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Any Good Combat Engineer Stories(Funny Stories) everyone put on there helmets

You know - for an English teacher,, that last was god-awful - let's blame it on Bill Gates. By the way do you remember the hill-top assault that Waincon -  5 ton trucks with signs on their sides stating "T-62 tank" and fellows up-top yelling "Bang", "Boom" "Rattatatt" and "You're dead! You're all dead!"? Do you remember how it stopped? - That old Sargeant holding up the sign "20 megaton Nuke" - Now that was class...
 
Oh yeah, the 5 ton tanks with 6" ABS pipe as their main armament!  Or Bob Symons getting completely falling down drunk on one shot after the 07:00 rum ration.  And the Nanoos Bay barge project.... ahh good times.....

CHIMO,  Kat
 
Yes those 5 tons - the original MGS.... without the bells and whistles - but with the honking horn. By the way do you remember the officer's annual pig-fest, with defaulters digging the trench, cutting the wood, lowering the pigs in their baskets and then  standing, flies open, adding... errr... condiment. The officers could never understand why the fellahs didn't want the left-over ham...

Bob Symons used to have that engine block in his room and the sargeant-major at the time could do much about it as it was immaculate - do you know if he ever got his transfer to the mechanic's trade - the man was a natural but was colour-blind.
 
Bob is still in the Regiment, he turned to the dark side and became a bulldozer driver.  The remuster never went through due to his inability to read colours for wires. Too bad, he's a mechanical genius. As for Pigfest, I was one of those specialty chefs... peeled a mountain of spuds for Joe Smith that ex.

Kat
 
I always volunteered to peel spuds - - if you help the cooks, the cooks like you and life can be good. I'll tell you something about Joe Smith. In 1978  the return road move went wrong and three fellows were lost in the Thompson river. It was a kitchen truck and two were cooks, one was a carpenter. I apologise as I can't remember their names. The DCO at the time said "Now we can get a new kitchen truck!" and Joe decked him. RSM McGillvary was watching, looked at the officer and said "I saw nothing" and pointing to us, added "They saw nothing either". He then walked away. Joe was a great chap then - great cook too - we did eat well! I guess RSM McGillvary is long gone but you couldn't help but respect him. By the way I still am peeling spuds.....
 
Ahhh...Pigfest. Remember "Storeman Norman" Hollis putting out the brush fire from the Pigfest with his 'dozer? Didn't he get singed and was awarded the CDS commendation? What year was that?
 
I met Norm Hollis when I cleared out of Chilliwack in August I think, 1982 and he was scarred up so it must have been that year's Waincon - so that's how it started... figures... Norm had that marvelous acrobatic dog - loved catching stones and returning them. What happened to Norm Hollis by the way? I guess he settled in the Chiiliwack area... Now that 1 CER and CFSME are elsewhere, is Vedder Crossing still the sapper's retirement home? By the way any-one have any tq3 - tq 5 training stories -Ii remember being up a tree with a few buddies using binoculars and watching the instructors lay out the minefield we were supposed to recce later that night - I think we did the task in about 20 minutes all told - with astonishingly good results. Then there was the time we were supposed to camouflage a bright yellow d7 bulldozer - and did it by parking it in the row of bright yellow D7 bulldozers. The instructor was on the verge of failing us until we asked him which one it was. He couldn't remember. We passed - Sgt Peachey was the man.
 
Hello Jack,you may or may not remember me,I always ended up helping Bummy Barant electrify the Camp when I ever went to Wain Con on advance party.
I was on a call out from 6 FD and was in dump section that time when we had those T62   dumps   ;),I have a photo of a Gpig mounted on the rock guard of one of the dumps and someone behind the gun just before we set off on that Silly Bugger.

Re the accident;I was on that road move and we learnt about the accident from the Truckers at the Husky in Cash Creek on our halt.Felix was one of the cook's and the young lad was a elec. and had just finnished his course and they flew him out for the last 2 weeks of the Ex., I think his name was Ernie.I still can see the vehicles pulled over and every time I drive by I think of that day and the guys.

Oh say hi to Chummely and I hope life is treating you well.

P.S. Jack after Ryan driving the old 2 1/2 T.  into the wall and him f'n off on you, who picked you up?
You end up on the hook and riding back with the maint. boy's?
I forget,the things that went on back then eh?
 
Hello Earl! Yes I remember! I quite liked Bummy Burant -I wonder what happened to him - Actually I guess it's unfair to remember him by his nick-name as he wouldn't touch a drop of alcohol - took the pledge I think. Yes "Felix" and "Ernie"... although I thought Ernie was a carpenter - tradesman anyway. Tragic the silly accidents that happened - One thought was that Ernie was driving but I believe it was the tie-rod snapping. I remember the padre messing up the funeral for Felix (who I knew from Egypt) "....  Felix .... is dead and I'm glad he's dead..." Upon which most attendees' mouths' dropped - I suppose he was going to go with something like Felix entering the kingdom of Heaven or something. While seaching for the bodies I believe the entire west coast dive teams - both the regiment and ther fleet - were almost lost - there was that one fellow from 2 troop who raced across the water with a rope to catch them - do you remember who that was - he was justifiably awarded a quite high medal.

