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From Maine Road to Middle Eastlands (Lee Crooks)
- Thread starter fbloke
- Start date
Didsbury Dave
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 1 Feb 2007
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Re: Lee Crooks
Is my memory playing tricks or was Lee Crooks from Wakefield?
WakeBlue said:The recruitment age across the forces was raised from 26 to 33 back in 2007.
Is my memory playing tricks or was Lee Crooks from Wakefield?
Re: Lee Crooks
nope your correct.
Didsbury Dave said:WakeBlue said:The recruitment age across the forces was raised from 26 to 33 back in 2007.
Is my memory playing tricks or was Lee Crooks from Wakefield?
nope your correct.
Tragic meat van guy
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 29 Jul 2010
- Messages
- 913
Re: Lee Crooks
Good luck lad, stay safe
Good luck lad, stay safe
mancitymick
Well-Known Member
Taken from the Military Intranet:
Ex Manchester City football club defender, Lee Crooks has made a dramatic transfer from the football pitch to face the front line of Operations in Afghanistan as he joins the elite team of the RAF Regiment.
Leading Aircraftsman (LAC) Lee Crooks 33, was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire and was a professional footballer with Manchester City for 6 years. Over 8 years later Lee decided to join the RAF Regiment as a Gunner:
‘My younger brother is in the Army, but when I looked in to it I thought the RAF Regiment was the one for me and have never looked back. They do a great job and the lads work really hard providing the Force Protection (FP) on the ground for the RAF. I’m very proud to be a part of the RAF Regiment.’
Since graduating a few weeks ago, Lee has been put through his paces and is currently at Sennybridge Training Range in Wales for over 2 weeks in February 2011, practising live firing drills as he takes part in Exercise Gunners Grip. Lee draws comparisons between life as a professional footballer and as an RAF Regiment Gunner:
‘Both roles are about working as a team, being there for your team mates and moving forward as a team. You have to be mentally and physically fit for both roles, but you train as a professional footballer for 90 minutes so the training is a lot more explosive, whereas being a Gunner you have to be robust and have a lot more stamina as you are carrying heavy weight over longer distances and over longer days and nights.’
Training to become an RAF Regiment Gunner is one of the RAF’s most physically demanding courses and recruits take part in challenging field exercises as they prepare to deliver air minded FP on operations. Sergeant Gareth Saunders 31, is a basic training instructor at RAF Honington:
‘I got Lee from day one of his military career and he has been progressing well through the course. He’s a strong character and he has been a help to me as he took the youngest lad on the course who was 16, under his wing. It’s good to have a cross section of ages and he has got that natural leadership ability.’
Lee is now looking forward to going on to 1 Squadron RAF Regiment at RAF Honington and from there on to his first tour of Afghanistan at the beginning of next year:
‘Going back to life as a professional footballer, you train all week to prepare for the Saturday game and put everything that you’ve trained for in that game and its exactly the same as this, I have done my training and am now really looking forward to putting it into practice.’
LAC Gary Strickland 28, went through training with Lee and will be joining 2 Squadron, RAF Regiment, also based at RAF Honington:
‘Lee took me under his wing and showed me the ropes and gave me some pointers about physical exercise. I know the younger lads look up to him and he’s a valuable asset to us. I’ll be meeting up with him on ops in Afghanistan and I’ll be working side by side by him and I’m very confident he’ll have my back.’<br /><br />-- Thu Feb 24, 2011 4:51 pm --<br /><br />
Nope. Army is 32 and 11 months, RAF Depends on what trade you apply for, The RAF regiment is up to your 36 birthday, The RN is up to your 37 Birthday on date of entry
Ex Manchester City football club defender, Lee Crooks has made a dramatic transfer from the football pitch to face the front line of Operations in Afghanistan as he joins the elite team of the RAF Regiment.
Leading Aircraftsman (LAC) Lee Crooks 33, was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire and was a professional footballer with Manchester City for 6 years. Over 8 years later Lee decided to join the RAF Regiment as a Gunner:
‘My younger brother is in the Army, but when I looked in to it I thought the RAF Regiment was the one for me and have never looked back. They do a great job and the lads work really hard providing the Force Protection (FP) on the ground for the RAF. I’m very proud to be a part of the RAF Regiment.’
Since graduating a few weeks ago, Lee has been put through his paces and is currently at Sennybridge Training Range in Wales for over 2 weeks in February 2011, practising live firing drills as he takes part in Exercise Gunners Grip. Lee draws comparisons between life as a professional footballer and as an RAF Regiment Gunner:
‘Both roles are about working as a team, being there for your team mates and moving forward as a team. You have to be mentally and physically fit for both roles, but you train as a professional footballer for 90 minutes so the training is a lot more explosive, whereas being a Gunner you have to be robust and have a lot more stamina as you are carrying heavy weight over longer distances and over longer days and nights.’
