Smallest and most elite of the old British Army!

[cbuehler]

Not 100% now, but before I retired in 2003 it was The Army Catering Corp or Andy Capp’s Commandos.

No one ever passed the course according to the rest of the army and I should know as I served 12 years trying!

Other names used to describe the unit were ‘egg ops’ and ‘fat splashers’ .

There were known for the fearsome battle cry of “one fucking sausage”. Elite troops in their time.

I forgot to add, so scared were the Generals of these elite troops, they disbanded them and spread them through The Royal Logistics Corps (RLC) or The Really Large Corps as it was known.

They finally met their match with Pay As You Dine and the fearsome Sodexho! Who’s battle cry was NAAFI SOUP(Not At All Fucking Interested, Switched Off, UnPlugged).

Now there is an annual reunion dinner, where the “few” meet once a year and criticise the food.

[bewley]

Logistic NOT Logistics Corps.

[Volunteer Soldier]

A very amusing, well-written self deprecation. But now the reality. As a former Infantry CO I know that the ACC were as professional as any other branch of the Army. The traditional cook-house became a second-to-none restaurant. But whether in barracks, on operations or in the field the ACC chefs, and not to forget the handful of regimental cooks, never failed to produce the goods. I know not but I suspect the ACC is sadly missed in the modern day Army. To all former ACC chefs, please accept my gratitude and wear your memories with pride.

[mike_vee]

Always tried to keep on the good side of the "Slop Jockeys" , help them out occasionally and a 'brew with an egg banjo' could appear !

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[Mike Jackson]

Originally Posted by Volunteer Soldier

A very amusing, well-written self deprecation. But now the reality. As a former Infantry CO I know that the ACC were as professional as any other branch of the Army. The traditional cook-house became a second-to-none restaurant. But whether in barracks, on operations or in the field the ACC chefs, and not to forget the handful of regimental cooks, never failed to produce the goods. I know not but I suspect the ACC is sadly missed in the modern day Army. To all former ACC chefs, please accept my gratitude and wear your memories with pride.

I agree - in Bosnia the presence and competence of ACC and/or ACC (RLC) chefs in a NATO environment was a real morale (and waistline) booster. In Sarajevo, Bosnian civilian cooks lined up to be employed as "Apprentice Chefs" working for and learning from British Army Warrant Officers and SNCO Chefs. Elsewhere an interesting and welcome sight at Pontrilas was a Chef wearing his ACC badge on his "Regiment" beret. Possibly a unique combination?

[3dg]

Op Granby, they were ahead of us all the time, field kitchen set up, food cooked ready and waiting, they must have raced ahead, and been on their own until we arrived, still to this day I appreciated the amazing efforts of our Catering Corps boys attached to us.
Great food as well.
I went on a course in Aldershot, and was in the Barracks where the ACC school of catering was, breakfast, lunch and dinner were divine, the potential ACC chefs putting their ore into cooking as best as they could, I've never been to a cookhouse that many times, I had to move a notch on my stable belt buckles after that course!
A few years later, I went on another course, in Aldershot, very pleased to hear, same Barracks!
Still the school of catering RLC though, found out though the cooking in the cookhouse was done by civvies!
Awful! Spent a lot of money eating out or takeaway, the whole course lodged a complaint, it was that bad!
Listening to serving soldiers now, still civvies in the cookhouse, they say how bad it is.
I'm glad I experienced the AAC and RLC chefs at their best, they were proud of what they did.
Yes, we took the piss, but that's all part of Army life.
Cheers all
Chris

[Alan O]

A case of beware what you wish for. Year and years of whining from soldiers about why could they had a food charge. And thus PAYD was introduced and as it tied very nicely into a drive to reduce non-Infantry cap badges: so the Army Chefs numbers were devastated. The Pioneer branch also saw themselves off by focusing on their Infantry quals at the expense of their trade qualifications.

