A BLAST FROM THE PAST....

I know my limits.   There`s only so far I can go to keep up with modern day technology but at least I have a go.  Most of the time.  But there are times when I have to concede defeat and just give up.

Probably against my better judgement I have a Facebook account.  I find it handy to keep in touch with friends and things that interest me and last night one of my `friends` from way back when started a thread on his Facebook page by posting a photo of himself in his army days and inviting others, like me, to upload a photo from our own military days and share it on our respective timelines.   It was then that I just gave up.

So the best thing I could think of doing was to post a photo on my blog here and let the world and his wife know about it.   Now I couldn`t find a photo of just me but I found the one above which shows the No. 1 Guard of the 10th Royal Hussars with yours truly tucked away in the third row, sixth in from the left.  (Please click on the photo for a better image.)

As you can see, we all looked resplendent in our blues with white webbing and our swords mercifully at ease at our sides. We had been hand picked for our smartness, our ability to obey orders and to march in time with the music, turn right and left and stop when shouted at.  We were the regiment`s creme de la creme, the tour de force, the enviable face of the British Army of the Rhine and in this photo we were either just going onto the parade ground or having just come off it, having played a pivotal role in the formal presentation of the Guidon (new colours) to the regiment by the Duke of Gloucester.

It had been a very hot day in the middle of the long hot German summer of 1961 but we performed our choreographed sword drilling intricacies without too much of a hitch.  After all, we had been fine tuned and trained with whips and stools for about six weeks prior to the big day so no wonder we were up for it.

Looking back these 57 years to that day left me wondering what today`s snowflake generation would make of being conscripted in two years of National Service.  Maybe it`s just as well for them that they`re unlikely to find out.