Friends Forever

In the armed forces you meet lots of people. You have to get on with everyone as best you can and work as a well oiled machine.

It would be rare for someone to join up with a friend from home, so when you join you are on your own - just like everyone else so you make friends pretty quick. Within a couple of days at HMS Dauntless I had made several friends. By the end of the five weeks basic training I left with three very good friends. Six months later when I'd completed my engineering training I had two very special friends, who remained so for many years until we all left the Navy, married and went our own ways.

Recently I 'found' one of them again. Not that I'd lost her but we just hadn't been in touch for a long while. We chatted for a couple of hours on the phone, emailed and texted, remembering all the times we had spent together, good and bad.

This was Mo. I'm still looking for Pam - the third member.

Pam was older than us by 4 years, although she didn't look it. She was small, dark and petite with a striking resemblance to Sally Field. Mo was a little taller, dark skinned with gorgeous long hair. I was the tallest and blonde. According to a few male friends, the three of us caused a bit of a stir the first time we walked into the galley (dining hall) together. It was a bit of a Charlie's Angels moment I gather!

We went everywhere together at HMS Daedalus. Pam and I were in the same class as mechanical engineers, Mo went the electrical route, but we met up at meal times, went out at night and were in messes on the same floor. We looked out for each other, but we also had disagreements which were awkward as the one in the middle had to remain neutral. They never lasted long and we soon got back to normal.

Pam and I left Daedalus before Mo and were drafted to RNAS Culdrose where we spent a few miserable weeks in Wrens Quarters before deciding it was time to get our own place. Which ended up being a caravan in a field beside a farm. It was freezing but was better than being in Wrens Quarters. We had mates round most nights and drank an awful lot of alcohol.

A couple of months later, Mo was drafted down to Culdrose too. The three of us were together again. The caravan wasn't big enough for the three of us so we looked for a place in Helston and found this grotty three bedroomed cottage that we rented. God knows what the neighbours thought about us as there was a constant stream of men round there. I guess people could think the worst, but since we worked in engineering almost all of our friends were lads from the squadrons. We lived in the town, the pubs were in the town. We had floor space and a couple of sofas so rather than wait for taxi's back to camp they would call round and sleep at ours.

Drinking took preference to eating so although we had a fridge full of beer and cider, there wasn't much to eat apart from eggs and bread. We got the eggs cheap from someone on the squadron and bread was available from the Spar across the road. In order to ensure we didn't starve we would invite a few of the lads round for sunday dinner on the condition that they bought the food and we would cook it. Worked for everyone!

Between the three of us we had a lot of friends, mostly male. For some reason the other Wrens disliked us. I know some of them thought we were out to 'steal' their boyfriends, but I think it may have been more to do with the fact that we got on well with the lads because they were mates, and we were treated like 'one of the lads'. We often got invited along on lads nights out whereas they didn't and they always looked out for us.

We sat and watched The Falklands War unfold on the TV at night, watched our ships explode with the fear of there being one of 'our lads' onboard. We cried a lot and we laughed at lot when they all returned safely. (and we also drank a lot). Our house was like a hotel in the week or two after they all came home.

We had our boyfriends, and our mates, but we always had each other and this didn't change for three years and then one by one we got drafted to other air stations. I was last to move and went back to HMS Daedalus and SAR. A year later I moved to the Air Engineering School (PATS) and couldn't believe it when I found out Mo was headed there too. We were together again for a few months before I re-catted to Education and Training Support and left to pastures new.

The three of us never served together again. Pam left the Navy first, followed by me a couple of years later. Mo left after 22 years, more than twice as long as me.

The bond between the three of us will always be there. We grew up together, we shared loves, lies and secrets. We got drunk and had hangovers, cleaned up after each other and covered for each other. I know if we were ever able to meet up, we would need at least a week to talk about the old days.

Thanks Pam and Mo - You're the best!