Thoughts on Rum Rations & Field Smokers (From:

[daftandbarmy]

I recall an exercise at Sandhurst where, after a week long defensive exercise we had to up stakes and conduct a fighting withdrawal through the night and dig in again. I think we covered, oh, at least a million miles on foot, or it seemed like that.

While digging in again the OC turned up and dished out a Norge container full of tea to each section. It was winter, we were cold, starving and dehydrated, and a steaming jug of sugary tea was something akin to gold dust in value to us at that moment. We each got our mugs out and chugged as much tea as we could hold.

About half way through the first mug I realized that the OC had added (at least) a bottle of rum to each container.

I don't know if it was effective, but it was amusing to watch a bunch of instantly drunk 20 somethings trying to carry on with the mission of digging in while thoroughly hammered.

 

[Old EO Tech]

That is because you are in 1 CMBG....

That may very well be a factor   Being "cowboys" of course we are not so stuck on these "rules" things that everyone talks about :-/

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Although once upon a time I recall something being said about a "Gatorade Brigade".... ^-^

 

[OldSolduer]

That may very well be a factor   Being "cowboys" of course we are not so stuck on these "rules" things that everyone talks about :-/

We don't need no stinkin rules......

 

[CombatDoc]

We don't need no stinkin rules......

I was thinking more like "Yippee ki yea..."

 

[my72jeep]

The last Smoker I was at that was in the field was in the late 80's. We had been out in the field for just over 3 weeks and were done after one last big dust up. we had all the kit packed but for 10 sections of mod. when it was announced that the BBQ was going and the mess was wet till 23:00.
all was going fine till a few of us started rehashing past battles with coloured chalk on the side of the RSM's 5 1/4 ton CP. this was going OK till we discovered the box of pink chalk. It took 2 hours more beer than was needed and the whole box of chalk but in the end the truck was pink. Ah those were the care free days of summer.

 

[PAdm]

The last Smoker I was at that was in the field was in the late 80's. We had been out in the field for just over 3 weeks and were done after one last big dust up. we had all the kit packed but for 10 sections of mod. when it was announced that the BBQ was going and the mess was wet till 23:00.
all was going fine till a few of us started rehashing past battles with coloured chalk on the side of the RSM's 5 1/4 ton CP. this was going OK till we discovered the box of pink chalk. It took 2 hours more beer than was needed and the whole box of chalk but in the end the truck was pink. Ah those were the care free days of summer.

:rofl:

 

[Rifleman62]

daftandbarmy:

While digging in again the OC turned up and dished out a Norge container full of tea to each section. It was winter, we were cold, starving and dehydrated, and a steaming jug of sugary tea was something akin to gold dust in value to us at that moment. We each got our mugs out and chugged as much tea as we could hold.

About half way through the first mug I realized that the OC had added (at least) a bottle of rum to each container.

One year I was a WO PL Comd. We had not seen our rucks all week (yeah, I know it was only a 7 day FTX). The Rucks finally came up so the guys got a couple of hours kip. (After Louie Ameral sat in a fresh cow paddy while we were waiting)

The wake up call was "Gunfire", a traditional Rifle Regt drink. Hot, very sweat, strong tea, with the canteen cup filled to the brim with (Jameson) Irish Whiskey from my flask. The first rifleman still burned their lips. Everyone got a blast and perked right up for the final push around 0500. High morale that morning.

A few years latter, no booze in the field so no flask.

I believe the no smokers was due to the death of the two soldiers from the FGH and A RWpRif on a road move from Dundurn to Wpg in 1982. They just finished Dvr Weh, and were assigned to drive 106 RCL jeeps. The rolled the jeep and they died. Never drove 106 jeep before. They were on the MILCON and there was a smoker. Two BOI. The second and accepted BOI was done by the CO the the Airborne Regt.

We never had a smoker after that.

Tpt Krosleney's (spelling) mother kept after DND and eventually got an apology.

 

[cupper]

I believe the no smokers was due to the death of the two soldiers from the FGH and A RWpRif on a road move from Dundurn to Wpg in 1982. They just finished Dvr Weh, and were assigned to drive 106 RCL jeeps. The rolled the jeep and they died. Never drove 106 jeep before. They were on the MILCON and there was a smoker. Two BOI. The second and accepted BOI was done by the CO the the Airborne Regt.

