My Generation Was Killed - Part 8 - Regulators! Mount UP!

 

‘Sup Killers? Well, that was the week that was… Been away all week with mahi, so not a lot of work achieved on the list. However, I did manage to squeeze some painting and assembly in on Monday…

WARNING: This week’s ‘back in the day’ section gets pretty close to the bone. Look away now if you are easily offended…

I decided to build The Iceman’s Hummer to see what it would look like, and I got about 80% of the way there. As you can see in the pics below, I fitted The Iceman, Ray, Trombley and Rolling Stone into the Hummer, almost losing all of them in the process…! I kind of new they would disappear once I got them inside, but maybe wasn’t quite prepared for just HOW lost they would become…

You can see in this first pic some bits of sprue below the truck. That’s parts of legs, body’s arms and Hummer chassis that I had to keep trimming in order to fit the team inside..! Oh well, at least I know they are there…! Still to finish are the high-viz panel on the hood, and more detailing to the MK19 and then final paint including door markings.

At this size, these are more like 54mm than 15, so excuse the roughness, but it does show the crew to good effect, especially Rudies Elvis Sunnies, and Brad’s NVG scope 🤩

In other news, I was fortunate enough to visit a major firearms collection this week. Around a dozen C96’s, two-dozen Lugers, 50+ bolt action rifles, around 10, TEN MP40s, MG42, MG34, Thompson’s etc etc… However, the real standout for me was this beauty; S1 FG42 in MINT condition. I even got to handle it! Such a shame it cannot be legally fired any longer 😢

FG42 surrounded by MP38, MP40, MP41 and others 😎

So, what’s on the ‘back in the day’ menu for this week, I hear you eagerly ask…?? Well this week, we get into some ‘military tourism’… A fascinating subject…! These pics were taken some time after the first round of fighting had taken place and we had pushed into Basra, after the Battle of Basra which took place between around 21 March to 6 April 03.

For obvious reasons, I have zero pics of those days, just the ones that remain in my head… Of course for me, the main event of this period was the loss of my friend, Matthew ‘Marty’ Hull of the Household Cavalry, who was killed by USAF A10’s on 28 March 03.

Matty and I were Section Commander instructors at ATR Pirbright in the late 90’s-early 2000’s, he was originally a Pioneer but transferred to the HCR to get more out of the Army.

28 March started for me in a holding area that we had moved into a day or two before. I remember the usual routine, woke up, had a scrape, did some dobie, checked some CBRN gear, made my rounds to check other gear in outlying units.

Then sometime in the afternoon, don’t remember when, a Rover arrived. Out jumped three of my mates, who rushed over to me. With tears in their eyes, they told me that Matty had been killed by the Americans.

I was overcome with grief.

I joined them in the Rover with the intention of driving to the nearest US unit and getting some payback.

Fortunately for us, we had a divine intervention that prevented us from carrying that mission out… That’s something to explain to people farce-to-face, but basically we were going to commit murder, and God stopped us from doing it.

Tough day in the office…

These pics were taken sometime after this event, when in usual military fashion, I had had to move on and carry on with the mission. Time to grieve being zero… This event was to traumatise me for decades to come, and I thank God everyday for getting me through this and keeping my family with me. 🙏

So, here’s some happier pics, first one of me on / in a T55. In one pic I am holding up a copy of ‘Motorcycle News’, which I was again meant to send in to them in the hope of some goodies, but never did…😝

Mad thing about this tank was, as you know, it was of Russian origin, and now being used by the Iraqi’s. However, I was able to operate all the turret controls with ease, due to the fact that all the controls were labeled in ENGLISH…😂 No wonder the Iraqi’s got slapped around so quickly, they couldn’t read the instructions in their own tanks…

Next up we have an IMR, engineering vehicle based on the T55 chassis, note the prominent gap between the 1st and 2nd roadwheels 🤩 

We found the T55 abandoned in the middle of nowhere, and the IMR was in a holding area for captured Iraqi armour. Fun times were had by all 😜

Well, that wraps it up for this week. For those of you reading that know me, you know the journey I am on, and I appreciate all of your love and support over the years. It’s YOU that have helped me to be able to tell this story. 🙏❤️

Till next time, Stay Frosty 🫡