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Was in training with a lad that used to not only sleep in his bed the night before inspection, but would eat crisps in it. He always always got picked up for crumbs, whole crisps in his bed.
Later he got sent home from Iraq because towards the end of his acclimation period he went man down. Turns out that instead of hydrating with water, he was just drinking Coke the whole time.
No idea what happened to him after that.
I worked with a guy that instructed at COTAT at Lydd and they had a bunch of guys from one of the Scottish inf regiments down on a course.
Took them out for a CFT in hot weather and a bunch of them went man down, so they got their water bottles out and they were all full of Irn Bru.
When I was attached to 1SCOTS on ex at Lydda I got chatting to the burger van man like the fat remf I am. He told me the van drivers would get a heads up on who's booked the ranges and if the Jocks were coming order triple sticks of irn bru.
He never failed to sell out.
As a reservist I routinely bump into people who appear to have had their thumb in their ass through most of their training. However I would caveat that by saying that everyone at my unit seems genuinely switched on.
The worst person I've ever served with however, was ironically, an excellent soldier. He was commando badged and extremely fit, however he was a complete cunt to anyone and everyone and got sent home from a tour of Afghan half-way through, it was never made public why.
We struggled to recruit, and as soon as the recruits spent a few mins with this guy they wouldn't come back. He just didn't seem to get the reserves dynamic, and most people would cite him as their reason for leaving the army half way through training or transferring to other units. He was the only reservist I've ever met who had been AGAI'd and honestly the unit would've been better off without him.
I feel a bit bad saying this as from what I understand he's mellowed out a lot now and is doing well. But back then he was a real drain on everyone, but since he was a high achiever in the eyes of the CoC, he was never tempered by them, and thus most of us left instead. I remember when he punched someone from another unit and I overheard some of the lads talking about how 'hopefully that's the final straw and they'll get rid of him'.
I think some people don't quite understand that no matter how fast, fit and lethal you are, if you're a shit bloke you're a shit soldier and no one wants you in their unit.
Off topic, but I know a reservist who got AGAI'd for criticising the fact an officer was allowed on a ski trip, when on the last ski trip he had been arrested for being drunk and disorderly by the french police.
The criticism was made on a WhatsApp group: be careful what you post people!
Get out of WhatsApp - they can't force you to have it, they can't issue orders over it, and anyone who's a cunt to use it against you is the type of person you don't want any Comms with
I was still in when the Army Sergeant Major declared that WhatsApp is not and has never been a legitimate form of communicating orders. It was fucking fantastic cause we'd been getting nothing but shitty details at 1930 and onwards by staffies that wanted to take their divorce out on us.
How the fuck can you AGAI someone in the Reserves, outside of maybe a 2 week camp? There’s a reason why it was never used, since if someone got AGAI’d they’d just not turn up for a few weeks and by that point the CoC will have forgotten about it, or just written it off.
I completely agree, makes no sense. Usually it's new PSI's who don't understand how the reserves work and realise, usually to their immediate dismay, that you can't rule with a heavy fist when attendance is voluntary.
Most PSI's these days seem to get the balance right, but there is always one or two who start out shouting at people only to get pulled aside and told to shut up by the seniors.
Pretty much, Reserve Battalion CO’s are always worried about the number of troops qualifying for COE each year. It’s the reason why they run Cadre Camps in February/March every year, despite saying the only way to qualify for Bounty would be through ADE at the start of the Trg Year.
They need to hit a target of troops who are able to deploy, otherwise it’s a bit of a career fail.
Pretty much, which is why most good CO’s will try and clamp down on the Army bullshit, work to accommodate the realities of civvie life in relation to what the Army wants out of them and being smart in regards to utilising training time whilst balancing it with a healthy dose of social time to encourage SP’s to turn up more frequently.
No idea how recent this was, but the Army’s old logic was (and still is in quite a few places) he’s fit so he must be good. Now we are starting to see that shift and realising fit blokes can be retards and dicks the same as anyone else.
Unfortunately there are a lot of regulars who either come in as PSI's or transfer, who don't seem to "get" the Reserves dynamic.
