I shouldn’t have been in the Green Jackets

Italian in the Black Mafia

I was commissioned into the 60th Rifles (KRRC) in October 1965. I must confess it was a rather unusual entry, no MONS, no Sandhurst, just straight in from one day to the next it was a case of ‘arise 2nd Lieutenant Pampanini’!

It was unexpected as I was hoping for a short service commission having finished at Dublin University and then spent an uninspiring year working as a clerk at Barclays Bank. I was never meant to be a banker and one evening trudging back. In the rain along Oxford Street I spotted a poster in a shop window ‘JOIN THE ARMY AND SEE THE WORLD’. That was it, a letter to RHQ in Winchester and an interview arranged with Col Butler (RB). His first words were: “I see you have a degree, the army is looking for graduates and you can get a direct commission on 6 months probation, just get through RCB.” I rather liked the idea, into the Army without digging trenches on Salisbury plain and nobody shouting at me.

“I assume you would like to join the Rifle Brigade, they are in Hong Kong at the moment.” I did not want to offend the colonel, a staunch RB, but I rather fancied the 60th, as my Mother was American and the regiment was originally the 60th Royal Americans.

And so on the 4 October I found myself striding to the Officers Mess Peninsula Barracks in my brand new uniform, I threw a very impressive salute to a smartly dressed soldier at the entrance of the mess thinking he must be at least a General, in fact he was the driver of a senior officer he had just dropped off for lunch, he was rather startled!

A couple of weeks of sword drill and how to strip a Bren gun and I found myself on a plane to Singapore. What a start to my military career the exotic Orient, searing heat, the aroma of spices in the air, colour, sarongs, doe-y eyed Malays, Barclays Bank never stood a chance. As a graduate, the authorities assumed my brain was different, so straight onto a Malay language course at Nee Soon and here is a book on radio procedure, you’ll soon pick up the rest.

The regiment was in Penang, Minden Barracks. I got there for Christmas, the Colonel was Dwin Bramall, the RSM WO1 Rimmer, very few officers were married, so the mess was full of people, it was a massive building. As expected, I was ignored, it was mid afternoon, most people sitting around drinking Tiger beers. I spotted a very smartly turned out person, white jacket with red trim and cross belt, assumed he was a waiter and ordered a beer. It was in fact 2nd Lt Mick Yasa, duty officer of the day! We remain good friends to this day.

As you can see, it is not easy to convert from a civvy to a soldier in record time, one negotiates daily minefields. The saving grace was Colonel Dwin, not intimidating and a master at putting people at ease, not surprising that he became a Field Marshal and head of all British Armed Forces, what a man.

I joined C company under Major Peter Welsh, completed the Jungle Warfare course at Joohor Bahru and joined the Regiment. By then the 2nd Battalion RGJ in Sabah (North Borneo), at the start of a tour of operation against Indonesian forces who for several years had been trying to invade the former British colonies of Sarawak and Sabah, they were supported by communist East Germany.

C Company was based at a heavily fortified camp Serudong Laut on the banks of a fast flowing tidal river. I was with 10 platoon, Mick Yasa with 9 and Nick Chance with 11. And so began life in the jungle, frequent patrols to the Indonesian border, liaising with local Dyak militia, clearing new helipads and volleyball matches every evening of course.

I was informed one day that 10 platoon would be going on a two day patrol to the border, my first in charge and rather daunting for me whose only military experience had been the CCF at school, but I was comforted by the fact that my Sgt Paddy Maher was very experienced. On the day I got to the platoon I was told that Sgt Maher was not well and would not be coming, I went rather pale but thankfully my tanned face hid my angst! We survived much to everyone’s relief.

The war was beginning to subside, contact with the enemy was infrequent, mainly due to the British Army’s increasingly aggressive tactics of hitting Indonesian bases well over the border, these tactics were part of ‘Operation Claret’. Which had been officially sanctioned by the then Labour Government, not strictly legal by international law but it certainly brought the conflict to an end by June 1966.

On one such patrol which combined 9 and 10 platoons (9 by then led by Vere Hayes), we did indeed ‘bump’ the enemy. 10 platoon was at the rear moving along with minds in neutral to be suddenly startled by a wave of gunfire, sounded a bit like Chinese New Year, ‘crack and thump’ for real, everyone diving for cover. Luckily the RA Captain in charge of our gun battery had volunteered to come on patrol with us, he grabbed my radio and using my call sign directed gunfire from our howitzer at base to a spot just ahead of the lead platoon. It was pinpoint accuracy and the battle was soon over. For a while it looked as if it was me directing the shells, the glory did not last long! That was just about the last of the excitement and so back to Penang on HMS Sir Galahad.

Lawrence of Arabia RGJ Style

– a day in 1987 for 2 RGJ to remember

Major Richard Matters who died in September 2020 is responsible for one of the great Regimental moments when, as a Coy Comd in 2 RGJ in Warminster, his CO, Lt Col (later Brig) Vere Hayes, decided that ‘Field Officers should be mounted’ on a Battalion muster parade. He failed to specify ‘on horses.’ The band struck up the theme tune from Lawrence of Arabia and Richard appeared on a camel (borrowed from Longleat) led by his Company 2ic, Capt Gillian Wright WRAC.