Not sure if that was the impetus. They were still quite common when I was in from '83 to '89.

In fact we had a full blown field mess in the Service Battalion lines at Worthington on Milcon in '87. That was the year I discovered that Gagetown was not actually in Canada. There was a liquor strike in NB that summer, and somehow the Canex Officer was able to wrangle up several pallets of Labbatt's Blue in cans which were labeled "Imported From Canada"

One of the best field smokers I remember was at the end of an annual May Ex. We were sited at an old bauxite mine. Our company always set up a mess tent with beer fridge. Eventually as the night passed quite a few of the Battalion members on exercise ended up in the company mess tent. Much fun was to be had, including one of the junior officers leading the whole crowd in a sing along of songs which included various actions to act out while singing.

Grant you the breakdown the next morning to return to Halifax was a little slower and a little more painful than usual.

 

[Kat Stevens]

I left 1 CER for Germany in '88, and at that time full on end ex smokers were still in full effect.  In 4 CMBG full service drinking messes were almost the first thing set up and last to come down.  On return to 1 CER in 92, the fun police had a pretty firm choke hold on anything involving alcohol, a shock to me as we never got that memo in 4 CER.

 

[Old EO Tech]

I left 1 CER for Germany in '88, and at that time full on end ex smokers were still in full effect.  In 4 CMBG full service drinking messes were almost the first thing set up and last to come down.  On return to 1 CER in 92, the fun police had a pretty firm choke hold on anything involving alcohol, a shock to me as we never got that memo in 4 CER.

I was with the Div Eng/22 Fd Sqn in RV 92 and we still had a large field mess with no limit on beer served every night.  It was starting in 93 that I noticed the Fun Police in full force in 1 CMBG.  We had lots of Reserve Fd Sqn's their too with a fair amount of young women, needless to say, the combination of beer and young people of the opposite sex lead to a few interesting situations :-/

 

[Robert0288]

There was a smoker at the end of jointEX in wainwright this year.  To me it felt a little more like mandatory fun, but then again I wasn't stuck in tent city for 2 months.

 

[MikeL]

It took 2 hours more beer than was needed and the whole box of chalk but in the end the truck was pink. Ah those were the care free days of summer.

lol

In fact we had a full blown field mess in the Service Battalion lines at Worthington on Milcon in '87. ...... Our company always set up a mess tent with beer fridge. Eventually as the night passed quite a few of the Battalion members on exercise ended up in the company mess tent.

In 4 CMBG full service drinking messes were almost the first thing set up and last to come down.

I was with the Div Eng/22 Fd Sqn in RV 92 and we still had a large field mess with no limit on beer served every night.

Were drinking messes in the field really this common?  And 2 beers a day(or more), etc?  Do you think these are something that should be brought back on the month long exercises, etc?  Was there any resentment/animosity between groups(have, and have not's) as I assume not all units were able to have access to mess tents/ daily beers.  On a similar topic, what was the drinking policy on the tours in Cyprus and Bosnia? I remember hearing from some guys that at certain camps they were allowed 2 beers a night.

After some more thought on the subject/remembering more of the smokers I was in a few years ago, they were cool and informal(within reason) with certain parts of the CoC.  Are they required? Probably not(IMO) but still nice to have occasionally.

 

[Kat Stevens]

No, on a 6-8 week concentration, you could pretty much drink your face off every night that you weren't on duty or training, as we were treated like and were expected to act like grown men.  Every unit in the field was the same.  As for missing a night, there was night training laid on for different sub units on different nights, it was uncommon to have the whole regiment in bivouac at the same time, but it all evened out.

 

[dangerboy]

On a similar topic, what was the drinking policy on the tours in Cyprus and Bosnia? I remember hearing from some guys that at certain camps they were allowed 2 beers a night.

In Croatia in 92 there was no limit, as long as you were able to perform your duty (sentry, night patrol, whatever).  We were mostly in either Sect or Pl houses (at least for the Rifle Coys) so we just looked after each other and if things got out of hand the chain of command got involved with the code of service discipline.  From what I can remember from my perspective as a Cpl it worked fine.  Later one when I deploy to Bosnia in 97 the 2 beer limit was imposed.

 

[chrisf]

as we were treated like and were expected to act like grown men

Unfortunately, not everyone met those expectations... and now we all suffer for it.