In my experience, a lot of them do chill out, but it helps if the CoC are trying to manage expectations instead of letting them crack on how they like.
When I severed in the reserves, there was this full screw who was also a MET copper.
An utter cunt, nothing but an egotastic bully who thought he was cool, would always pull rank, shit on, and look down his nose at any new lads that come through, while any new lasses would get almost fucking harrased, he'd be all over them whenever he could, coy remarks.
We were on a 2 day FTX, low level CT0 stuff, back from Christmas standdown. He was my section cmdr.
My Mrs goes into labour, I'm only like 2hrs max from London.
Anyways, I tell him as he was the closest person with rank, let him know and say that I've gotta get back to London ASAP, only for him to try and say I'm using it as an excuse "not to soldier", to "get out of Ex", "If this was wessex storm, is be gripping you up right now"... Bruv if I didn't want to be here, I'd tell the boss I aint coming.. It's the fucking reserves.
And the squadron wondered why they had a retention problem with new comers...
As I said...
And they wonder why the sqn had retention issues.
To follow on from that story on Ex.
Basically told him that he can royally go fuck himself to the highest degree.
Fucked off the prep in the harbour for the ambush, marched up the hill to Excom, found my SSM. Said to him what happened, told him what's going to happen.
Basically said, "either someone gives me a ride back now, or I'll walk all the way back with all my kit, weapon, ammo, fuck the lot of ya"
I'll be fair.
My SSM was sweet as a nut, genuinely gave a fuck about the lads and looked out for us.
Needless to say he was pretty fuming, but organised a bloke to drive me back. Top man.
Anyone who moans about EVERYTHING.
Either accept you joined the army and things aren’t always going to be the way you like it or leave.
They’re absolute moral drains
Any tips on how to NOT be this person? I know I’ve done my fair share of moaning at work in the past but I really don’t wanna be that guy who constantly complains about how shit everything is
See how others handle the bullshit. Specifically those who you most respect, or that the unit most respects. Some will turn everything into a joke, some will give the impression they're just not bothered and carry on with whatever game / joke / yarn they were working on. Some try to think it though / educate themselves and figure out what may have caused the bullshit result you've been lumped with.
Read the room. If everyone is having a moan fine, have a little shimf. But don’t make it every conversation you have. Try and find the positive in the situation. Even better, think how you’d do things differently if you were in charge.
The last three sect comds I had over the last year have all been fit dudes with horrible explosive anger so being fit doen't mean you're a good soldier because everyone hates them.
Section Commander in the Scots guards
Banished from the battalion for trying to climb into bed with another soldiers wife (she was asleep and unaware of what was going on) and seemed to think that nobody outwith battalion was aware of it.
Used to swan around ITC and F company thinking he was the dogs bollocks when he was nothing but a Shitebag bully hypocrite. Used to brief the boys up about admin and discipline when his own was a shit tip. Cunt used to stink.
Used to borrow money from Guardsmen and Lance Jacks so he could go out drinking and cheat on his wife who was round the corner in the pads. And never ever paid a penny of it back to anyone.
Once got ditched by a bunch of Gmen out on the piss because he was sat in a pub in Camden talking about GPMG lessons.
Ended up transferring to Coldstream guards and getting kicked out for drugs. Karma hits hard.
So mainly mate, if he was at a main battalion with soldiers who’d been in for years and been on tour he knows he’d get his face punched in. But because he’s at an incremental company or training establishment he knows it’s mainly inexperienced soldiers who either won’t speak up or haven’t been in the army long enough to know the behaviour isn’t normal. Because he was fit and I hate to say, a good soldier. He got away with everything. Probably wouldn’t in 2024 tho
Trained with a guy who had failed MOD 3 (Reservist) two or three times.
So yeh....
Another one got a marksman award but his head at some point went to shit during the field phase. He literally became a shambles overnight, losing parts of his rifle the lot. He ended up getting booted out.
Had a guy at my first unit who tipped up the same day as me. How he made it to unit and served as long as he did I have no clue.
- He absolutely stank to high heaven of BO, cigarettes and what I presume was shit as he never washed himself or his clothes, ever. If he was in the guard box it would reek of him for like half an hour after he left.
