T110's Third Summer of Love and Tolerance

The_Chieftain:   Uniforms not permitted at dinner meal, unless on duty. Civilian blazer/suit and tie mandatory. This latter I did not think to bring when I was planning on spending an exchange with the British Army for ten days. I brought plenty of field uniforms, helmet and webbing, a couple of dress uniforms just in case something ceremonial happened, some casual civilian attire to wear out and about if I had any free, unengaged evenings. Suit and tie never crossed my mind.   The last night they offered to put me up in the Household Barracks in London, before remembering that in order to simply walk out the gate, a suit and tie was mandatory. I ended up staying in RAF Uxbridge and tubing in for the evening.   As for relationships with military personnel, get used to it. One of the worst things I've seen happen is for the troop to set up a habit of regularly calling/emailing/skyping whatever the spouse/partner/S.O. Then, when for some operational need, often unanticipated, or simple technical failure, communication is impossible, the S/P/S.O. starts assuming the worst and goes through hell for a couple of days.