Well it seems that I have used up my photo space, I get this : "The file you have uploaded is 770.9 KB which exceeds your storage quota and cannot be uploaded. You have 704 KB remaining."
I haven't got that many photos and they are probably interesting to only to me. Maybe it might give an idea to what it was like back in my day, who knows?
I picked this thread as opposed to starting another because I believe that Thadeusz thought his son was being posted there as a punishment.
I'll finish off with 3 REI and go on to REP later on.
This is me on the left of the photo with my chef de groupe a German caporal Chef. I am dressed in what is known as '
tenue de plage, or
quartier libre"
The tenue de plage allowed you to go out into town on weekends, which was Sat afternoon and Sunday until 18h00. It avoided having to clean and iron your tenue and put on all the '
giddy giddy', fourragère, badges etc. just to go into town for some shopping, which was usually the Chinese hardware store to stock up on various kit before going out on another mission. The foyer sold some stuff, but by the time you've had a bucket full of beer, you had forgotten all about the list you made and were getting drunk !
At least in tenue de plage, you were out to stock up. You were allowed in bars and restaurant and could go to the islands, Devils, Royal and St Joseph.
We lived in apartments by group and by sections. So although there was a drying place for kit on the balconay and three sleeping rooms, a small kitchen area and a lounge, shower and toilet, 10 to an apartment was quite crowded.
Here is the Sch pouring water over my chef de groupe. You can just see me on the right, because it's my turn next. Why?because we were due to go out by river to trace out the area for the company
carbet which is an enormous shelter to string your hammocks up with a corrugated iron roof.
We spent all morning waiting for the order to go and in the end it was suggested that we wouldn't be going as we were given the order to eat our rations in the apartments as we were not counted for the canteen.
My Chef de groupe and I started drinking a few beers and then he got out a bottle of tafia. Tafia is white local rum which can be used, if needed, to launch Ariane 5 rockets. So the CdeG and myself are both pretty drunk when the order comes to draw weapons and load up in the trucks.
The Sch sees straight away that the two of us are drunk. When we get to the new bivouac area which hasn't been constructed yet , the chef decides to sober us up. In the back ground of the photo is a Sgt who has just been affected from the 6 REG (nowadays 1 REG). He has come from the regulars and was a specialist in Genie. He was later given a legion serial number. So he's on his first outing with the section in 3 REI and the chef has to give his fellow chef de group and his corporal a sobering up.
The Sgt and I and some other legionnaires built the carbet. I posted a photo on the media.
After spending a week making out the border to the company camp and clearing it of forest we went back to camp. At 9 Ks from the camp the Sch stopped the convey and said, K and Cosgrove out of the truck and run the next 8 Ks. Fortunately it was just in tenue de combat, no webbing or back pack or rifle. We got back in the trucks 1 K before going through the gates.
Nothing more was said about the incident.