I asked Vere to explain the background to this event and what happened that day.

The Battalion was always scattered around supporting the School of Infantry therefore we seldom saw everyone together. As CO it was therefore, for me, important that we took any opportunity there was to do something together as a battalion, and something the Riflemen would enjoy and remember. (Battalion Muster Parade – enjoy? Umm editor.) We did aerobics once led by Mrs Chapman who had been a dancer with ‘Hot Gossip’. Platoons could wear what they liked – the Milan platoon came in grass skirts – and all thought it would be a doddle, but she had everyone exhausted within minutes! Among other things we also did an ‘Exercise Turnaround’ when the chain of command handed over their positions to Riflemen; As the CO I handed over to was Rfn (as he was then) Pashby. It was good fun and many Riflemen learned that exercising command was not as simple as they thought!

Did you know Richard was going to do it?

“No, I had no idea. My mount was spooked by the camel as well and despite my best efforts slowly, and with great dignity, reversed up the grassy slope behind me. Thank heavens it too did not gallop off, I was no horseman!”

John Pentreath was OC D Company at the time and a good horseman which was just as well as he had a lively horse that was spooked every time the Riflemen completed a drill movement behind him. When the camel appeared it really spooked the horse and John disappeared off parade at the gallop. He returned having got his steed under control – the Riflemen later presented him with a ‘Lone Ranger’ mask as he had done so well!

Footnote I am told the Riflemen much appreciated the anarchy and also temporary promotion to CO didn’t do Mark Pashby any harm either as he was later awarded the MBE in 2002. His own story is perhaps one for next year though – Editor.

Loan Service Oman

In May 1993 the adjutant, Harry Emck called me to his office and asked me whether I fancied a Loan Service tour in Oman at their Army equivalent of School of Infantry. It was not a difficult decision. I was accepted for the role and awaited joining instructions to learn colloquial Arabic at the Defence School of Language in Beaconsfield.

In late August I set off to the camp of Aydim which was to be my home for the next 26 months. The camp of Aydim was based on the former British airbase of Manston which was used during the Dhofar campaign. Stepping out of the vehicle in Aydim the first things that hit me were the heat and intense light. The rocky landscape is very light in colour and the sunlight is intensified to such a degree that sunglasses are a must until your eyes adapt. It was here that I was to put my ten weeks of Arabic study into practice for the first time with one of the Omani soldiers. “Salaam alaykum, kayf halkum, aysh al akhbar” says I. The reaction I received was either he thought I was a complete muppet, or I had learnt the wrong language. The first day was familiarising myself with everything. We went to the Sgt’s Mess, and I met the others in the Loan Service team. My job was to oversee the Platoon Sergeants Battle Course to ensure instruction was up to the required standard, and to supervise all live firing as the Safety Officer.

L-R Steve Hartley, Bill Logdon and Me There were four other loan service C/Sgts who were responsible for the Section Commanders Battle Course, (Steve Hartley 1 RGJ) the Heavy Machine Gun course, and two who supervised the Mortar Course. In addition, there was a contractor who was a uniformed range Warrant Officer, and a civilian contractor who maintained all the portable electric targets. My OC was a guy called Rex (Tex) Matthews who was part of G Sqn 22 SAS at the time of the Battle of Mirbat. The 2I/C of the school was Bill Logdon, ex RGJ who became a contractor and worked his way up to Lt Col in the Omani Army. I went to the stores and collected my uniform and webbing which was all based on Brit Army desert

SNCO Training Team DPM and 58 pattern webbing. All Omani regiments have distinctive berets usually of a quite bright colour. At the school we wore red berets.

I changed into uniform and went to meet the Omani instructors. Oman is ethnically divided between northern Omanis who are generally fairly short squat people and southern Omanis who are generally taller and wiry having derived from different ethnic backgrounds. The southerners from Dhofar speak Arabic, but also have their own dialect known as Jebali (from the Arabic Jebel for mountains).

The training team was made up of a Jebali WO2 who was IC of the course, two Jebali C/Sgts and two Omani C/Sgts. Also, there were two Baluchi J/ NCO’s who ran the admin. Only one of the J/NCO’s could understand English, so I was hoping my Arabic would improve. I received a warm welcome from them all apart from one of the Jebali’s called Badr. Jebalis are naturally suspicious and he went out of the way to let me know what he thought of me. He used to gaze at me constantly tutting and pretending he couldn’t understand what I was saying. After a while my natural charm shone through and he became a very loyal friend. The SNCO’s Battle Course consisted of a mix of instruction, fitness, dry exercises and live firing exercises at section and platoon level. I was thrust into the first course after about a week or two. This gave me a chance to practice my Arabic. The Omani pamphlets are direct copied translations from the British. I had learned to read Arabic at Beaconsfield and so it was possible to learn key phrases such as ‘Section Battle Drills’ ‘Prepare for Battle’ etc. I was also helped by the resident translator who was Sudanese who taught me the correct pronunciation.

