Royal Corps of Transport
66 sqn - 27 regt RCT
7 sqn - 27 regt RCT
Me remembrance Sunday 08/11/2020
The photo above was taken due to the covid-19 pandemic in 2020, I was unable to attend my local church for the remembrance Sunday service, so I thought I would pay my respects by parading on my doorstep.
The Royal Corps of Transport (RCT) is a descendant of the un-uniformed Royal Waggoner's, which in 1802 became The Royal Waggon Train, which was involved in the Peninsular War with Napoleon's French Empire. After Napoleon's escape from Elba, he resumed power, and so The Royal Waggon Train was heavily involved in The Battle of Waterloo. The Royal Waggon Train was disbanded in 1833.
"No person can be more impressed than I am of the absolute necessity of a corps of the description of the Royal Waggon Train"
—Field Marshall Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.
It wasn't until The Crimean War in 1855, that a transport corps was formed again, the Land Transport Corps. A year later this was renamed the Military Train.
One of the proudest moments of my life, my father turning up to my passing out parade to watch me pass out. He had said he wouldn't be able to make it.
In 1869 after some reorganisation, the corps was renamed the Commissariat and ASC (Army Service Corps). By the end of 1888, the corps was known as ASC.
In 1918 the ASC absorbed some elements of the Royal Engineers (RE), so the corps received the "Royal" prefix, for its service in the First World War, to become the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC)
In 1965, the RASC was merged with the Transportation and Movement Control Service of the Royal Engineers, to form the Royal Corps of Transport.
In 1993 the RCT merged with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC), to form the Royal Logistics Corps (RLC), a modern descendent of the ASC.
Other Battle honours include:-
This photo below was taken in the 1st few days of our basic training at Buller Barracks Aldershot (Home of the British Army). 39 of us all hoping to complete basic training. I am not sure how many of us totally knew what we were letting ourselves in for over the next 10 weeks of training. All I do know is not all of us made it through for one reason or another.
Basic training is like school, as in, while you are there, you hate every minute of it, but once you finish training/school, they are some of the best days of your life.
The friends you make in basic training are friends for life, some you may never meet again, but if you should meet them, the banter is still there. I am still in contact with some of the guys from basic, and on 5th July 2016, this marks the 30th anniversary of the start of my basic training.
Intake 204/86 "A" Troop 64 Recruit Traning Squadron RCT
July 5th 1986
Our 1st day of training.
This photo was taken, I think on the Isle of White during basic training, after a mud run.
That is me in the centre of the back row.
This photo was taken at some point during basic training, but to this day I do not remember it being taken.
Me ready for my passing out parade.
The photo below was taken on the day of our passing out parade, only 29 of us are now left, this includes a couple who transferred into our intake for one reason or another. The officer in the centre of the front row, did an exchange, he is from the New Zealand RCT and our original troop commander went to New Zealand if my memory serves me right.
After the passing out parade we all went on leave, we would then go to do our trade training, for me and the majority of us, this meant driver training, others it would be Air Despatch or Port Operator training.
After passing my driving test (HGV III), I returned to Buller Barracks to go into holding Troop, to await my 1st posting which turned out to be 66sqn RCT based in Tidworth in Wiltshire. After about a year I was given a new posting, back to Aldershot to join 7sqn RCT, which is just across the road from Buller Barracks. I stayed with 7 sqn until I left the army in July 1989.
7 & 8 Squadron
27 Regiment RCT
Aldershot 1988
Me with my truck towing a JCB,
waiting to load up onto a ferry
heading to Denmark 1988
Me and Geordie Amess,
just back off exercise 1988.
Shiney 7 proudly displayed over the goal.
While on exercise in Denmark we had our camp on an old firing range. We decided to make a football pitch. The following pictures show the end product.
As you can see the pitch its self took a lot to be desired, the turf not quite up to the Wembley standard!
But we even made the hoardings to go down the side of the pitch.
It would be interesting to see if the 7 was still there nearly 30 years later, or even if the firing range is still there.
A photo taken high up in the stands! Notice the hoardings along the side of the pitch.
Me stood outside my billet (known as The Beaumont), as part of the UN peace keeping force in Cyprus 1989.
Me and my new Egyptian friend near to the pyramids of Giza, on a visit to Epypt during 2 weeks R&R.
Not sure who the grounds man was, but I don't think he kept his job for long, looking at the state of that pitch!
Me in civvies, holding the new issue SA80 outside
The Beaumont.
