Oman pics

[tut]

An old friend must have been having a clear out and sent me a few photos from the past.

tut

My bodyguard.



A rare colour one. Looks as if my number two is trying to land on me.



This is what Mark should be doing. A break from work...........



My last Heli Squadron reunion in '93. Monkey suit on the far right.

[meatball]

Are you wearimg shoes with the suit?
As always sir, the pics are awesome......and yes I am jealous!

[kenny]

Nevermind shoes, WTF is going on with the bow tie

[meatball]

Nevermind shoes, WTF is going on with the bow tie

Because he is so small....it looks massive!

[tenkfeet]

Was watching a programme on TV "a soldiers story" ( I think) and it was saying the British special forces involvement in the war was not public knowledge . I think the thinking was the Russians would get involved leading to WW3 .

[Corranga]

very cool pics!

[Cisco]

Hey Tut,

Is that the old Sheraton at Korfukhan?

[tut]

We had the SAS with us throughout the war, the Squadrons changed over every three months from 22 SAS Regiment. However as you say, they were not really there, so were known as BATT(British Army Training Team). Their role supposedly was in training the Omani troops, but in reality they were always first in at the sharp end, and doing the job they were trained for. The Royal Marine SBS(Special Boat Squadron) were also there in smaller numbers, but that was even more secretive. Not as well known as the SAS, but then they have never written their memoirs or strings of books, or made films.

Because I was ex Royal Marines and SBS, I normally had the pleasure of flying them into position, often at night, when we were mounting a new Operation, they would recce the area, and if it was clear, the main force would then come in by helicopter with FGA top cover, plus artillery and mortars. This was the part that I enjoyed most, because as I was FAC trained, I would be up above in a Bell 206, hopefully out of SAM 7 range with the CO on board. He would be directing his troops by radio, and I would be bringing down rocket and bomb fire from the jets onto any targets that we could see, and when they went back to base to re-fuel and re-arm, switch over to the 105mm guns and heavy mortars.

I think the longest I did was 10 hours in the air on one of the biggest battles in '74, but with the adrenalin rush it flew by. The worst part however was having to pull out our dead and wounded afterwards, the Adoo always took their own with them.

At least at the end of the day I went back to the Officers Mess at Salalah, had a good dinner with friends, swapped stories and got pissed, whereas they were down there for weeks before they got swapped out.

Hard to believe now that I was doing that for seven years and got away with it. Puts a few broken bones and aches and pains into perspective, so if you hear me moaning at all, give me a slap.

tut

[tut]

Korfakhan is in the UAE Frank, although there is now a Sheraton Hotel on Salalah beach, which is 500 miles south of Muscat.

The parachutists are landing on what used to be for us in the 70's, our own Blackpool beach, outside of Muscat, where we had a small club house, and did all our watersports from, water skiing, sailing, diving etc. It was given to us by the Sultan, along with anything that we needed. This photo was taken last year, and it is now almost a luxury resort and nothing to do with the Forces anymore. I have not been back since a reunion in 1984, so the country has changed completely and I would not recognise anything anymore, at least until I got out into the wilds.

The pic should have scanned in colour.



tut

[tenkfeet]

We had the SAS with us throughout the war, the Squadrons changed over every three months from 22 SAS Regiment. However as you say, they were not really there, so were known as BATT(British Army Training Team). Their role supposedly was in training the Omani troops, but in reality they were always first in at the sharp end, and doing the job they were trained for. The Royal Marine SBS(Special Boat Squadron) were also there in smaller numbers, but that was even more secretive. Not as well known as the SAS, but then they have never written their memoirs or strings of books, or made films.

Because I was ex Royal Marines and SBS, I normally had the pleasure of flying them into position, often at night, when we were mounting a new Operation, they would recce the area, and if it was clear, the main force would then come in by helicopter with FGA top cover, plus artillery and mortars. This was the part that I enjoyed most, because as I was FAC trained, I would be up above in a Bell 206, hopefully out of SAM 7 range with the CO on board. He would be directing his troops by radio, and I would be bringing down rocket and bomb fire from the jets onto any targets that we could see, and when they went back to base to re-fuel and re-arm, switch over to the 105mm guns and heavy mortars.

I think the longest I did was 10 hours in the air on one of the biggest battles in '74, but with the adrenalin rush it flew by. The worst part however was having to pull out our dead and wounded afterwards, the Adoo always took their own with them.

At least at the end of the day I went back to the Officers Mess at Salalah, had a good dinner with friends, swapped stories and got pissed, whereas they were down there for weeks before they got swapped out.

Hard to believe now that I was doing that for seven years and got away with it. Puts a few broken bones and aches and pains into perspective, so if you hear me moaning at all, give me a slap.


tut

Wow I never knew you were out there for seven years . That is a long time to dodge bullets and with the type of flying not have a major life ending accident . Did you have night vision back then? I cannot imagine the reality of being shot at , its bad enough when my mates and I used to shoot each other with air rifles.

Did some hunting and the programme I watched was about the battle for Mirbat .

[tut]

Yep the Battle of Mirbat in 1972. I recorded the program a few weeks ago, but my PVR decided to wipe everything. It was well done but of course just an enaction with actors, as nobody was in a position to take photos.

If anybody is interested then google on "The Battle of Mirbat" and Wiki has a good factual account. Read through to the end and you will see the result of the SAS not really being there. As I said earlier, I worked closely with the SAS during the war, and Mike Kealey was a good friend, as were Labba and Taki. It took Mike three years before he was awarded his DSO, and he then later died from exposure on an Army exercise in the Brecon Beacons. It was a disgrace that Labba was never awarded the VC, and Taki a MM, he got the lowest award possible, a MID, as a VC would not have been politically correct and would have attracted publicity.

I was on CASEVAC standby that night, so at first light along with three other 205's we flew in the changeover SAS Troop as it was the end of Mikes stint, and they carried out mopping up operations. I bought Labbas body out, he was a huge Fijian and a fantastic bloke, and I then took the next two days off.

If any of you have ever read the Feathermen that is mentioned, although it is a good read, it is a load of tosh. Even though Ran Fiennes was a friend out there, his imagination ran away with him, and none of the Officers mentioned in the book were murdered neither were we being targeted by a group of assassins, or being looked over by the fictional "Feathermen". One of our pilots, John Milling, was supposed to have been one of the targets, but I was on his Board of Inquiry after he flew into the beach whilst performing for a group of Air Hosties and killed himself. A certain Gulf Air Stewardess had rather a soft spot for him before I met her.

However Ran made a fair bit of money from the book, but he would never admit if it really was tongue in cheek.

tut

[ed]

Brilliant to chill out,have a beer and read Tuts real expliots

Keep up the superb memoirs ......

[wee-mick]

Well in TUT, i really enjoy pulling up a sandbag and reading about a conflict i ashamabley dont really know anything about. SC course is tuff enough now, cant even begin to think what it was like back then.

Kudos to you.

[VXJON]

Brilliant to chill out,have a beer and read Tuts real expliots

Keep up the superb memoirs ......

[ruadh08]

Great photos Tut, I always find your old photos facinating!!

BTW have you read a book, just out, called APACHE by Ed Macy?

One of the best I have read for a long while, all about the Apaches in Afganistan. I know you would enjoy it,

Regards

Paul,

PS Nice dicky bow by the way, if not a bit large!!