Andy Alexander 💙

Policy Developing Civil Servant, Former 2012 Olympic Gamesmaker and RAFVR(T) Officer, Founder Member of @5SATT, #SCC2017 and @KingsCollegeLon ISfG Graduate,

[🇨🇭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿InLucysHead🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇨🇭© @InsideLucysHead]

Retiring from the British Army can be complicated...

Lt. Colonel Robert Maclaren retired from the British Army in 2001 after a long fulfilling career. On the day that he retired he received a letter from the Personnel Department of the Ministry of Defence setting out details of his pension and, in particular, the tax-free ‘lump sum’ award, (based upon completed years of service), that he would receive in addition to his monthly pension.

The letter read:

“Dear Lt. Colonel Maclaren,

We write to confirm that you retired from the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards on 1st March 2001 at the rank of Lt Colonel, having been commissioned into the British Army at Edinburgh Castle as a 2nd Lieutenant on 1st February 1366.

Accordingly your lump sum payment, based on years served, has been calculated as £68,500. You will receive a cheque for this amount in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Army Paymaster”

Col Maclaren replied:

“Dear Paymaster,

Thank you for your recent letter confirming that I served as an officer in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards between 1st February 1366 and 1st March 2001 – a total period of 635 years and 1 month.

I note however that you have calculated my lump sum to be £68, 500, which seems to be considerably less than it should be bearing in mind my length of service since I received my commission from King Edward III.

By my calculation, allowing for interest payments and currency fluctuations, my lump sum should actually be £6,427,586,619.47p.

I look forward to receiving a cheque for this amount in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Maclaren (Lt Col Retd)”

A month passed by and then in early April, a stout manilla envelope from the Ministry of Defence in Edinburgh dropped through Col Maclaren’s letter box, it read:

“Dear Lt Colonel Maclaren,

We have reviewed the circumstances of your case as outlined in your recent letter to us dated 8th March inst.

We do indeed confirm that you were commissioned into the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards by King Edward III at Edinburgh Castle on 1st February 1366, and that you served continuously for the following 635 years and 1 month.

We have re-calculated your pension and have pleasure in confirming that the lump sum payment due to you is indeed £6,427,586,619.47p.

However,

We also note that according to our records you are the only surviving officer who had command responsibility during the following campaigns and battles:

*The Wars of the Roses 1455 -1485 (Including the battles of Bosworth Field, Barnet and Towton)

*The Civil War 1642 -1651 (Including the battles Edge Hill, Naseby and the conquest of Ireland)

*The Napoleonic War 1803 – 1815 (including the battle of Waterloo and the Peninsular War)

*The Crimean War (1853 – 1856) (including the battle of Sevastopol and the Charge of the Light Brigade)

*The Boer War (1899 -1902).

We would therefore wish to know what happened to the following, which do not appear to have been returned to Stores by you on completion of operations:

*9765 Cannon
*26,785 Swords
*12,889 Pikes
*127,345 Rifles (with bayonets)
*28,987 horses (fully kitted)

Plus three complete marching bands with instruments and banners.

We have calculated the total cost of these items and they amount to £6,427,518.119.47p.

WE have therefore subtracted this sum from your lump sum, leaving a residual amount of £68,500, for which you will receive a cheque in due course.

Yours sincerely . . . .”

[Neil Stone @DrNeilStone]

Before vaccines, babies got breastmilk, sunshine and love.

And 1 in 5 of them didn't live to see their first birthday

[Neil Stone @DrNeilStone]

The idea vaccines cause autism was invented by Andrew Wakefield in 1998 and was so thoroughly debunked he lost his license for gross malpractice

And here we are 27 years later RFK Jr and his fans dredging up the same nonsense

Such a tiresome waste of time

[Aviation Archive - Tim Farmer @aviationarchive]

During WWII the British 6th Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry operated the miniature train, which was supplied with lighter weapons such as two .55-inch Boys anti-tank rifles and four Lewis guns at Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway (RH&DR) in Kent.🫡

[Andy Alexander 💙 @x76trombones]

@CcibChris The unmistakable Dick Milward at the controls!

[Somerset Not Blue Yet 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇺🇸 🇮🇱 @SomersetWasBlue]

@NavyLookout Well, you could start by asking why the GBAD task in the defence of airfields was taken away from the RAF Regiment and handed to the Royal Artillery which - surprise, surprise, was not equipped with sufficient equipment post-Rapier to meet all its commitments!

[Frank Gardner @FrankRGardner]

Some context on Donald’s Trump’s assertion that non-US troops stayed away from the front line in #Afghanistan

[Andy Alexander 💙 @x76trombones]

@missrobinson British police firearms officers are the same.

[Andy Alexander 💙 @x76trombones]

@a30aew @CcibChris No - back in the day, the College had its own flying training operation; when 3FTS was stood up in the late 80s, the blue band fell out of use.

[Andy Alexander 💙 @x76trombones]

@a30aew @CcibChris The blue tail band was used by the RAF College Cranwell.

[Andy Alexander 💙 @x76trombones]

@DavdotFo @GbhvfRon @clark_aviation https://t.co/8eBLjiKuyD

[Andy Alexander 💙 @x76trombones]

@clark_aviation That looks like the Battle of Britain 50th flypast in summer '90 - I was route lining if it is!

[Andy Alexander 💙 @x76trombones]

@RAF_Shawbury Parade ground at @RAFHalton?

[Navy Lookout @NavyLookout]

.@TomSharpe134 dismantles another brainless attack on the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers from inside the MoD published in @thetimes yesterday

https://t.co/pzV5bX0BuE

[Mike Pence @Mike_Pence]

Mr. President, Ukraine did not “start” this war. Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth.🇺🇸🇺🇦

“Russia Invades Ukraine in Largest European Attack Since WWII” @FoxNews (February 24, 2022) https://t.co/ra8R9PI9oj

[Heber Ackland 🇺🇦 🇨🇦 🇬🇧 @HeberAckland]

100% this 👇

Sick of the outright lies

[Andy Alexander 💙 @x76trombones]

@clark_aviation A prototype for everything...

[Andy Alexander 💙 @x76trombones]

@pinstripedline @AndrewJ31680521 And dare one ask how long turbans have been permitted in uniform? Or kilts? Wibble indeed...

[Andy Alexander 💙 @x76trombones]

@BriW74 @clark_aviation Yes - Ramstein, 1988.