A large part of the role was range safety. One live firing exercise consisted of a single CQB lane with a live grenade throw at the end. Each student was supervised by one of the instructors with me following behind and operating the electric target by remote signal box. Of course, at some point there was going to be a grenade that fails to detonate, and who was the mug that has to go forward to detonate? Normally a relatively harmless task after waiting the 30-minute soak time. Considering that Jebalis are nomadic you would think that they would be very patient. Not Badr. He decided the easiest way to detonate the grenade was to put the rifle onto automatic and let rip a burst of fire. Fortunately, he missed, and I managed to persuade him that my way was better. My Arabic improved beyond my expectations and I was able to converse easily towards the end of the first course, and after a year there I was about as fluent as was possible. The Omanis did not like teaching certain lessons such as Trip Flare set up,

Me and Sayeed, one of the Jebali instructors and even the basic grenade lesson. They came to me and asked if I could take the lesson with Ali the admin Corporal there to translate anything that I could not get across, or if I was asked a question that I did not fully understand. The reason they did not like teaching the grenade lesson was despite the fact that a drill grenade was used, if Allah wanted it to explode, it would explode. I was surprised how good the Omani soldiers were. On a couple of courses, we had Kuwaiti and UAE troops on exchange, and the contrast was very noticeable. During the course we had a morning live firing RPG7, and so I had a go. A surprisingly simple but effective weapon. Range days started with us leaving camp at 6am for the 30-minute drive to the range complexes which were a mix of all types including a grenade range through to CQB right the way up to Stage 5 Field Firing. Breakfast was taken at about 9am and consisted of dahl and japatti sat around in a circle eating with our hands from a ‘Taffadal Tray’ (Taffadal roughly translating to be generous). Within minutes we were usually joined by a number of camels that wandered up from nowhere.The course consisted of some excellent range days/nights. Live pairs CQB, live section attacks and a night ambush complete with Claymore mines. One of the courses ran through December, and the live ambush was on December 26. We left camp early afternoon to go through the orders and rehearsal procedures before going non-tac for a few hours while we waited for darkness. During this time, I went out and set up the trip flares and placed the claymores into position. The wind started blowing from the north (Shimall) and carried freezing icy wind from the empty quarter (Sahara). It was freezing but fortunately I was dressed for it. The Omanis were not, and when I got back to the main body, they were all huddled around each other trying to stay warm. After the evening meal we set off for the ambush position. Before the ambush was set, myself and the platoon commander went down to the trip flares and I removed the safety pins. Bearing in mind the troops are all loaded and made ready and it was pitch black, this was the part of the course I was always slightly nervous about. The final exercise ended with a live firing platoon dawn attack supported by mortars, heavy machine gun, and Batsims consisting of PE representing artillery fire, and diesel detonated to represent an air-strike. It was mine and Steve’s responsibility to set up the Batsims on the afternoon before. I then represented the recce platoon rep at about 3am and lead them into the FUP where they waited until just before first light.

I was about 50 yards behind the platoon, with my Shrike ready to detonate the Batsim on H Hour. About ten minutes before H hour I could hear a lot of movement and so moved forward to investigate. I found the entire platoon and instructors with webbing, boots and socks off, facing Mecca doing morning prayer. There is not a lot you can do about it apart from let them carry on. On H Hour the detonation was set off and the dawn attack commenced.

Rest break on the jebel It was not all work, and in Salalah there was a large ex-pat community and several ex-pat bars. The weekends in Oman are Thursday and Friday, and so the weekend usually started with a five-aside football match on Wednesday afternoon in Salalah followed by a few beers. Thursday was usually sight seeing followed by a few beers.

The scenery is stunning, and that part of Oman is affected by the Khareef from June to September. The Khareef is where warm, moist air comes in off the Indian Ocean, hits the mountainous coast, rises quickly and forms thick fog and rain. The landscape is transformed from lifeless desert to lush green rolling hills. Other weekends would see us load a landrover up and head off to a beach taking with us the mess manager Ashok, and mess chef Gomez. Twice a year we would head off into the empty quarter in a convoy, set up camp and spend the night there. There is a diverse wildlife population in southern Oman. While out on the jebel I saw Arabian wolves, Hyena, Gazelles and an enormous eagle sat by the side of a track. On a trip up the north of Oman I saw the legendary Oryx. Furthermore, Dhofar is one of the regions where Frankinsense trees grow. The locals burn the gum as a perfume, and some chew it like chewing gum. The gum flows from the tree when the bark is cut and dries in the air.

My posting was initially for 20 months, but I asked for a six month extension which I was granted. It was a great experience and before I left Badr gave me a gift of two Jebali camel milk bowls called Yinaars. These are made of platted reeds covered with camel skin. Loan Service was a great opportunity to work in a foreign country and I am so glad I was given the opportunity to experience it.

Terry Mason