Lord Dholakia has put a well-written piece over on Lords of the Blog about The Maldives.
Stand by for a memory…
I was briefly stationed in The Maldives – at RAF Gan, Addu Atoll.
When I was there the unit had 600 staff on the establishment.
That wasn’t the unusual feature.
Incoming flights had to adjust their altimeters to a ground level of sea level plus six feet.
That wasn’t the unusual feature.
The island had 12 bars – four of which were open 24 hours a day (the best was The Cricket Club!).
That wasn’t the unusual feature.
A married man could survive on his Local Overseas Allowance and send his entire salary back home to his wife and family.
That wasn’t the unusual feature.
The length of a posting at RAF Gan was nine months.
That wasn’t the unusual feature.
Women were not allowed on the island.
Bingo! That was the unusual feature of the posting.
So you’d think that there wouldn’t be a waiting list for a posting there, would you?
Well you’d be surprised my friends, you’d be very surprised!
There was a – wait for it, wait for it – two year waiting list for a posting at RAF Gan.
And almost all of the RAF personnel on the list were – you’ve guessed it – married men.
Go figure.
A two year waiting list of married men for a nine month, unaccompanied posting?
What does that say about the married serviceman?
Anyway the place.
Heaven on earth, no bull.
The prettiest place on this planet.
The water that laps against the golden sand (really!) is crystal clear yet brightly azure (really!).
The tall, rich, plentiful palm trees sway gently in a cooling yet warm breeze that almost swarms off the coral reef that surrounds the island.
The reef protects the island from the choppier seas that the wind whips up, but occasionally an unwelcome guest manages to sweep over the coral on the crest of a breaker.
Pufferfish (also known as Blowfish) – the second most poisonous life-form on the planet – sometimes found their way over the reef in to the shallower waters; so too did the occasional squid but they were less lethal.
While I was at RAF Gan one poor chap trod on a Pufferfish; the poison spines were extracted and he received medical treatment on the station, but he was put on the next through-flight where he received surgery and hospital treatment in Hong Kong.
While I was stationed at RAF Gan I learned to dive.
And learned to sail.
And learned to drink.
Because these were the major pastimes at RAF Gan.
It was, though, a fantastic posting.
The shame is that The Maldives are now at significant risk of water-related disaster.
And, with a height above sea level of a mere six feet, these beautiful places are at the sharp edge of climate change.
Which is ironic really, because The Maldives has no manufacturing industry.
We do.
B.