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A short film that was made in 1976 in South Armagh of the loneliness, solitude, danger and heart break of tours on the border in Northern Ireland. This film was made by Tony Clarke. Hope our friends on the other side of the pond and Australia can view it OK well worth a watch.
BBC iPlayer - Contact
Unfortunately not available outside the UK.
When looking on Youtube to see if "Contact" was available on there, I did watch a documentary from the same period and noticed that the RUC were still using No4 service rifles in the 1970's. I thought that the documentary was too political to have a link to on this forum but I wondered when did the RUC stop using No4 rifles, please?
Thanks for posting Gil, very interesting film.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gil Boyd
It really shows the pressure and conditions the lads had to work under and though things certainly arn't perfect in Northern Ireland today, they are, without doubt, massively improved.
Anorak time, note the Canadian C1 with Brit plastic forend (and what appears to a black painted butt to match) used in the opening scenes.
John,
Yes noted.
The reason for putting the short film on here was, it shows the regime that occurs in every soldiers head..................."weapon cleanliness is next to Godliness and always comes first regardless of rank" ;)
Interestingly Gil, Its the time I have seen evidence of a C1 being used outside the Canadian Armed forces anywhere.
I wonder what company provided the firearms for the film?
Re cleaning guns, I always clean my firearms after every shoot, it was drummed into me from the first time I picked up a rifle at 14, I've never understood people who just throw guns back in the cabinet, plenty do though!
No idea John, they probably used what was available in those days long prior to the 1996 Deac policy so they could be stripped!!
Watched it this afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it, apart from of course the losses which when they came made everybody sharpen up their patrol skills etc.
The only thing that I wondered wasn't quite right was from my own experience out there in 1973, sheets & blankets...really??
I spent 4 months in a green maggot!
Another interesting thing in the film was the use of a Westland 30 helicopter
(standing in for a Lynx or Puma).
A helicopter that never really found a role (only a handful built) as it used the transmission of Lynx mated to a larger cabin. This made the helo rather underpowered unfortunately.
Had it been built today with modern engines, it could have made a great medium helicopter, many current helicopters use a very similar layout.
Close, but no cigar, as they say....
Mick,
Quite right in terms of the bedding. When we built Bessbrook in 72-73 to accomodate Scouts and Sioux choppers in the Primary School at the top end of the village, it was solid scratchers not sheets. As the Mill got developed to replace the primary school so we could hand it back to the village, and the bigger choppers got based there, it was beds and sheets.
I am assuming as the film maker targetted 1977 period in South Armagh, it would have most probably been beds and sheets then as the regime changed and 4 days on 4 days guard duties and village patrols came in for all units.
Sadly, even after registering, the BBC says the content is not available outside the UK. It looks to be an a good piece, I'd be interested to see more. if anybody knows where to find it, I'd like to know. Back in the mid Seventies our tank battalion did some training with the BAOR. Some sharing and comparing of experiences between veterans of Viet Nam and veterans of Northern Ireland took place. Seems like we did a thankless job and all we had to show for it at the time was the disdain our respective civilian populations.
Old Tanker,
It was on Youtube until recently, but sadly taken down. I will see if there is another way of letting you get access abroad.
Gil, one aspect that I thought was spot on was the platoon commanders use of 44 pat water bottle covers, albeit with 58 water bottles.
I used the same belt kit after seeing an SAS captain I had to drive around Warminster & Larkhill wearing the same, suffice to say it got me more than one bollocking from my BSM.
Mick,
We used to wear them that way on the border because the old Vietnam hand me down body armour was worn under the PRA smocks and to wear the 58 or 44 pattern yokes were a nightmare. Looked "ally" too of course and made everyone of us look like Charles Atlas in build. 44 Pattern water bottles were without doubt our saviour, as we used the metal cups for brews and the metal water bottles were always superior to the gungy plastic ones that came later....................ah old memories!!