When you leave a squadron you receive a gift
unless everybody hates you.
But you generally get a leaving gift.
My first squadron.
I left them the normal evening gift was a pewter tankard.
I got a silver plated tankard
and I was posted to Germany from Witton
And the script on it, which now
put in a service complaint about it and someone will be held to account ,
the script in it was "It will be all white in Germany, Phil,
have a great time. "
If I take that from today's
view, this is slightly racist.
I can look back at it then,
and there were actually affection was meant misplaced, misguided.
But it was meant affectionately now.
As time has gone on, if someone gave me that now
or even a few years after that, I thrown it in the bin
I've still got that indoors.
It's in my loft, it's never on display.
But the one reason that the only reason I kept it.
Was I look at that and say, well, that was the norm then.
It will be totally unacceptable today.
I can't think of any leaders that wouldn't stamp down on that.
So, too, is my benchmark to remind me how far we have come.
Without taking your eye off the ball of how far we've got to go.
And if I speak to younger people
who have only been in four or five, maybe six years.
When I hear their stories, that reminds me of how far we've got to go.