Training to become an RAF Regiment Gunner is one of the RAF’s most physically demanding courses and recruits take part in challenging field exercises as they prepare to deliver air minded FP on operations. Sergeant Gareth Saunders 31, is a basic training instructor at RAF Honington:
‘I got Lee from day one of his military career and he has been progressing well through the course. He’s a strong character and he has been a help to me as he took the youngest lad on the course who was 16, under his wing. It’s good to have a cross section of ages and he has got that natural leadership ability.’
Lee is now looking forward to going on to 1 Squadron RAF Regiment at RAF Honington and from there on to his first tour of Afghanistan at the beginning of next year:
‘Going back to life as a professional footballer, you train all week to prepare for the Saturday game and put everything that you’ve trained for in that game and its exactly the same as this, I have done my training and am now really looking forward to putting it into practice.’
LAC Gary Strickland 28, went through training with Lee and will be joining 2 Squadron, RAF Regiment, also based at RAF Honington:
‘Lee took me under his wing and showed me the ropes and gave me some pointers about physical exercise. I know the younger lads look up to him and he’s a valuable asset to us. I’ll be meeting up with him on ops in Afghanistan and I’ll be working side by side by him and I’m very confident he’ll have my back.’<br /><br />-- Thu Feb 24, 2011 4:51 pm --<br /><br />
WakeBlue said:The recruitment age across the forces was raised from 26 to 33 back in 2007.
Nope. Army is 32 and 11 months, RAF Depends on what trade you apply for, The RAF regiment is up to your 36 birthday, The RN is up to your 37 Birthday on date of entry
mancitymick said:Taken from the Military Intranet:
Ex Manchester City football club defender, Lee Crooks has made a dramatic transfer from the football pitch to face the front line of Operations in Afghanistan as he joins the elite team of the RAF Regiment.
Leading Aircraftsman (LAC) Lee Crooks 33, was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire and was a professional footballer with Manchester City for 6 years. Over 8 years later Lee decided to join the RAF Regiment as a Gunner:
‘My younger brother is in the Army, but when I looked in to it I thought the RAF Regiment was the one for me and have never looked back. They do a great job and the lads work really hard providing the Force Protection (FP) on the ground for the RAF. I’m very proud to be a part of the RAF Regiment.’
Since graduating a few weeks ago, Lee has been put through his paces and is currently at Sennybridge Training Range in Wales for over 2 weeks in February 2011, practising live firing drills as he takes part in Exercise Gunners Grip. Lee draws comparisons between life as a professional footballer and as an RAF Regiment Gunner:
‘Both roles are about working as a team, being there for your team mates and moving forward as a team. You have to be mentally and physically fit for both roles, but you train as a professional footballer for 90 minutes so the training is a lot more explosive, whereas being a Gunner you have to be robust and have a lot more stamina as you are carrying heavy weight over longer distances and over longer days and nights.’
Training to become an RAF Regiment Gunner is one of the RAF’s most physically demanding courses and recruits take part in challenging field exercises as they prepare to deliver air minded FP on operations. Sergeant Gareth Saunders 31, is a basic training instructor at RAF Honington:
‘I got Lee from day one of his military career and he has been progressing well through the course. He’s a strong character and he has been a help to me as he took the youngest lad on the course who was 16, under his wing. It’s good to have a cross section of ages and he has got that natural leadership ability.’
Lee is now looking forward to going on to 1 Squadron RAF Regiment at RAF Honington and from there on to his first tour of Afghanistan at the beginning of next year:
‘Going back to life as a professional footballer, you train all week to prepare for the Saturday game and put everything that you’ve trained for in that game and its exactly the same as this, I have done my training and am now really looking forward to putting it into practice.’
LAC Gary Strickland 28, went through training with Lee and will be joining 2 Squadron, RAF Regiment, also based at RAF Honington:
‘Lee took me under his wing and showed me the ropes and gave me some pointers about physical exercise. I know the younger lads look up to him and he’s a valuable asset to us. I’ll be meeting up with him on ops in Afghanistan and I’ll be working side by side by him and I’m very confident he’ll have my back.’
-- Thu Feb 24, 2011 4:51 pm --
WakeBlue said:The recruitment age across the forces was raised from 26 to 33 back in 2007.
Nope. Army is 32 and 11 months, RAF Depends on what trade you apply for, The RAF regiment is up to your 36 birthday, The RN is up to your 37 Birthday on date of entry
I stand corrected, should never trust the bbc as a source, i knew it was over the 26 it once was in the army just rember in order to state something on here it would need to be backed up by a source and on this occasion i chose the wrong one.
<a class="postlink" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6236345.stm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6236345.stm</a>
Oh well thanks for putting me right :)