My Bedford TM 47 GT 18
Me in front of the 3 UN coaches, which I used to drive on a regular basis.
The 1st 66 sqn reunion 19/03/2009 The New Inn
Amesbury, Wiltshire.
Our 2017 66 sqn Reunion 25/03/2017 The Kings Arms Amesbury, Wiltshire.
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Our 10th anniversary 66 sqn Reunion 30/03/2019 The Kings Arms Amesbury, Wiltshire.
I only served 3 years and 36 days in the British Army, but I would not have missed a single day of that time, at times I now look back and wish I had stayed in, what would have happened?
Would I still be around today? Since I left the army, there have been 2 Gulf Wars, Kosovo and Afghanistan; I know some of the guys I served with were involved in some, if not all of these conflicts.
While I served I have learnt to drive, I have been in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen, doing the guard of honour at the Royal Tournament at Earls Court London in 1988. I have travelled to (maybe not to where I would have preferred to have gone) Germany, Denmark & Cyprus (including a trip to Egypt). I have done all this and have been paid to do it, admittedly not as much as British armed forces should be paid. Most of all it's the guys you serve with, it's a friendship that will last until you die.
On the couple of reunions I have managed to attend, the banter is still there, to the casual observer sat in the corner of the reunion venue, they would think these guys are all out on a works do, until he listens to the conversations that are going on, a lot of the conversations are a continuation of sorts, of something that happened 25 to 30 years ago, like it was only yesterday. I tend to listen to these conversations, waiting for my memory to kick in! There are things I remember with clarity but a majority of my memory from these days is just a blur!
It is not just the RCT that has this camaraderie, it is any military group from any country, it has something to do with the training I think, you have all gone through the same training, you know what it took to get you there, and the thought that when the battle starts you can trust the bloke next to you, to help you. If you are lucky as a civilian you will have a couple of very close friends that you can put trust in to this extent, but in the armed forces you have a bigger circle of close friends.
To steal the line from William Shakespeare's play Henry V, "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he to-day that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother"
Being in the army is like a big family, you can have your arguments and disagreements, but shortly after it is all forgotten about.
The National Memorial Arboretum is well worth a visit, I only had a flying visit on 14/09/2014, and I intend to return to spend more time there. It is on the outskirts of Alrewas near Litchfield.
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They have an area specificaly for the Logistics arm of the the army, it is called Logistic Grove.
The plaque at the entrance to the Logistic Grove.
The badges of The Royal Corps of Transport, The Royal Engineers, The Royal Army Ordnance Corps, The Royal Pioneers Corps and The Army Catering Corps. The badge at the top centre is the amalgamation of all the above, known as The Royal Logistics Corps.
Me sat next to The RCT memorial.
The cross next to me is the one I placed there, I wrote the following on it:-
Proud to have served
RCT Dvr Bishop.
The Basra Memorial Wall.
One of the many walls which have the names of some 16,000 men and women who have given their lives for their country.
Just a couple of the sculptures in the Arboretum
The inscription on the Cenotaph.
The Cenotaph.
I have the utmost respect for anyone who has served in the armed forces, they have decided to serve their country come what may, and some have given the ultimate sacrifice to protect the lifestyle and values of their country, their lives!
I was lucky in one respect, as during my short military service, I never went to any war zones, but saying that, at any time during my service, I could have been called upon to go anywhere in the world and put my life on the line, in the name of our country. During the time I served, the Cold War was still around, and closer to home there was the Northern Ireland troubles.
The closest I came to any sort of conflict was helping to keep the peace between Greek Cypriots in the South of Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriots in the North of Cyprus, serving as part of the UN Peace Keeping force there. and the only trouble I heard of, was two incidents, the 1st being a Turk in a guard tower took a shot at a Greek in another guard tower or vica versa, the 2nd was, there is an abandoned village in the UN buffer zone which on a certain date each year there is a confrontation between the Greeks and the Turks with us, the UN Peace Keeping force in the middle of them both trying to keep them apart. More like handbags at dawn, especially when you think about other conflicts that have happened before or since.
From time to time on Facebook, someone asks the question, do you think we should bring back National Service? There are arguments both for and against, but my thoughts on the subject are, Yes we should bring back National Service. My reasoning behind this is that it would help cut down unemployment, it would teach the youth of today some respect and it would also give them an insight into military life, instead of going down to the careers office and taking a chance you would like army life, you get the insight through National Service, and if it turns out you like the life, then you could choose to stay in, which would also help keep the numbers of service personnel up! Like I say, these are just my thoughts on the subject.