Memories of A Veteran Part The 9th

Kia Ora, from New Zealand Friends and Colleagues.

In the last episode of my series of stories of a young soldier's life I told you about my 4 years in Berlin. But what I didn't tell you is that for my last 6 months between February and October 1988 I left the city to go on a roulement tour to Belize in Central America.

Another Adventure

I was going to be the Force Signals Officer on a base that was effectively a light Task Force equipped with 5 Hawker Harrier Jets, Wessex and Gazelle Helicopters, and a Battalion of Infantry, with other support elements like engineers, logistics and signals.

Marathon Trip

The journey there was almost as exciting as the tour of duty, which had many highlights.

I flew from Berlin to London and had a week's leave, before heading to Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, to fly by C130 Hercules Aircraft, on a 17-hour flight to Gander in Canada.

After a night's stopover, in this one street, well-kept secret, of a wee town, I once again embarked upon the Hercules to fly to Dulles Washington, where we refuelled, changed over some passengers and then headed south to Belize, in the Caribbean, All told a 3-day trip with 27 hours in the air in a webbing sling in the back of a very noisy aircraft observing the control rods and pistons exposed in the superstructure as the pilot and his crew manoeuvered this magnificent but supremely uncomfortable aircraft.

I remember quite vividly, when we landed at Airport camp on the main runway, thinking how hot it was and how I was looking forward to the rear ramp being opened. When it did, it was like being hit by a blast furnace, as the 95% humidity, with temperatures of 30 degrees, at 10am invaded the cargo deck.

Airport Camp

I was to live in Airport Camp just outside Belize City. This is where the Headquarters was with the 4,000 strong force being spread across 3 camps in Belize, positioned to deter the territorial claims being exerted by Guatemala in the 1980s.

Life In Belize

It was an interesting life, we worked, a normal 8-5 day in an air-conditioned office and then went back to our accommodation in the officers mess with no air conditioning (everyone had head colds all the time. I played squash every morning at 5am in open air floodlit courts with special squash balls rated for the heat. The courts had chicken netting over the top.

On my walk to work each morning from the mess I would say hello to Ian the iguana that lived in the drain culvert under the path.

6th Gurkha Rifles were the infantry battalion while I was there and one of the Gurkha officers had been a friend of mine for a decade as we had spent some time together as junior non-commissioned officers in our younger days (not that we were old then I was 28)

Because of this I was invited each evening to join the Queens Gurkha Officers for whiskey before lights out. We would sit around a big stone and tell stories, me about my Scottish home, and them about Nepalese customs and adventures, while listening to the cicadas, rubbing their legs fiercely in the humid night air, and we drank very fine single malt.

The food was amazing with Gurkha chefs providing first class Nepalese curry dishes in great variety every evening.

Sometimes we would head into Belize City and eat shark, swordfish, lobster and all manner of excellent sea food along the seafront washed down with Appleton's 55 Rum and Coke over Ice.

Weekends would be spent on the Cayes taking a trip on the Wessex Helicopter 'milk run' to be dropped off on a resort in the Caribbean to dive, swim fish or just enjoy 'Punta music' sitting on a shady veranda and watching the sights and people go by.

I also had a friend who used to sleep on the windowsill of my bunk room most nights.

Adventure

There were some great adventures had on this tour and in the next episode I will tell you

about getting lost in the jungle, dinner on Half Moon Caye, diving the Blue Hole, amazing archaeological finds and Gwiz, the rescued street puppy, not to mention land crab migration, Monarch butterflies in hundreds of thousands and a serious incident with the very poisonous fear de lance snake.

Until then from New Zealand Good night Friends and Colleagues

Kia Koa

Kia Kaha

YOU CAN READ HERE FROM THE BEGINNING PART THE 1ST

HERE YOU CAN FIND PART THE 10TH