armybloke

Good to meet you Paul......and everyone else I met!

A trip to the Tank Museum at Bovington will enlighten you and quench your thirst for ideas on the 'how' element. Torsion bars with hydrogas suspension is the way forward. It gives a smooth and even ride maintaining road wheels to track contact whilst transitting uneven terrian. The problem you will have is weight. You need the weight of armour to make all this work (or ballast I guess). Having a light-weight tracked vehicle negates the suspension issue to some extent as you wont have the weight to impact ride-height sufficiently. The drive train (engine to track) will be an enormous feat of engineering if starting from scratch? I take it you have got 30 years of spare life and a few £100K? Why not buy a scrap tank then redevelop it into something you want rather than building from nuts and bolts? Sounds like a plan but a barking one to be honest - having worked on these 60 ton pieces of metal for sometime you'll spend most of your time fixing it rather than riding in it!

Good fighting spirit your girls got there - a new recruit in the making??!! She'd show up some of the troops I have working for me that's for sure!

I have an 'in' on tanks - what you got in mind trooper??

I 'won' one of the benficary places so I am happy to stand at a bar and have a few scoops discussing life if anyone wants to join me? By what Janey says we wont need much money!!

Fabulous tree! As a part time ecologist, the concentration of briophyte on the tree is a tribute to a well looked after tree in a clean air location. The flora and fauna that tree supports alone is worthy of some recognition. Deadwood clean and remove infected branches. This is worthy of monolith status if anything drastic happens - fingers crossed

You will still have a ressetlement officer alloted to you so use their advice - it is what they get paid for. See previous reply for more info

Just having a career change myself. Look in JSP 534 and 752 to see what you can squeeze out of the services. Your unit have an eduaction budget too so don't just rely on the grant we get. Use your annual allownce for exam fees and your ELC for the course. Don't forget you have to stump up 20% contribution so go for the expensive ones first Unfortunately the army wont let you keep what you don't use so calculate everything to the last penny to make sure you get full whack. Examinations for a professional body can get extra financial assistance from another budget so play it clever. Talk to your UPO, Resettlement Officer and search on line so you don't spend a penny. The services will help!

Did you not give him a hand? No wonder brits get such bad press

No prob - REME and still in. Done almost 30 years and only 2 to go til civvy street. Long story but they need some expertise that can't be taught overnight to a new boy so easier to keep me than transfer the knowledge.

Sounds like you have a good plan and are preparing well. I have some experience (did a 40 miler in the Lakes in just under 10 hours) with prep-work. You wont do yourself any harm in a yomp around QECP and Butser Hill on the A3 in Hants to develop the muscles for climbing and decent work. You should give it a go as the South Downs offer similar terrain! Best of luck!

Pat on the back to you! I wonder if that farmer would like to stand up in front of the Bee Keepers Association and explain his recommendation?? They are in mass decline as it is so without similar like-minded people as you this planet would suffer just that little bit more - go get yourself a GOLD star trooper!

Good luck trooper. P*** on your feet when you are in the shower, it'll make them stink but it toughenss them up. Wear the same walking boots for a month. Get them wet on your feet and let them dry there too. They will feel snug and be like wearing slippers. NO WAY to new boots as you'll come off there with no skin on your feet. Remember the Pen Y Fan is notorious for bad weather so getting used to wearing your boots in the shower is no bad thing! Make a route card for your trip with a start and projected finish time and STICK to it even if you end up in bother and give a copy to a reliable mate to come get you when you are late for that well earned pint in your local. You go 'off-piste' and get lost and no one will find you! I concur with 'deer man'. Take stuff you can use - unless you intend to run a beach volleyball competition en-route! - and a sleeping bag or similar is good advice. Cold, wet, hungry and injured is not nice. For practice get severely drunk in a rainstorm, go home for a battering off the wife for burning toast at 3am and get kicked out into the garden til she wakes up that day at around mid-day!! (worked for me )

Chickens love these in my garden - haven't seen any since they arrived to devour ALL pests known to the horticultural experts..........oh and the wifes flower bed and my veg plot! I keep writing stuffing on the shopping list but the cupboard is bare!!!

Hi troops, Pretty new here but have been surfing the threads for a few months getting used to the chat. I'm in the army and due a career change so this is all pretty new stuff. I have just passed all my written exams for the above and am looking for a little inspiration or assistance to set me on my way for the pending management exercise at Chorley in October. BS5837 is all a little doom and gloom during revision and I am at a loss at what the real thing would possibly look like on the day. I have practised it all on paper but the final product is a mess of lines and colours - that can't be right....can it?? I have searched on line for surveyors BS5837 TCP and TPP and it's all on CAD or similar software and would bear no resemblance to the real thing on the day. Someone out there must remember what the AIA and AMS should look for the exam............surely? I feel a little easier on the woodland survey and environmental survey. All advice gratefully received.