[Mike_2817]

The 'Regiment' had/still have a lot of attached personnel to do a lot of their admin tasks including RLC Chefs & Suppliers

My late elder brother was Officers Mess Chef to the KSLI & Parachute Regiment and kept himself fit and after an attachment to the Jungle Warfare School at Johor was later posted to Bradbury Lines and wore the famed Sand Beret with ACC badge. My other brother was attached to the Guards at Wellington Barracks and wore the Guards patch on Khaki Beret, he transferred to the TA on demob and served in ACC Catering Reserve based in Aldershot (and later in [167] Catering Support Regiment RLC at Grantham)

[Ex Supt Clk RAOC]

To my knowledge there were two 'Corps' smaller than the ACC. The smallest i believe was (and probably still is) The MPSC - Military Provost Staff Corps - the guys who run Colchester. The second smallest was at the time the ALC - Army Legal Corps who are now part of the Adjutant Generals Corps.

Having said the above, in my 23 years of colour service i never met an ACC chef who i took a dislike to and IMHO they were vastly undervalued. Slop Jockeys, Andy Caps Commandoes, whatever, they were to a man bloody brilliant (often under difficult circumstances) at their chosen trade.

Steve

[Paul Spellman]

You would be surprised how big a Corps the ACC was, certainly bigger than the ROAC RCT RAPC RMP etc , people may have a small picture of the amount of ACC personnel you see at each unit with their numbers dependent on the size of the establishment but during the period 1965 (when they outgrew the RASC becoming independent) to 1991 every unit/establishment inc training/selection centres /Military Hospitals / Garrison / Bde HQ and even Generals households in every theatre or far flung outpost had a compliment of ACC chefs with at least 20+ with each Infantry Bn or similar sized unit throw in their Apprentice College and Depot it adds up
Paul
1991 saw a series of forced and voluntary redundancies which reduced the ACC by at least 1000 then the loss of the CSD (RAOC Depots) to civilian contractors like Booker/Naafi changed a lot of the supply of food to convenience easy to heat up crap
The RAF led the change to Pay as you Dine after a series of referendum as such where their airmen (said in the smallest terms) complained that they should not have to pay food costs when they don’t eat such as weekends, what they failed to understand was that the chefs weren’t robbing them and any savings from their expected non attendance at weekends went to giving them better food like ribeye/sirloin steaks throughout the week

[cbuehler]

Well, it certainly sounds like the ACC may not have been the smallest, but were certainly elite relative to these comments!

CB

[Volunteer Soldier]

ACC = STB (Simply The Best).

[Mike_2817]

I think you will find both the RCT & RAOC were larger than the ACC

RAOC Strength in 1986 was 1093 Officers and 6891 Soldiers plus 77 TA Officers and 1450 TA Soldiers and 14091 employed civilians worldwide.

I took part on the early trails of PAYD at 16 Battalion Bicester (500+ RAOC & WRAC) in 1971 It was an early trail where you had to sign for meal tickets which were calculated against unit usage, as we did not in fact pay for rations or accommodation at the time. It was used as calculation's for the change to paying for food & accommodation in the 1975 pay rise...

[Mike Jackson]

Could someone oblige by posting images of two ACC rarities in the field of cloth insignis; the shoulder title reading R.A.C.C. (an error possibly in anticipation of being accorded Royal status) and the vary rare printed cloth sign of the ACC Army Emergency Reserve (John Waring 1/858) - the "ancient Grecian brazier" in yellow on a grey square.

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by Mike Jackson

the shoulder title reading R.A.C.C. (an error possibly in anticipation of being accorded Royal status)

Jerry (engr9266) posted a photo last year asking about an RACC title:

https://www.britishbadgeforum.com/fo...7&d=1644472871

Jon (Postwarden) replied:

RACC was indeed an unofficial title in anticipation of the Royal title being granted.

A letter sent to all Commands in November 1947 pointed out that ‘It has been brought to notice that a number of ORs of the ACC have purchased and taken into wear Titles, Arm, Embroidered inscribed ‘R.A.C.C.’. This designation is incorrect and steps should be taken to ensure that only the approved pattern is worn.

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