Thursday, March 06, 2014

Army commander bans sandwiches in attack on "frankly barbaric" habits

Sandwiches have been banned from an officers’ mess after a commander noticed many soldiers were eating them with their hands as he insisted “a gentleman or a lady uses a knife and fork.”

Major General James Cowan issued the note after he noticed officers were eating sandwiches with their hands and failing to stand when commanders entered the room.



His three-page letter criticised standards at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire where he said he had seen many “frankly barbaric” techniques and habits displayed by soldiers and officers. The note, addressed to ‘Chaps’, said: “Quite a few officers in the divisional mess seem to be under the impression that they can eat their food with their hands.

"The practice of serving rolls and sandwiches must stop.” Maj Gen Cowan, who is in charge of 20,000 soldiers and 2,500 officers in 3 UK Division, most based at Bulford, also criticised poor grammar and writing, advising against the "wanton use of capitals, abbreviations and acronyms" because they can leave the reader exhausted.

4 comments:

WilliamRocket said...

Well, that's the end of me and popcorn then.

Barbwire said...

Do the Upper Crust really eat sandwiches with a knife and fork?

arbroath said...

No they don't, Barbwire,

Although they do remove the crust from the bread.

Ratz said...

Sounds like this chappy isn't in full charge of himself, let alone a bunch of men with guns.