Our sport stretches far and wide across the corners of the globe but it still amazes me when I find table tennis tables in some of the most unusual and harshest of conditions.  As a serving member of the Armed Forces you get to see parts of the world that most people don’t or quite often wouldn’t want to see.  As I write this I’m on my latest Out of Area Operation (OOA); four months living and working in Iraq at the Basra Contingency Operating Base (COB) where temperatures are often hitting 50 + degrees.  With fortified defences to withstand the rocket attacks I would describe living and working conditions as basic, but one of the first things I noticed on my arrival in the corner of one of the rest rooms was a table tennis table.  Most of the time it is impossible to even get on it, with people always on there having a game and a laugh with others watching.  When working in such conditions what better way could there be at the end of the day to de-stress the body. 

Being in the military you develop a work hard and play hard ethos.  When we are away on operations work can be full on, seven days a week, working 15.

hours a day, but you still make time for a bit of sport before the end of the day.  Sport isn’t just a way of keeping fit, in the military it is used to bond you together as a team and to respect and trust each other. 

Most of the places I’ve been to with the RAF you will always find a table. You’ll find them in rest rooms where the aircraft technicians are working hard on servicing and repairing fast jets or any of the gymnasiums of a typical RAF Unit.  On a previous OOA to the Falkland Islands I even took one of the RAF’s table tennis robots with me and did somecoaching while I was there.  Most of the peoplethat use the table tennis facilities are of a basic level but quite often the competitiveness is fierce and often evolves them in joining local leagues.