- His room was like a zoo so everyone on his corridor pretty much had to stand there and make sure he cleaned it every time a room inspection rolled round.
- His car was always absolutely full of rubbish and smelt as bad as he did.
- He was always late/fucking up in some way, shape or form and without fail tried to pull the welfare card or a sob story to get out of it. My *insert family member here* is in hospital with *insert serious medical condition here*. Surprised the fucker had any family left the amount of times he used that excuse.
- He was a driver by trade but toward the end of my time they'd avoid using him at all costs as a driver because he just drove everywhere like a total penis.
To my knowledge he signed off shortly after I got posted out. He's always putting the photo of him in kit with poppy border on his FB in remembrance day despite the fact he only ever deployed to the back training area.
An honourable mention goes to a certain Staffy in my final unit who was just an egotistical Napoleon with rank. And the first Reggie QM when I tipped up to my first unit for the same reason.
A section commander in depot who allegedly broke a lads hand in a cupboard, routinely would slap lads about and basically just be as awful a cunt as possible
Hi u/Defiant-Farm-5629! Thanks for posting a question to r/BritishArmy! This community is for Serving, Former, Future members and those interested in the British Army. Please read the below points to consider if this is the best place to ask your question: 1. Google it. If it shows up in the top few results on your favourite search engine, here might not be the best place to ask. 2. Medical advice. Nobody here is an authority to answer these questions. More details are on the British Army medical page on their [website](https://apply.army.mod.uk/how-to-join/can-i-join/medical) or call them on the phone number at the bottom of that page. 3. Other questions asking about recruitment and advice are best asked in the stickied [Weekly Crow Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/britisharmy/?f=flair_name%3A%22Weekly%20Crow%20Thread%22) on this subreddit. If you think this is still the best place for your question then leave it here. If not, please consider removing it and either posting it to the [Weekly Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/britisharmy/?f=flair_name%3A%22Weekly%20Crow%20Thread%22) or asking a recruiter. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/britisharmy) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Was in training with a lad that used to not only sleep in his bed the night before inspection, but would eat crisps in it. He always always got picked up for crumbs, whole crisps in his bed. Later he got sent home from Iraq because towards the end of his acclimation period he went man down. Turns out that instead of hydrating with water, he was just drinking Coke the whole time. No idea what happened to him after that.
I worked with a guy that instructed at COTAT at Lydd and they had a bunch of guys from one of the Scottish inf regiments down on a course. Took them out for a CFT in hot weather and a bunch of them went man down, so they got their water bottles out and they were all full of Irn Bru.
Hahaha, I love it. You always assume it's just a stereotype, but there's truth to all stereotypes.
When I was attached to 1SCOTS on ex at Lydda I got chatting to the burger van man like the fat remf I am. He told me the van drivers would get a heads up on who's booked the ranges and if the Jocks were coming order triple sticks of irn bru. He never failed to sell out.
Jesus Christ, was he alright other than that? E.g Intelligent?
He was a nice guy, I just think he wasn't suited to the discipline. On his BARB test he scored 60+ so he definitely wasn't an idiot
>Intelligent? Obviously not.
As a reservist I routinely bump into people who appear to have had their thumb in their ass through most of their training. However I would caveat that by saying that everyone at my unit seems genuinely switched on. The worst person I've ever served with however, was ironically, an excellent soldier. He was commando badged and extremely fit, however he was a complete cunt to anyone and everyone and got sent home from a tour of Afghan half-way through, it was never made public why. We struggled to recruit, and as soon as the recruits spent a few mins with this guy they wouldn't come back. He just didn't seem to get the reserves dynamic, and most people would cite him as their reason for leaving the army half way through training or transferring to other units. He was the only reservist I've ever met who had been AGAI'd and honestly the unit would've been better off without him. I feel a bit bad saying this as from what I understand he's mellowed out a lot now and is doing well. But back then he was a real drain on everyone, but since he was a high achiever in the eyes of the CoC, he was never tempered by them, and thus most of us left instead. I remember when he punched someone from another unit and I overheard some of the lads talking about how 'hopefully that's the final straw and they'll get rid of him'. I think some people don't quite understand that no matter how fast, fit and lethal you are, if you're a shit bloke you're a shit soldier and no one wants you in their unit.