As to that truck -maintenance - right at the end.. I wasn't driving at the time - snoozing if I remember - but i was some ticked-off. i think the shoulder was soft.
 
Jack,pardon my lack of punctuation and spelling I are terrible. ;D
As to Lorne Burant (his first name came back to me) he's married and living in the Wack area as many a retired Sapper is,like Mike O'Conner,Jim MacKay,Tom Bently,Ed Ashley and the list goes on.
Mike O'Conner,Jim MacKay and Tom Bently are in the Militia.

Yup the divers had a bitch of a time of it and if I remember right the found the truck, pots,pans etc on the bottom but not Felix or Ernie,their bodies turned up week's later around Hope or points further south in the Fraser.As to the divers I think Jackson Jennings and Donny Waller were the lead hands and Scotty ? as to who was awarded the Gong this is the first I have heard of it.I only remember Jackson,Waller and Scotty and learned from them(I think) what a bitch the dive was
vis. of less than a foot then all of a sudden clear vis. then down to less than  a ft.,99% of it was the old Liberace,touchy feely.

Jack remember when a certain M/Cpl decided to show the porn one night and half way through old Lorne decided to do a generator check and blacked out the whole camp?All's you heard was "BUMMIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! from about 100 Sappers?
 
Oh yeah, Pinkies "souvenirs" from Germany.  Some right nasty stuff on those films, as  remember.... :-X

Kat
 
Hi! Oh yes - the training films.... by the way have you ever seen a German department store catalogue - the... umm... devices of stimulation are on the page before the cuckoo clocks and right after the meat slicers - I've always wondered about that.

Lorne - that's it! If you run into Mike O'Connor say hi for me - he was my section commander for a winter exercise in the  far reaches of Shilo. I can remember standing on the hills of Shilo, looking out, 2 AM,  it being minus 40 something and thinking the only satisfaction I'm getting of this is the fact some stupid bastard is doing the same in Siberia and it being some -50 there. Jim Mackay I remember sharing a hooch with him on an adventure training exercise in Garibaldi Park. A  "no-alcohol" exercise... (right, screech isn't alcohol...) and on coming.. sort of alive in the morning - thanks to the Whiskey-Jacks - finding his sleeping bag 1 meter from the hooch and him one meter beyond, bare-ass naked - food for the blood-sucking flying legions. He did have a smile on his face though...
 
Here's one for you Jack about Jim.
I was part of an escort to Club Ed.,on of all day's the Reg. Smoker. >:(
(my tent mate)

Well when I got back about 23:30 the mess was closed due to the some over zelous Sappers.
So I go to my tent with a bit of a lip on and who do I find but Jim MacKay and John MacFarlan passed out,the tent full of greace of swine and the swines head in the middle if the tent.It turned out they stole the swine from the Officers and made off with it and hid out in my tent and continued drinking untill they passed out.
As Jim stated I was away and a Milita Plug would do no such thing as to steal the Officers swine,the pair of swines. >:( ;D

Or how about when the pistol team stole Big Bird?
 
Hi! I seem to remember they shot that full of holes.... not much left if I remember... Oh I have a confession to make. If you recall I was the Transport corporal during that RV81 - trust me that was a mess (my bosses got promoted over their organization efforts but I met with the people from the transport on base, and we cancelled all their gallant efforts and did it differently). Anyway... at the end of exercise, the regiment's old dozer had a blown engine. 5 Genie's dozer was parked beside it - both awaiting shipment back.  Well you know... it's quite easy to change the markings on a military vehicle.. a little paint,  a brush, a wrench, screwdriver, wd40 - to loosen the knuts holding the DND licence plate... a flashlight to make it easier to see... I often wondered why no-one was confused that this broken -down vehicle was able to get on and off the flat-car on it's own power.... I also wonder why no-one noticed the differences in serial numbers on the engine block. Do they still use those things by the way? I... err... have to confess I did the same thing earlier with a 21/2 ton from 2 troop. Why spend an entire day painting a vehicle to make it "look exactly like the one in 2 troop"- when with a little paint, a brush, a wrench, screwdriver....
 
Spr.Earl said:
Jack,pardon my lack of punctuation and spelling I are terrible. ;D
As to Lorne Burant (his first name came back to me) he's married and living in the Wack area as many a retired Sapper is,like Mike O'Conner,Jim MacKay,Tom Bently,Ed Ashley and the list goes on.
Mike O'Conner,Jim MacKay and Tom Bently are in the Militia.

Yup the divers had a ***** of a time of it and if I remember right the found the truck, pots,pans etc on the bottom but not Felix or Ernie,their bodies turned up week's later around Hope or points further south in the Fraser.As to the divers I think Jackson Jennings and Donny Waller were the lead hands and Scotty ? as to who was awarded the Gong this is the first I have heard of it.I only remember Jackson,Waller and Scotty and learned from them(I think) what a ***** the dive was
vis. of less than a foot then all of a sudden clear vis. then down to less than   a ft.,99% of it was the old Liberace,touchy feely.

