My Diplomatic Life

Albania My First Posting A Bloodstained Surprise

November 3, 2023January 14, 2021 by Jim

Albania My First Posting A Bloodstained Surprise. How did this come about? So it was on a cold and windy January morning in 1998 that I arrived at Heathrow airport to catch my early morning flight to Vienna en-route to my final destination Tirana the capital city of Albania. With all the background briefs on … Read more

Lifestyle From RAF Russian Linguist To British Diplomat

November 4, 2023January 13, 2021 by Jim

Lifestyle From RAF Russian Linguist To British Diplomat. How An RAF Russian Linguist Became A Diplomat. What was the journey from the RAF to the Diplomatic Service? Did my military service and qualifications help with the process? All reasonable questions, so here is a brief description of the journey.

The Diplomatic Service was in effect my second career. Prior to joining, my first was serving as a Russian/German dual linguist with the Royal Air Force (RAF).

On joining the RAF, I took the language aptitude exam and was fortunate enough to pass and be offered the opportunity to become a linguist. So, after 2 years intensive Russian language training at the RAF School of Languages at RAF North Luffenham near Stamford, I was posted to West Berlin . Although based/housed at RAF Gatow on the far western fringes of the city, my place of work was Teufelsberg, which was a joint US/UK facility. It dominated the Berlin skyline, being built on top of a man-made mountain (from WW2 rubble). To say the work there was interesting would be an understatement!

Some years later, I returned to the RAF School of Language Training in the UK to qualify as a dual linguist, my second language being German. On completion of the 18 month course, I returned back to Berlin and back to Teufelsberg.

Although the bulk of my RAF career was spent in West Berlin, I also had postings in the UK, to GCHQ in Cheltenham and then to RAF Wyton where I had the opportunity of working as an airborne linguist with 51 Squadron who at that time were flying the Nimrod R1.

North Korea Military Work With British Diplomat

November 3, 2023July 16, 2020 by Jim

British Diplomat Works With North Korean Military

North Korea Military Work With British Diplomat relates to a unique situation where a British diplomat had a close working relationship with the North Korean mlitary for a 6 month period would in itself raise more than a few eyebrows. Working for 3 years in North Korea was on the one hand a time of frustration and on the other a time of discovery in this fascinating yet enigmatic country.

Life In North Korea As A Foreigner Surviving 3 Years

Butting heads on a daily basis with the stifling North Korean bureaucracy was always a battle, but occasionally there was a glimmer of achievement and sometimes from the most unlikeliest of sources.

In early 2004, I was contacted at the embassy in Pyongyang by the brother of an RAF pilot who had been shot down in 1952 over North Korea during the Korean war. He said he had full details of the shoot down supplied by eyewitness United States Air Force (USAF) pilots and map coordinates of the site of the crash (which he sent to me) and wished to visit the area to discover the fate of his brother.

The background was that the pilot, Flt Lt Desmond Hinton, who received the Distinguished Flying Cross in World War II for shooting down two Japanese fighters had bailed out of his burning F84e Thunderjet whilst carrying out a strafing mission north east of Pyongyang on 2 January 1952. At the time, Flt Lt Hinton was one of a number of RAF pilots who were attached to and flying with the USAF. Despite enquiries after the war and with no further information as to his fate forthcoming, Flt Lt Hinton was subsequently officially listed as missing in action.

This seemed a daunting request, but nevertheless I submitted it to the North Koreans and having gone through the usual long and tortuous channels I was surprised to receive an invitation to a meeting with senior North Korean military officers to discuss the request. Soon after therefore, it was with some degree of trepidation that I and my interpreter set off to meet these senior officers at a large military base on the outskirts of Pyongyang.

Driving into the base, we stopped at the entrance guard house and I was told to leave my diplomatic vehicle parked there. Then my interpreter and I climbed into a small military vehicle with an officer who my interpreter told me would be our liaison officer for the visit.

Albania British Diplomats Ambushed And Shot

November 14, 2023July 16, 2020 by Jim

Albania British Diplomats Ambushed And Shot is Part 1 of a story that occurred in 1998. It was a volatile year in Albania’s recent history. At this time, British diplomats who were posted to a volatile or conflict region received virtually no Hostile Environment Training (HET). It was usually the case you popped into King Charles Street for a quick chat with the relevant desk officer. You would get a quick country brief, then it was off to Heathrow.

There was still no HET in place before my next posting to Kosovo after an eventful year in Tirana Albania. However, thankfully the FCO had got it’s act together by 2005. Then, just prior to my posting to Iraq, I received a one week HET training course. This was carried out by a private contract firm just outside Hereford.

It was comprehensive and tailored to the area where I would be serving. Perhaps, if we had had this training in 1998 the event that took place below may have turned out differently. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.