OK - We all fell for it! Admit it, you did too! We all believed it for anywhere between three seconds and two minutes (five minutes for some of the Black Watch companies!).

Do you remember how, at the end of sports day at annual camp 1981, the Battalion was on parade being addressed by the CO in the normal way. The the RSM came running up (yes - I said running!!) to the CO and handed him a piece of paper.

The CO reads it, his facial expression deepening and becoming more serious with every line. By this time, we all wonder what was going on that could possibly be so important. The CO looks up and and gravely announced to all ranks:

"Gentlemen - Soldier of 1/51 Highland, I have some shocking news. The Soviet Third Shock Army has crossed the Inner German Border at five points and is spearheading an attack aimed at points along..........." And so he went on, talking about dispositions and how 51 Highland would be deployed etc.

I am sure that there was hardly a man on parade that didn’t believe, at least for a few seconds, that the Third World War had started!

Go on, admit it - for a split second you thought so too! What were you emotions and feelings?

I recall being open mouthed and thinking "Oh ****! They’ve gone and done it and we are going to have to try to stop them - God help us!".

Mark Ludlow looked around at me similarly open mouthed, but by this time (a full second before him!) I realised it was an "authentic and enthusiastic" briefing for our exercise. I mouthed at him "Wind Up". Then we stood back and observed the reactions of others, smug at only having been taken in for a few seconds! I well recall at the end of the briefing, a couple of soldiers from another Company saying "f*** this, I didn’t sign up for this s**t, I’m off!" before their comrades explained that it was a wind up.

But that’s the point, they did sign up for it and so did we. That was the cold war reality that was always present and that was our lot as a BAOR Battalion - the serious side of what we did that is rarely reflected in the jocular write ups and anecdotes elsewhere in this site.

Nice wind up Colonel - got me there - glad it never really happened!

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Last updated 1st August 2000