Jerry Allen .... born "Jeremy", it could have been worse, I was going to be "Robin".  In 1980, my name ensured me of a commission - there was little else to recommend me.  1980  - No 155 Movements Officers Course  - my fellow students were Paul Mansfield (Spic), Carol Pierce (Jugs - sorry Carol!), Dave (Boy) Green, Richard Partridge and Joy Milne (love at first sight).

Luck again played a part in me passing the course.  Firstly, John Boyd and Brian Basting were nearly always too hungover to notice my errors and secondly, as there was a secret hidden pass rate to achieve and we were the last course of the year - bingo! we all passed.

1981-82  OC MSF RAF Wattisham.  Memories? - none of note, terrible pubs, lots of fishing. 1982  (2nd April) called forward 3 months early to UKMAMS due to a little scrap in the South Atlantic.  Became Kilo (poundstrecher) Team leader.  Team was Terry Roberts, Foddy Newlands, Nige Robinson, Kev Sullivan and Steve Maunder.  Very few officers around at the time so lots of good trips - someone had to carry the imprest (a skill that I became particularly noted for in the years to come).  Watched Willie Crossely almost being arrested in Dakar, wedged my foot between rollers in ASI, forgot to take a jacket to Bermuda (went hungry),  shouted at constantly by Jim Stewart.
1983  UKMAMS Training Officer - why?, I have no idea.  A clue might be the team I inherited:  Reg Carey, Roy Armstrong, Kev Timms and Dinger.  Laughter was the best medicine for the circumstances we found ourselves in over the next 12 months.  I learnt a lot about the SLR, SMG, thunderflashes and ATC cadets - not much about movements.  Reg begat Bernie Bernard who begat Sam Heaphy and I began to ask myself, "why me?"

1985  A few months as DAMO D while Mike Humphreys sped around in his Alfa Romeo trying hard to leave the RAF and the long suffering Eddy Turner had now to cope not just with an absent D/DAMO but also a Royal Dog mislaying boss.

1985 - 1988  OC RAF Mov Unit Dulles ..... great days, great friends ..... Trev Patch, Vanessa Mitchell, Doug Murray, John Purkis and the "bloody civvies" that held us all together - Joe Lynch, Alex MacAdam and Sandra Stewart.  Never to be forgotten was Peter Hulme (Rest in Peace), the cantankerous old sod from whom I learnt so much and once paid me the greatest ever complement ... "we went to different schools together".

1988 - 1990  RAF Leeming OC Forward Supply and Movements.  New station, huge challenge and who should walk through the door to "help" - Bruce Oram!  What followed was comedy on a grand scale as we sought to educate the UMOs, build FAPs and take newly formed sqns on detachment for the first time.  In the middle of all of this came a mini-crisis at Lockerbie where I found myself running an impromptu helicopter landing site in a school field full of sheep.
1990 - Plucked from bed in the middle of the night; almost arrested semi-naked, with a pistol in the back of the CO's Montego at 110 mph on the A1 whilst rushing to Northolt to "borrow" the CinC's HS 125.  YES, this was the Gulf War and your unlikely hero was again in the thick of it not knowing why.

1991 - RAF Sealand - nothing to say!

1992 - 1995 Escaped Sealand to play second fiddle to Andy Spinks at TSW.  A bit like UK MAMS really, except that we all smelt of fuel and lived in tents not brothels!

1995 - Another little holiday for 6 months as OC Port and Movements, Mount Pleasant.  Given the worst winter weather for 70 years, a jolly god time was had by all.  Married a penguin, two-timed a sheep and smiled at a Sea Trout  Met Andy Murray (you won't know him - he was an Army postie) who had an ingenious way of repaying his enemies; he sent them rotting mullet in a Jiffy Bag!

1995 - 1997  ARRC in Rheindahlen.  Don't be fooled, this was no fun.  There I was dreaming of a good overseas tour following a "green" time with TSW then MPA - only to end up for the best part of a year in Sarajevo with IFOR. Good points: free haircuts, bad points: everything else.
1997 - 2000 Contingency Plans, HQ PTC - great job - but not great enough to keep me in ........!

2000 - 2004 IATA. Back with air transport, airports and all the other things with which I am so familiar. The job was trying to persuade and help the world's airlines and airports to integrate their emergency and contingency planning and standardise both. Is it possible? no, of course it's not but its a noble cause. It's a bit like trying to persuade aircrew and movers to work together!
2004 - current. Now working for a disaster management company picking up the pieces from air accidents, tsunamis, hurricanes etc. It may sound grizzly but it’s the closest thing yet to the RAF - great people and no 2 days are ever the same.

High points - remembering just how many people you have known and laughed with over the years.

Low points - the Gurkha curry on South Georgia (guess which animal they used?)

Special thanks to Steve, Bruce and Graham - I will keep the payments flowing.

Enduring memory - whatever shit-hole I was in around the world, however cold or hot, however lonely or tired, a Hercules would always rumble up to take me home.
Jerry and Kim