Jack remember when a certain M/Cpl decided to show the porn one night and half way through old Lorne decided to do a generator check and blacked out the whole camp?All's you heard was "BUMMIEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! from about 100 Sappers?
Haven't heard that story about the accident for a while, I'm a new member on this site but have been around for a while. I was on that road move also and was almost a accident statistic myself, was fortunate that only the highway mirror got clipped by a rig hauling half a house. What a lousy day.
 
Hi! Didn't you love those drives - trying to get the maximum speed out of the old deuce and the five tons - especially the gasser 5 tons - as you went down-hill in order to get up the next hill - the shaking, the vibration. Great times. Those military pattern tires used to get to me - changing flat after flat. I had one truck with carburetor problems on a road move which caused me to stop every 30 or so km.. One time I stopped, cooled it down, unclogged the filter, started up and hit a patch of nails someone lost off the back of a truck - you guest it, 5 blasted flats... The language I used I'm sure has scared wildlife out of that area 'till this day....
 
Hi Jack, good to hear that you are still alive and kicking.. Your name came up in a discussion awhile here in Wainwright a just recently. I got to the mighty Track Troop in early '78, Just in time to go to Australia with the boys.
 
Speaking of the Ozies,I was on that bridge gallop when they were here.Is that the one when the LFR nearly sank half way down from the north end of Harrison Lake?

Heres a good one!!!!!

Bridge Gallop in the late 70's

The Reg asked 6Fd to send out a C.P. with Rad Op.'s (all must be 041's) so off we go all 4 of us in the old 2 1/2 T C.P. van (remember those,great party wagon   ;) )
Well we are given the scenario that we are a mythical   Fd. Sqn but must send all reports etc. to 0 and some of our own.

We are under the south end of the Agazzi bridge at our usual rafting and hide site.
Well about 02 dark I gets on the radio and send in that we have a 5 t dump flipped on on highway 7 east of the Agazzi Bridge with a 8 figure grid right at the high point where it's only two lanes ,wait out,well someone in the C.P. must have been asleep, you guessed it they sent out the resources to recover the dump,next thing we know all shit is hitting the fan over the net,we just sat back and roared after informing them er wake up over there ;D ::)

This is the same Ex where the Jimmies actually used radio jamming and we were one of about 2 or 3 out of the whole Reg. who went to our alternate freq.,next thing we know the door flies opens of our C.P., there's Capt. Forman just fuming,smoke coming out of his ears,was he pissed,you guys on the Net? Yes Sir,give me that hand set!I have never heard so many French Officers and a few I had never heard before used so much over the net in 5 min.'s, we just sat back and listened to him lambast everyone!!
What a sight to see and hear. ;) ;D

That was a good Ex for us MIlitia Plugs as we really learned how to run a C.P., all of us were under the rank of Sgt.,we had 1 M/Cpl and 3 Cpl.'s.,also we met Capt. Forman more often as it turned out we were to become a reliable source for comms..





 
Hi! Lucky you - a chance to see "Oz"! That was a good exchange - the troop that came over made a great impact - especially when a few tried to abscond with the totem poles out front of the regimental headquarters - are those still around? it would have been nice for those exchanges to continue.  Earlier that year there was an exchange with the American SEALs from California.  I believe 2 CER put a stop to that as after-all 2 CER was the SSF. The SEALs were quite nice fellows - had a grand time - did alot of fishing with the old sargeants that were around. Of course back then there were fish in the Fraser River.
You mean my name came up? 23 years.. My students have started to call me "Mad Jack". The only problem is they also call me "Grandpa Mad Jack"...
 
Hi Earl! Don't you ever sleep? Captain Foreman - I wonder what ever happened to him? On sports day he was one of those "win at all costs" guys. I remember being up against him in a soccer game - we didn't wear running shoes - combat boots - well... after him spending some two or three minutes kicking my shins.. I fell and accidentally booted him.. well we didn't wear athlete's cups either... let's say as he lay there doubled-over he had little interest in the ball.... The sappers won that game...  I think it was the last one ever between officers and sappers. By the way do you remember those internal security exercises that were full scale riots? Batons broken, shields smashed. We cornered two of the miscreants in the village. Well I guess i can mention the names - Al Chasse was one - do you remember him - he had to go sideways through a door as his couldn't fit straight on - I seem to remember him picking up a Bailey panel once and walking with it. Any way Harry Poile first sent in two of the biggest toughest guys in the troop - we heard scuffling, a couple of thuds and fling out the window they went... Harry then sent in Pop-eye Gregorich - he the string-bean who used to do the pop-eye dance - and me... Not really wanting to die an early death, we entered the realm of the lion... entering the room, Al, looked at us, he was leaning against the wall at the time.. looking at his hands.. Pop-eye and me looked at each other "Al.." we began.. "Look Al..it's Friday.. if you come with us.. you could go to the Mess early.. here.." We reached into our pockets "here's twenty bucks - it's enough for a case of 2-4.." He looked at us and said in his own inimitable way "Hey I like your style..." grabbed both of us under his arms - and the money... and gave up. We lived!!
 
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