Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

I attended Mons OCS (Officer Cadet School) during the period 19 August 1965 through 21 January 1966 and was commissioned into the Royal Artillery on 21 January 1966. This gave me a SSC (Short Service Commission).
I was posted to 26 Field Regiment RA, based in Hohne, Germany.
The regiment was the first unit in the RA to receive the new Abbot 105mm tracked gun. The ammunition trucks were 6x6 Alvis Stalwarts; the GPO (Gun Position Officer) and BG (Battery Guide) drove in Ferret scout cars whilst the Troop Commanders rode in Centurion tanks.
The majority of training was based on withdrawal exercises as it was recognised during this Cold War period (West and East Germany were still separate entities) that the Russian forces were likely to over-run us. Most subalterns were recruited to undertake regular border patrols.
Whist in BAOR (British Army of the Rhine), I undertook a free-fall parachute course; participated in an Outward Bound course in Norway; joined a Battery exercise in Norway and was seconded to a civilian and military team which visited India tasked with the objective of selling Abbot guns to the Indian Artillery - we later learnt that 68 Abbots were purchased.
Towards the end of my SSC, I attended the Regular Commissions Board at Westbury and subsequently learnt that I was a suitable candidate for appointment to a Regular Commission.
However, politics got in the way and so I decided to apply to Australia for my Commission to be transferred. I left the UK on 22 October 1968, bound for Townsville.