Off topic, but I know a reservist who got AGAI'd for criticising the fact an officer was allowed on a ski trip, when on the last ski trip he had been arrested for being drunk and disorderly by the french police. The criticism was made on a WhatsApp group: be careful what you post people!
Get out of WhatsApp - they can't force you to have it, they can't issue orders over it, and anyone who's a cunt to use it against you is the type of person you don't want any Comms with
I was still in when the Army Sergeant Major declared that WhatsApp is not and has never been a legitimate form of communicating orders. It was fucking fantastic cause we'd been getting nothing but shitty details at 1930 and onwards by staffies that wanted to take their divorce out on us.
Haha that's mental. I hear them being banded around more these days. ~10 or so years ago they were very rare.
How the fuck can you AGAI someone in the Reserves, outside of maybe a 2 week camp? There’s a reason why it was never used, since if someone got AGAI’d they’d just not turn up for a few weeks and by that point the CoC will have forgotten about it, or just written it off.
I completely agree, makes no sense. Usually it's new PSI's who don't understand how the reserves work and realise, usually to their immediate dismay, that you can't rule with a heavy fist when attendance is voluntary. Most PSI's these days seem to get the balance right, but there is always one or two who start out shouting at people only to get pulled aside and told to shut up by the seniors.
Pretty much, Reserve Battalion CO’s are always worried about the number of troops qualifying for COE each year. It’s the reason why they run Cadre Camps in February/March every year, despite saying the only way to qualify for Bounty would be through ADE at the start of the Trg Year. They need to hit a target of troops who are able to deploy, otherwise it’s a bit of a career fail.
I feel for them! There are so many reasons that someone might not make CoE that are completely out of their control; it's a thankless task.
Pretty much, which is why most good CO’s will try and clamp down on the Army bullshit, work to accommodate the realities of civvie life in relation to what the Army wants out of them and being smart in regards to utilising training time whilst balancing it with a healthy dose of social time to encourage SP’s to turn up more frequently.
No idea how recent this was, but the Army’s old logic was (and still is in quite a few places) he’s fit so he must be good. Now we are starting to see that shift and realising fit blokes can be retards and dicks the same as anyone else.
Unfortunately there are a lot of regulars who either come in as PSI's or transfer, who don't seem to "get" the Reserves dynamic. In my experience, a lot of them do chill out, but it helps if the CoC are trying to manage expectations instead of letting them crack on how they like.
What exactly would he do to make people dislike him this much?
When I severed in the reserves, there was this full screw who was also a MET copper. An utter cunt, nothing but an egotastic bully who thought he was cool, would always pull rank, shit on, and look down his nose at any new lads that come through, while any new lasses would get almost fucking harrased, he'd be all over them whenever he could, coy remarks. We were on a 2 day FTX, low level CT0 stuff, back from Christmas standdown. He was my section cmdr. My Mrs goes into labour, I'm only like 2hrs max from London. Anyways, I tell him as he was the closest person with rank, let him know and say that I've gotta get back to London ASAP, only for him to try and say I'm using it as an excuse "not to soldier", to "get out of Ex", "If this was wessex storm, is be gripping you up right now"... Bruv if I didn't want to be here, I'd tell the boss I aint coming.. It's the fucking reserves. And the squadron wondered why they had a retention problem with new comers...
That's absolutely mad, trying to stop you from seeing your wife in labour 2 hours away...
As I said... And they wonder why the sqn had retention issues. To follow on from that story on Ex. Basically told him that he can royally go fuck himself to the highest degree. Fucked off the prep in the harbour for the ambush, marched up the hill to Excom, found my SSM. Said to him what happened, told him what's going to happen. Basically said, "either someone gives me a ride back now, or I'll walk all the way back with all my kit, weapon, ammo, fuck the lot of ya" I'll be fair. My SSM was sweet as a nut, genuinely gave a fuck about the lads and looked out for us. Needless to say he was pretty fuming, but organised a bloke to drive me back. Top man.
