I was a bit nostalgic and missed active service so began my time with EFI...

David’s career with the military started way back in 1956 when, at the age of 19, he handed in his notice at a Manchester firm of Chartered Accountants and strolled into a recruiting office to “sign on”. When the sergeant realised he was serious, he asked which regiment or corps he had in mind. Looking down the list David happened upon the “Intelligence Corps”, and told the sergeant that this looked like the outfit for him! Following a series of interviews with some serious people in Chester, eventually he was recruited and sent to the Intelligence Corps depot, located at Maresfield Park Camp in Sussex.

“It took about four weeks of relative leisure before the Corps recruited 8 suitable candidates to form a basic training squad; lots of very bright guys from university but apparently not leaders of men, army style! During my own basic training I shared many a happy hour scrubbing kitchens, cleaning lavatories and delivering coal rations to married quarters with guys holding first class honors degrees and even those who had managed to defer national service until they had obtained their doctorate!”

Nine years later at the age of 28 David left the army to form part of a static listening post at Langeleben to intercept and analyse radio traffic and monitor the movements of the Warsaw Pact military forces. At first a temporary location was set up for David and 8 other members of the "101st Wireless Troop" Royal Signals, but it soon became clear that the division of East and West Germany would last a long time, and so, as staffing levels grew, wooden huts were erected.

“When the transport dropped me off at 101 Wireless Troop in Langeleben – the guy with me was a great guy and a fantastic footballer who went by the name of Yorkie Banks – later re-invented as Gordon Banks, who did extremely well in goal for England at some later date! Needless to say, Yorkie didn’t last long at Langeleben before he was whisked off back to the Regiment. Never saw him again, apart from on the tellie!”

After a spell at GCHQ in Cheltenham, David approached NAAFI in 1965 to see if they had a job for him and was took on as a trainee District Accountant. After a brief spell in Cyprus he was back to the UK for some District Manager training, before deciding that NAAFI RAOC EFI was definitely for him:

“I was a bit nostalgic and still missed active service so began my time with Bob Randerson and EFI. At my interview Bob’s only fear was that I was now a bit long in the tooth – mid thirties would you believe. However, as I shot round the assault course, leaving a lot of my younger colleagues gasping for breath, Bob decided to take me on, and I was subsequently kitted out with a uniform.

“What can I say about Bob that hasn’t already been said? A super guy, a motivator and not one to get his knickers in a twist. I well remember on exercise in northern Germany when Bob arrived with the NAAFI PR Officer, a truly delightful young lady, Suellen, who survived the lascivious gazes of every one of my lads, and most of the soldiers, all of whom had suddenly found that they had nothing better to do than form a queue outside the NAAFI shop to buy a Mars bar!

“All in all, I had a super 19 years with NAAFI. I met lots of good people along the way, and some, quite frankly that I don’t ever want to bump into again. But in my late years, I probably won’t, unless the grim reaper plays a trick or two on me!”