We can look at it with rose coloured glasses all we like, some people, after consuming alcohol, cause problems. Would it be the end of the world if "smokers" came back? Probably not. Probably definitely not. Would there be more problems to deal with? Probably. Maybe not a lot, but definitely more problems to deal with.

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

I joined in '89 and smokers/wet canteens in the field were common. They seemed to die around 1992/3. We still had smokers in the field in Gagetown circa 1999 to 2002 when there on exercise from 2 CMBG. We had beer nights and smokers on the BTE in '03, and Kabul was two beers per man per night.

In 2 CMBG we certainly had smokers over the past four years. At 2 RCR we had a wet mess in PV and even had a field mess dinner. At our RCD BG at Maple Resolve ran a wet canteen for three of the six weeks (we had to be dry during the force on force portion). No issues, and it had a positive effect on morale. We had two smokers as well.

I think that beer should be available in the field. Its takes some self-discipline and buddies/junior leaders who head trouble off early, but the positives outweigh the negatives. Troops work hard during the day when they know that they can chill with a few beers at night. Troops also understand that they can't always be at the mess tent due to training and I did not see jealousy.

What does not work as well is a post-ex smoker at the home garrison location where the smoker is the only thing between the troops and home. Smokers are good activities during post-ex maintenance before leaving for the home garrison.

 

[George Wallace]

Were drinking messes in the field really this common?  And 2 beers a day(or more), etc?  Do you think these are something that should be brought back on the month long exercises, etc?  Was there any resentment/animosity between groups(have, and have not's) as I assume not all units were able to have access to mess tents/ daily beers.  On a similar topic, what was the drinking policy on the tours in Cyprus and Bosnia? I remember hearing from some guys that at certain camps they were allowed 2 beers a night.

"Two beers per day, perhaps" is a recent phenomenon.  In the Mid-80's "Dry" Exercises began.  So did the drinking problems.  As was stated, the soldiers were treated like adults and they knew full well that if they screwed up or could not perform their duties, they were subject to Service Discipline.  Of course there were alcoholics, as there still are, and an alcoholic will still find his/her booze even if it is a "Dry Ex" or only "2 Beer per Day, Perhaps".  Once the Dry Exercises started, you found that any chance that the troops could have off to have a drink, they over compensated and drinking went overboard.  They were treated like children and then started to act like children ( in a candy store ).

The problems knew no boundaries in rank.  I remember a Dry Reforger, when our Sqn pulled into a town on the Czech border, and were stood down for a long weekend.  There was a Bierefest in town.  We had permission to go.  Everyone in the Sqn, from the lowest Cpl, right up to the CO, got totally wasted. 

These regs came about by some very fanatical reformed alcoholics reaching a very high rank, making policies that affected all troops because they had a problem and thought everyone had the same problem.  Gen Jeffries (the 8 CH(PL) one) had the Canadian contingent in the Multi-national Brigade get the nickname of "Cool-aid Bde" by his no alcohol policy in Bosnia.  He, however, said on a live news broadcast that he did not see anything wrong with a glass of wine with a meal........Ummmm?  And the troops can't have alcohol?  Yup.  Smells like.......

 

[Old EO Tech]

In Croatia in 92 there was no limit, as long as you were able to perform your duty (sentry, night patrol, whatever).  We were mostly in either Sect or Pl houses (at least for the Rifle Coys) so we just looked after each other and if things got out of hand the chain of command got involved with the code of service discipline.  From what I can remember from my perspective as a Cpl it worked fine.  Later one when I deploy to Bosnia in 97 the 2 beer limit was imposed.

Same here, in CANBAT2 in Visoko in 94 there was no limits, you just had to be able to perform your duties.  Though the Patricia JR Mess did get ordered dry once in a while :-/  Never happened to the Strat Mess thank God   And yes in 97, I was in Coralici, they had an official 2 beer per night rule though it was not enforced too harshly, and lots of booze came back from R&R that was supposed to be left with PSP in VK.  But then again if you had no problems carrying out your duties no one complained :-/

 

[George Wallace]

Same here, in CANBAT2 in Visoko in 94 there was no limits, you just had to be able to perform your duties. 

That was true for your Battle Group..... Later in '94 it became known as "Charge Bat" under the RCD's 2 Beer a day policy.....Only Jr NCO's were charged.  (one Sgt was charged....He was a MCpl WSE Sgt)