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I can recall that happening back in 1994, when the first "yellow pack" contracts
came into being (not belittling here, this phrase came from the serving PDF at the
time, unless I am sorely mistaken).
That nickname actually originated in the GS.When the first of the new type student guards went out on phase two training they wore yellow epaullettes.Hence they were christened "yellow packs".How the Post 94's got labeled this i dont know.Perhaps Hedgie can enlighten us?
"Let us be clear about three facts. First, all battles and all wars are won in the end by the infantryman. Secondly, the infantryman always bears the brunt. His casualties are heavier, he suffers greater extremes of discomfort and fatigue than the other arms. Thirdly, the art of the infantryman is less stereotyped and far harder to acquire in modern war than that of any other arm." ------- Field Marshall Wavell, April 1945.
One of the major supermarkets at the time was making a big deal of selling non branded generic items
cheaply with just yellow labels and termed "yellow pack"
think of tesco's own brand and you get the idea.
The post 94's were brought in on a much different contract and if I recall it right
they came to be termed as yellow packs, you know yourself in the Defence Forces there are about
9,000 people just waiting at any one time to pounce with a nickname.
Most of the serving yellow packs /94 intake I know are in senior positions within the Defence Forces
that lot were a good intake and they are memorable for the fact that the men and non men trained
together.
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere***
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
That nickname actually originated in the GS.When the first of the new type student guards went out on phase two training they wore yellow epaullettes.Hence they were christened "yellow packs".How the Post 94's got labeled this i dont know.Perhaps Hedgie can enlighten us?
They were beige, and made from old army Uniform shirts until 1995, when they became blue.
Yellow Pack refers to anything cheap, but similar to a more expensive brand. It comes from Discount stock sold by Quinnsworth. Their Crispy Rice may look the same as Rice Crispies, but it didn't taste the same.
Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing.
They were beige, and made from old army Uniform shirts until 1995, when they became blue.
Yellow Pack refers to anything cheap, but similar to a more expensive brand. It comes from Discount stock sold by Quinnsworth. Their Crispy Rice may look the same as Rice Crispies, but it didn't taste the same.
From memory it was a pdforra quote about the dod getting a cheaper version of the real thing or similar.
I dont know about the Gardai being called yellow packs but the Fish would have that knowledge and as such I would believe him,
I also agree with Dahamster as far as I remember PDFORRA used it to describe the newer 94 intake and thier different contract terms.
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere***
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
As a Yellowpacker from the 94 intake i always took it to be a reference to a remark by PDFORRA about cheap soldiers and the 5 year contract. They were initially unhappy with the idea of 5 year soldiers coming in and upsetting things. AFAIK we were not allowed join the association too but that was changed pretty quickly .
As a Yellowpacker from the 94 intake i always took it to be a reference to a remark by PDFORRA about cheap soldiers and the 5 year contract. They were initially unhappy with the idea of 5 year soldiers coming in and upsetting things. AFAIK we were not allowed join the association too but that was changed pretty quickly .
PDFORRA were not upset at the fact post'94 soldiers were coming on stream, they wanted the new members to serve under the same conditions as those already in the DF, rather than the much more restrictive contracts being introduced.
As for stopping guys from joining PDFORRA, well I don't believe that to be true, unless you have something to back it up?
As a Yellowpacker from the 94 intake i always took it to be a reference to a remark by PDFORRA about cheap soldiers and the 5 year contract. They were initially unhappy with the idea of 5 year soldiers coming in and upsetting things. AFAIK we were not allowed join the association too but that was changed pretty quickly .
I can nip that in the bud very quickly
PDFORRA raised the fact that there may be 2 tiers of Soldiers in the DF if the 94 contracts
were allowed be inforced- they actively sought that all the 94's be allowed join,
the things PDFORRA raised was that what would happen in 1999 (94 + 5 years) and no
one could honestly answer them- PDFORRA were the good guys in this one.
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere***
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
PDFORRA were not upset at the fact post'94 soldiers were coming on stream, they wanted the new members to serve under the same conditions as those already in the DF, rather than the much more restrictive contracts being introduced.
As for stopping guys from joining PDFORRA, well I don't believe that to be true, unless you have something to back it up?
Well i can only tell you what i remember from personal experience , if thats not good enough for you im sorry.
What i do remember is a PDFORRA rep telling us at a meeting that while we were not allowed to join , he was expecting that "yellowpacks" would be let in eventually and we were.
PDFORRA raised the fact that there may be 2 tiers of Soldiers in the DF if the 94 contracts
were allowed be inforced- they actively sought that all the 94's be allowed join,
the things PDFORRA raised was that what would happen in 1999 (94 + 5 years) and no
one could honestly answer them- PDFORRA were the good guys in this one.
I dont doubt PDFORRA were the good ones in all this. A lot of the 94 intake have them to thank for being allowed stay. They were to the fore front in getting the contract re negotiated. The initial contract was very tight in terms of staying in and it took a lot of work to get it amended. Everyone who has enlisted since then has a reason to be grateful to PDFORRA.
Last edited by ollie; 9 April 2011, 13:54.
Reason: typo
Before the 94 intake things were very very bad- you would meet your self coming off duties
I think the 94' and 95's were the only Recruit Platoons that were met with open arms from all the
sweats- I trained some of the 94's and 95's and the only complaints from the old sweats was that
the training was too long as they wanted bodies in the Battalions as quick as possible.
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere***
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Well i can only tell you what i remember from personal experience , if thats not good enough for you im sorry.
What i do remember is a PDFORRA rep telling us at a meeting that while we were not allowed to join , he was expecting that "yellowpacks" would be let in eventually and we were.
I hope this is just confusion from the fact that initially recruits were not allowed to join PDFORRA until completion of training, this was a management decision, probably to avoid new recruits being given too much advice, but it happened anyway and they relented eventually
And yes I think we can expect the mods to swoop in any moment................. now!
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