Ireland 😊
In the NZ Army we had an exchange program called Exercise Long look where pers from the British 🇬🇧 Army & the NZ Army did a 6 month exchange rotation a couple of Lucky/Unlucky when on Exchange in 1982 with units that deployed to the Falklands (a very very rare medal for Kiwis to be wearing) now in 1996 we had a 2 Para Corporal nicknamed Spider who served on op banner several times and had close mates who died from it (now Spider was in his 40’s as a Cpl because he had been promoted and demoted several times due to punch ons 😂) he was walking through A Coy Lines Dieppe Barracks where a one Ronald Curry Pte was ironing his SD’s and jawing off to a couple of mates about N Ireland 🇮🇪 (his family was Irish ☘️ and anti UK 🇬🇧 Government) one thing led to another and Spider grabbed the iron off Ron and sung it around his head like a Medieval Chain mace and clocked Ron in the middle of his head knocking him straight out by the time he was released from base hospital Spider was jetting his way back to the UK 🇬🇧 apparently Spider was sent down to NZ due to a punch up Spider had in the Sgts mess to get him out of it for 6 months. Ron to this day in cold weather or when he gets angry a little red triangle 🔺appears between Ron’s eyes above his nose 😂😂😂
Was in RE and it was ok but I remember the state of the boys in the inf going home
It's the strangers who befriend you that you need to watch out for. I've lost count of the failed attempts, the near misses. I got abducted once and cuffed to a metal chair concreted in to the floor. They got to dislocate my shoulder and fingers before my unit busted me out. Talk about relieved.
😂
Scary stuff
@Plumduff3303
It all depends on who's after you and what they want. Revenge is cheap dirty and usually fairly quick. Information. That's when you get the special treatment.
That's why tracking implants can be life savers.
Dislocating all your joints over a number of days reduces you slowly to complete immobility with the promise that you will be put back together again, IF you tell them what they want to know.
The excruciating pain and humiliation does work far better than water boarding etc.
Reversible torture avoids ugly revenge scenario's in theory.
In practice my interrogator got a pedicure with a belt sander by my CO.
Wow ..what an amazing account that was ..
Kind thanks for sharing
Glad you enjoyed it
Spare a thought for the 'extraodinary renditioning' of serving and ex serving pers at the whim of the Govt to answer frivilous or vexatious claims arising from on duty activitity that occurred between Bloody Sunday (72) and the GFA in 97.
The public dont know the half....
That is NOT how to treat a workforce, but the MoD clearly believe otherwise and have thus far got away with it.
(Ask me how I know? 😮)
Keith, I was on exercise in Belgium in 1989, , and we had an IRA unit probe our area, and try and get into the exercise area. We had to deploy a QRF to see them off. They had a stolen British Army Landrover that they were using as their disguise. By the way, maybe a long shot, do you have a brother called Tony Potter, ex Royal Signals?
Out of curiosity, are you out in the Fens ?
Hi Steve, I'm about 12 miles outside Skegness
@ thought so, your surroundings look typical fenland, the flatness, the roads (nightmare at night) and the random scattered houses, (I won’t mention the dykes in case someone reports me for a hate crime).
I’m a neighbour to you, I live in Cambridgeshire.
Cheers for the reply, and keep up the good work 👍
TF I missed it.
I knew an ex Green Jacket who shot his Sargent with a rubber bullet in Belfast whilst piling in the back of a land rover. No names of course 😐
Think there was a shooting in Roermond, The Netherlands in the 80’s, near crossing to RAF Bruggen.
NI was a good opportunity to save money. Field conditions, NI pay.
Remember the yellow card briefings before heading to the loading bay.
Keith a remember old BFG plates so they changed them to britt plates in Germany on a left hand drive???????? Stupid.... Then when a left Taunton in 93 they use the local celle plates but u still had right hand drive with local plates and if mem serves me right am sure 80 percent there was an ira cell watching Taunton from the flats across from guardroom just across road
I was in Northern Ireland only once, for around 2 hours.
I had been on leave in the UK for only 2 days when I received a phone call from my Sqn Chief Clerk.
"Sapper Lee, Gulf War's on, get the next flight back to Germany".
The next flight back was a Hercules that stopped off at Belfast on the way.
Landing at RAF Aldergrove we bundled into a bus and drove through an urban area.
Gazelle helicopters weaved before landing, a tactical manoeuvre which heightened my sense of danger.
Unarmed, I was shi**ing bricks.
Arriving at the waiting area it turned out we hadn't even left the base, but had driven through the married quarters.
I am happy that I did not serve in Northern Ireland. I never believed in the cause.
For me, looking at the topography, it's very simple. Britain and Ireland.
So up to now I have watched most of your videos because it brings back my years that I enjoyed and disliked in the Army. But I am afraid you're site now seems to be overrun by Walter Mittys
Especially on this one about NI To have my posts deleted when asking a question because it offends and being called a keyboard warrior
Is the last straw. I shall be unsubscribing good
Luck Doug Reed x RGJ
Ho Doug ,
Sorry to see you go. I can assure you I'm not deleting anything mate. I really don't have much control over what people post in the comments.
I'm sure your Battalion were stationed in Celle West Germany with us during the 80s? I can't exactly remember which RGJ Bn it was now. But I remember them helping us out with pre deployment training before an op Banner tour 83 to 84.
All the best mate 👍
SMG your timing on the subject of Northern Ireland and the tragic losses is impeccable . I was having a conversation with my offspring a few hrs ago about the N I conflicts and the losses, I personally didn’t go, but know about the threats on mainland and was in Birmingham during a bomb theat and as we later found out the pub was hit . Any way you have answered with great accuracy the losses during OP Banner , thank you for your help. As always total respect, Keep Tabbing 🇬🇧🫡
8:13 big up the RGJ ❤
🫡🪖❤️
Re the Pira ASU that was based out of the Netherlands ( the hauge ) who were responsible for the majority of the cowardly attacks in BAOR including major Dillon Lee in Dortmund and Mrs Heidi Hazel the pad wife these cowards murdered.
On June 16 1990 I am proud to say that whilst assisting Dutch Law enforcement in a purely “advisory role” lol when arresting the evil Donna Maguire I might have accidentally fallen over causing a collision between her most sensitive kind of intimate area and my size 10 GSG9 assault boots by ADIDAS ( how alley were those boots back in the day) bit better than standard British issue kit of that era . Purely accident of course, great channel mate many memories.