marginalia

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May 17, 2024: What Could Have Been

Some of the scariest things happen without our knowledge, as happened to me one time that, until a few days later, I didn’t know how lucky I had been. …

May 16, 2024: For the Love of a Bacon Butty

One of the best things about the military is that whether you worked days or shift work, you could guarantee that at any time of the day or night, you …

May 15, 2024: The Day I Climbed the Runway

Well, to begin with, as it turned out, we weren’t allowed to actually use the runway in this particular event and ended up on a taxi way in front of …

May 13, 2024: Fly like a Bird

Well, maybe not like a bird, I don’t have wings but, during my time in the military, despite suffering with air sickness my entire life, I made a …

May 12, 2024: A Galaxy of a Problem There were times, some of them quite comical though serious, that happened during my tenure in the military. Point in case, the day we had an …

May 10, 2024: Accidental Fatalities

One of the hardest things about being in the military was dealing with loss. And I don’t mean the sporting kind, I mean, the loss of life. And while …

May 9, 2024: Out on the Range

One of the highlights of being stationed in Germany, on a front line base, was that, during a major exercise we were issued with fake guns. Yes, fake …

May 8, 2024: Playing with the Card Sharks Following on from yesterday’s post about my introduction to shift work, the reason most of us survived and, quite possibly flourished on night shifts, …

May 7, 2024: Get A Move On

In the military there is no such thing as weekends off. As I have said, you are, to put it bluntly, on call 24/7. And in my line of work, trained as …

May 6, 2024: Gas Attack, Gas Attack

Because Lou Plummer asked whether or not, as part of my training, I had to go through the “gas tent” — a process where newbies on receipt of fancy new …

May 5, 2024: Sporting Chance

I was never thought of as being a sporty type by build and, in fact, was probably in that group picked last for any sporting event based on looks …

May 3, 2024: Living the 24/7 life

Even though I had a vague understanding that I might be asked to work at any and all hours of the day and night, as a service member, it wasn’t really …

May 2, 2024: Taking a Leap of Faith

Within weeks of arriving at my first posting to RAF Mountbatten, in Plymouth, Devon, I was being encouraged to sign up for, well, everything, …

May 1, 2024: Taking the Plunge I didn’t join the military thinking I’d have a life of adventure but, as it turned out, adventure found me anyway. I was young, too young, and had to …

Apr 30, 2024: I think I was probably destined for a life in the military. Though, judging by the face I’m making in this photo with my dad, maybe I …

Apr 29, 2024: We’re down to our last couple of days of April, and I was still wracking my brain last night about what topic or theme I should write about for …

Apr 22, 2024: Weblog Posting Month I’ve been looking for another post to write over on my Marginalia micro.blog and then saw over on Michael Burkhardt’s blog that he was …

Apr 10, 2024: Striking a Chord Music has and will always been a huge part of my life. It’s been with me from such an early age, helping me escape (like books) into another world, …

Apr 9, 2024: By Any Other Name In a recent post Pete Moore asks us, What’s In A Name, in which he talked about his struggles with his first name. Wondering if, at this stage in …

Apr 8, 2024: It's a Total Eclipse It’s officially the day of the Total Eclipse for us here, in Quebec, where most will see either 100% to 98% of the eclipse … and? The …

Apr 7, 2024: Welcome | Bienvenue Bonjour tout la monde … Welcome to my new space … I’ve decided, inspired by others (I’m looking at you, Pete) walking the …