A year ago today…how painful was it?

[TimTom]

One year ago yesterday was the state funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth and looking back now, I wonder how those who took part in the huge event were feeling the day after? Almost 6,000 military personnel were involved and the operational arrangements for making sure they were sufficiently fed and watered, as well as provided with the necessary ‘care’ throughout the day must have been unbelievably complex. How on earth do you rota in adequate supplies of drinks, food, comfort breaks, etc whilst ensuring they were well hydrated and able to carry out their duties in relative comfort?

I bet a year ago today, many of them were looking back 24 hours reflecting on feelings of pride, satisfaction and sheer pain! The blisters, aching muscles and fatigue must have been numerous.

The reason I post this is because last weekend I was chatting to a family member who is in the police and he was one of a further 10,000 on duty that day. He said that some of them didn’t manage to get relieved for up to seven hours! Can you imagine standing for that amount of time without a break and having to remain fully focused, knowing there was no likelihood of a rest period for hours. I think they were well provided with plenty of drinking water and I guess a few packets of sweets in their pockets would have helped sustain them, but even so!

I bet there were a few unfortunate ones who ended up getting missed for food, comfort breaks and just a general stretching of the legs.

He also said that police officers were drafted in from forces right across the country, and so whilst the London-based ones were perhaps ready for what they faced, some of the more remotely based personnel had a bit of a culture shock!

I saw a few stories yesterday about how brilliantly well the event went, and it did, of course. But I also wonder how many of those involved look back today on what might have been a bit of a tortuous nightmare?

 

[TimTom]

I stood on a parade once in our full #1 dress, it wasn't especially hot but the heavy wool tunic and cap etc were starchy and uncomfortable, let alone the never worn before parade boots.

Sod doing that for any longer than about an hour even with toe exercises and travel tissues. Not sure what regs the police/army have for parades but whipping out some sweets mid parade would have been a monumental bollocking for us..

I guess the sweets thing would have been more for police officers than the military lads. But your post emphasises the whole point entirely. The thought of having to stand like that for four or five hours, or even longer if the seven hour comment was correct, must be torture.

 

[TimTom]

The only thing about long duty hours which is a pain if not managed well is needing the toilet, especially if you have some type of condition in that respect. Pretty much everything else you can prepare for, as long as you able to - in some cases there might be some [silly] restrictions if in ceremonial dress, etc. I'm often surprised how many people do stuff like that and don't have simple things like a pack of travel tissues, a few sweets, etc. even if it isn't their first time. (Then there are things like toe exercises, etc. to help with circulation and so on).

As a minimum compact "kit" I have a Victorinox Classic SD, Olight i3E (i1R is a longer life alternative) and either some plasters or small roll of elastic medical tape, if possible wet wipes or sanitiser don't go amiss. Though less necessary with phones a pen and paper can also be handy to have.

If I can have my sling pack with me even better as I have a bottle of water, power banks, etc.

For the most part anything else quite frankly is a lack of fortitude, unless people genuinely do have things like a back condition, etc.

I suppose you can’t prepare the human body for every single eventuality, but clearly decent forethought and precise planning are a necessary part of the role. The admirable thing is that so rarely do things go wrong … from the outside view anyway.

 

[TimTom]

the AVERAGE capacity of the human bladder is around 2-3 hours. Staying on duty for 7 hours with breaks is another matter - that's a normal working day.

No-one would do anything if that was the maximum working stint.