My First PR Job

Since being appointed as Facebook Administrator and Public Relations Officer for the RAF Masirah and RAF Salalah Association (OMAN RAF VETERANS) I had my first article published in RAF NEWS.

I wrote about 480 words, as you can see they cut it down considerably. I was a little surprised they hadn't left in some of the emotional meaning behind the trip but I have learned a good lesson in being brief!

If you would like to, or have the patience to, read the article as it was written here it is;

"
RAF RETURN TO OMAN

Don't get too excited, we aren't opening a new base in Oman.
It was nearly 40 years ago since our bases in the Gulf closed, the last ones in Oman were RAF Masirah and RAF Salalah.

In October 2014 the RAF Masirah and RAF Salalah Association (known as Oman RAF Veterans) returned to Oman in force. Over 60 veterans and a few wives and sons made up a party of 82 and flew to Muscat on 5 October. It had been over 45 years since leaving Oman for many of them.

The camaraderie of having served a 13 or 9 month unaccompanied tour, bonded them together in a way that may surprise many. Although it was only started in 2011 the association has gone from strength to strength and made many donations to military charities to assist serving and retired service personnel of all branches of the UK forces.

There was a lot of excitement at Heathrow as old friends met up, some for the first time since the 60's and 70's. Arriving in Muscat the tour started with visit to the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. This was within a couple of hours of landing after an overnight flight but the grandeur of the mosque kept all in awe and wide awake.

A trip out to the ancient town of Nizwa and Jabreen fort was followed by an evening reception at the British Embassy. Third day was an early morning start on two coaches heading South.
One coach proceeded directly to Shanna for the ferry crossing to Masirah Island. The other coach stopped halfway at Ashkarah where some of the group had a fantastic late night turtle watching adventure at the Ras al Jinz turtle conservation centre, a great night.

Day 5 and the whole group is in Masirah. An amazing couple of days followed with a trip around the island on a tarmac road. In the 60's it took most of a day, in 3 tonners, to travel the 40 miles to the bottom of the island.
A number of the local Omanis visited the Masirah Hotel and It turned out they had worked on the old RAF camp, in various roles, and were lucky enough to meet a few people in the group that remembered them. Much reminiscing commenced, no-one had realised how much they missed us, it was a very emotional day.

Ferry back to Shanna, coaches continued to Salalah where some visited the SAS battlefield of Mirbat, as related in the Pete Winner book 'Soldier I'. We had a great 'Gala Dinner' raffle for charity etc. in the very relaxed atmosphere of the Salalah Grande Plaza.

There is not enough room to give this, almost 1000 mile, journey justice but if you know anyone that has served in Oman, of any service, we already have a few pongoes on board, or a civilian role on military camps, point them in our direction, we aim to do it again in 2017.
http://www.omanrafveterans.org or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/omanrafveterans
"