WORK Never Sleeps
written by an RAF Engineer W
ake up! Wake up bud, wheels in 15 minutes!” The cocoon I’d made for myself to sleep in
consisting of old RAF blankets draped from the underside of the bunk above, is dragged aside and harsh fluorescent lighting invades the space. As I winced at the intrusion of the glaring light, the instructions kept coming…
“You need all your kit, we don’t know how long you’ll be away – hurry up mate.”
The blanket is torn from its security and dropped on the floor, along with my empty kit bag from the top bunk, an action designed to stop me drifting back to sleep and to reinforce the need to pack. It worked. By now the other guy on nightshift in my room is getting the same alarm call, and we plant our bare feet on the floor at almost the same time. He gives me the look of a tired, resigned man that I’m no doubt reciprocating, before I focus enough to look at the time. It’s 1400 local, I’ve been to bed less than 50 minutes from a 12hr nightshift.
Glancing across at Davie, I’m aware that 12 Envoy Summer 2012
he has started to pack and not considered looking at the time, so I decide not to enlighten him, it may have the undesirable effect of turning his mood against what he’s doing, so I’ll let him figure it out for himself. I, however, have been in this situation before, I know it must’ve been a difficult decision to wake us straight from shift. So it couldn’t have been taken lightly and taking what small comfort I can from that, I follow Dave into turbo-packing mode.
You get into a routine in Afghan, shower before work, shower before bed – regardless of how tired you are or how long you’ve been up. Hygiene is important anywhere, but it is essential here, you can’t afford to ‘go down’ with something because it means someone else has to pick up your load. So showering only an hour ago has saved me on this occasion.
With that in mind, the rule is dress first, pack later. If I run out of time, I can still go and my kit may follow, but I need to be ready for the next shout. Dressing is on autopilot. Again you lay your gear out for the next shift before you sleep, so you can grab it in an emergency. There are four to a room here,
it’s cramped so we split it into two shifts, two on days, two on nights. It affords us a little comfort as there’s only two in a room at any one time. We can also use the beds of the other two to lay our gear out and the system works.
I’m dressed in seconds but in our tired state it feels like I’ve got thumbs where fingers should be. The only things left to don are my helmet and body armour. Now the packing starts in earnest. Big bag, big non-essential kit first. Get it in there, fill every corner of the bottom of the bag, then the stuff you may need closer to hand on top. Big bag filled, move on to your rucksack, this will have all the gear I need for 48hrs in it, so pack check, and check again. Personally, I throw it all on the spare bed, check it, check again – ask Davie to check and then pack it. If the bed is clear when I’ve finished, I’ve not forgotten anything. I do the same for him.
Time check – 1407 local. Seven minutes from eyes open to packed, not bad. Now the questions begin. Where are we going? and Why? top the list. We have no way of knowing either but we still bounce ideas off each other. Once I see Davie is at the
www.raf-ff.org.uk
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