Falkland Islands

johng_uk

Anyone been recently?

What's the set-up like (accomodation, internet etc)?

Thanks in advance!

matt6124

I got back middle of june this year. Their seasons are opposite to ours so it is coming into spring at the moment. The blocks are pretty run down and 50 people using the same 3 showers and sinks is disgusting. They have a room with about 50 computers for 40 mins internet access a day (or if you log on again). You will be lucky if it works for 40 mins as it broke down pretty much every other day while I was there. You can buy wireless internet cards for £8 for 100 mins (total rip off) for a painfully slow connection, if your planning on bringing a laptop (highly recommended). They have a free dvd library which is very good and a good gym although theres far too many people and not enough to do. The gym is pretty much packed out no matter what time of day its open 6am till 10pm, theres a pool too and squash courts. The main bar has recently been refurbished so you could almost believe you were drinking in a normal bar.

bobbych_2

i got back aug this year, after my 4th tour, and it has never changed in all the time

my only difference from above, is the gym. it is ONLY packed between 5pm and 9pm. I worked shifts, so was able to go at various times betweem 9am and 4pm and it was always nearly empty. if you work normal days, then yes, you are stuffed and have to wait till around 9pm to get a machine, or at least be prepared to que

the showers etc, it depends where you live. some parts are less accomodated, so you have 3 showers between around 10.

snowball1972

Depends what rank you are, on how good it is!

Bigun28

Are you going down as a singly on a 4/6 month tour, or are you going down with family for longer, in which case your accomadation and internet issues will be different?

johng_uk

I'm going as a singly for a 4 month tour.

I wonder why they don't have wireless internet as standard out there by now? Seems weird that they are planning it for other detachments but not the Falklands.

Bigun28

The problem is with cost. I went down and lived on the patch for 18 months with my family and broadband internet had only just started to reach the patch then (a few years ago) and was very expensive, very slow and with severe limits. It's not much better at the moment. I did do some research into getting a satellite broadband system setup for the patch to run ourselves between the families, and it would have worked out cheaper.

The problem was that Cable & Wireless are the only comms provider on the islands and hence have primacy. Hence, putting our own comms system in (excluding the military system) would go against that and the locals had concerns over C&W withdrawing all together from the islands, leaving them with nothing. Hence we had to use them. With other detachments it's easier to set up your own system because you don't get into the 'primacy' situation.

In terms of a wireless system, great idea. But the C&W bandwidth is very restrictive with download limits, and if you go over them, you pay a lot. I know people on the patch with a wireless set-up when I was there who hadn't locked it down properly and ended up with a monthly bill of £2k because others around them had inadvertently logged on to it and they in turn didn't appreciate how much they were downloading.

To put a wireless system in the blocks would require initial set up costs to get it installed. The problem then is policing it and restricting use to avoid the massive downloads. Often people don't appreciate how much bandwidth and downloads they use when browsing the internet. Hence, with the high costs from C&W for using over your limits, you don't want to be in a situation where you suddenly present a private etc with a £2k monthly internet bill to be paid because they've spent their lonely evenings trawling 'those' sites. Hence the internet cafes have been set up on the base for people to use and to monitor use.

Alias_Omega

Good post randall,

Alias

spike7451

I was there on 1435Flt in the late 80's & things were basic back then.The only phones were in the reception of the Death Star & took phone cards.
Most sections have their own bar but spirit drinking by those below WO (or eqivelent rank) was forbidden (& still is I gather) so you can only drink beers or wine,sherry ect) but if you go over the Turners compound over the road,as their civvies,you can get around it.

snowball1972

spike7451 wrote: »

I was there on 1435Flt in the late 80's & things were basic back then.The only phones were in the reception of the Death Star & took phone cards.
Most sections have their own bar but spirit drinking by those below WO (or eqivelent rank) was forbidden (& still is I gather) so you can only drink beers or wine,sherry ect) but if you go over the Turners compound over the road,as their civvies,you can get around it.

Slightly out of date info now. Get caught in Turners these days and you are in trouble! a lot of the section bars have closed

Bigun28

The drinking issue is quite heavily controlled now, and perhaps quite rightly so. In days gone by, it may have been that every section had its' own unique bar/establishment. But over time, their numbers grew and they were often abused, and the bottom line was that personnel were required to be ready to do their job, sober, when required, normally for 5.5 days a week.

Hence, the decision was taken to close a lot of the bars to bring the overall numbers to an auditable and manageable level. On top of that, severe restrictions were placed on opening times. Any that were found to flout the rules were closed for a set period. If they did it again, the period become longer until they were finally closed for good.

Rules were also introduced to stop the junior ranks in particular from having access to too much alcohol. Might seem to be draconian for the junior ranks, but when you get a few with 'flip-top' heads who don't know when to stop and then cause trouble, the minority spoils it for the majority.

Overall, whilst many agree that the measures may seem to be draconian, it has made MPA a much better place to be than it was about 10 years ago.