F e a t u r e s Fly on the Army Wall
There are brave RAF teams out there working for the Army…
by Wing Commander Graeme Davis I
am one of a handful of light blue uniforms swimming for our lives in a sea of green! We are the Air Staff Officers, based in
Divisional and Brigade Headquarters and we get to live the ‘Army dream’ every day!
Air Land Integration (ALI) is all about understanding another Service’s capabilities, such that all Servicemen can work closer together to achieve success on operations. ALI doesn’t happen by accident and requires each Service to break down barriers and embrace their differences, whilst avoiding frictions and frustrations. A certain amount of ALI is taught during training; some is picked up ‘on the job’ in theatre and the rest is taught and facilitated by Liaison Officers like me, placed in other Services.
So, what’s it like working in the Army? At the start it is a culture shock! Certainly, for someone like me with twenty-two years experience of RAF life. The Army language is the first big hurdle – it is surprisingly different to the other Services. I’d only just got to grips with the RAF TLA’s! The first few months felt like I was a Chinese tourist in London – lots of nodding and smiling! Once I was bi-lingual though I started to gain a unique insight into the Army’s work patterns, social network
16 Spring 2010
www.raf-ff.org.uk
and Service ethos. I was even starting to understand their humour!
Of course, they are a bigger Service – two and a half times bigger than the RAF, built around strong leadership and discipline. They are great shouters and organisers – big on orders and empowerment. The RAF aren’t big shouters – never had much use for it but when you need to herd cats, it’s definitely effective. Rank is of course important but I sense the aircrew ‘callsign’ or RAF nickname thing is just lost on the Army – they see it as far too familiar and I
am regularly caught out using first names to address the lower ranks!
Thankfully, I would say that the days of inter- Service prejudice have now gone. Mutual respect has now replaced it but the healthy banter still remains! My Army peers still wait with bated breath to see if I will turn up on exercise with a suitcase or rucksack and I try not to disappoint! I remember my first Army exercise (first of many!) – it was a chilly November in middle Germany, with four inches of snow and sub-zero temperatures. Sadly, no hotel, but they were good enough
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