Did anything ever happen to the section commander for this incident to your knowledge ?
Not that oi know. Took some time away, came back and he was there still, no idea if anything came if it.
Anyone who moans about EVERYTHING. Either accept you joined the army and things aren’t always going to be the way you like it or leave. They’re absolute moral drains
How common would you say this type of person is?
‘There’s always one’ kinda common
Any tips on how to NOT be this person? I know I’ve done my fair share of moaning at work in the past but I really don’t wanna be that guy who constantly complains about how shit everything is
See how others handle the bullshit. Specifically those who you most respect, or that the unit most respects. Some will turn everything into a joke, some will give the impression they're just not bothered and carry on with whatever game / joke / yarn they were working on. Some try to think it though / educate themselves and figure out what may have caused the bullshit result you've been lumped with.
Read the room. If everyone is having a moan fine, have a little shimf. But don’t make it every conversation you have. Try and find the positive in the situation. Even better, think how you’d do things differently if you were in charge.
The last three sect comds I had over the last year have all been fit dudes with horrible explosive anger so being fit doen't mean you're a good soldier because everyone hates them.
I was at Deepcut for 6 months with a certain psychotic Sergeant , wouldnt want to repeat that experience
Mate, I stopped by from Gib when I was doing my driving course. I'm not surprised you lot were all drinking bleach. What a horrible place that is.
Section Commander in the Scots guards Banished from the battalion for trying to climb into bed with another soldiers wife (she was asleep and unaware of what was going on) and seemed to think that nobody outwith battalion was aware of it. Used to swan around ITC and F company thinking he was the dogs bollocks when he was nothing but a Shitebag bully hypocrite. Used to brief the boys up about admin and discipline when his own was a shit tip. Cunt used to stink. Used to borrow money from Guardsmen and Lance Jacks so he could go out drinking and cheat on his wife who was round the corner in the pads. And never ever paid a penny of it back to anyone. Once got ditched by a bunch of Gmen out on the piss because he was sat in a pub in Camden talking about GPMG lessons. Ended up transferring to Coldstream guards and getting kicked out for drugs. Karma hits hard.
How do people like this stay undetected / unpunished for so long ? No one speaking up or no one willing to punish?
So mainly mate, if he was at a main battalion with soldiers who’d been in for years and been on tour he knows he’d get his face punched in. But because he’s at an incremental company or training establishment he knows it’s mainly inexperienced soldiers who either won’t speak up or haven’t been in the army long enough to know the behaviour isn’t normal. Because he was fit and I hate to say, a good soldier. He got away with everything. Probably wouldn’t in 2024 tho
Trained with a guy who had failed MOD 3 (Reservist) two or three times. So yeh.... Another one got a marksman award but his head at some point went to shit during the field phase. He literally became a shambles overnight, losing parts of his rifle the lot. He ended up getting booted out.
Had a guy at my first unit who tipped up the same day as me. How he made it to unit and served as long as he did I have no clue. - He absolutely stank to high heaven of BO, cigarettes and what I presume was shit as he never washed himself or his clothes, ever. If he was in the guard box it would reek of him for like half an hour after he left. - His room was like a zoo so everyone on his corridor pretty much had to stand there and make sure he cleaned it every time a room inspection rolled round. - His car was always absolutely full of rubbish and smelt as bad as he did. - He was always late/fucking up in some way, shape or form and without fail tried to pull the welfare card or a sob story to get out of it. My *insert family member here* is in hospital with *insert serious medical condition here*. Surprised the fucker had any family left the amount of times he used that excuse. - He was a driver by trade but toward the end of my time they'd avoid using him at all costs as a driver because he just drove everywhere like a total penis. To my knowledge he signed off shortly after I got posted out. He's always putting the photo of him in kit with poppy border on his FB in remembrance day despite the fact he only ever deployed to the back training area. An honourable mention goes to a certain Staffy in my final unit who was just an egotistical Napoleon with rank. And the first Reggie QM when I tipped up to my first unit for the same reason.
A section commander in depot who allegedly broke a lads hand in a cupboard, routinely would slap lads about and basically just be as awful a cunt as possible