The Acronym of JAFAD

[MadFad]

JAFAD (acronym)

When
Where
Why
And How was the acronym JAFAD coined

Now as most of you know JAFAD stood for Just Another Fecking AirDefence person, which was given to the trade of LtechAD (alas defunct)

Now I was told a story many years ago of how the acronym was coined, so here we go:-

The story goes that a Rock(ape) on a Rapier Sqn first called an LtechAD a JAFFA and thought this hilariously funny. When asked “Ok feck face, what in your deranged mind do you think that JAFFA means” the reply was “Just Another Fecking Fat Airman you numb guin”.

It was then explained to the said Rock that JAFFA was a term used by Scoppies (ASOPs who worked in secret underground bunkers) as a derogatory term towards the LtechAD’s that worked on the big nasty radars and that they could not father any children (as in Jaffa Oranges, SEEDLESS). It was also explained to the said Rock that Just Another Fecking Fat Airman would also encompass the Rocks, being that they where also airmen,……. yes, you have guessed it an argument broke out about them not being airmen but that they are gunners, in the end the Rocks where told to Feckoff and die.

A few weeks passed (yes it took that amount of time for their brain cells to collide) when a new term of JAFFAD was released upon the LtechAD’s, again the Rocks where asked what does that mean, at this point howls of laughter eminated from the gathered Rocks and proceeded to announce that it stood for Just Another Fecking Fat AirDefence person.

At this point one of the AD’s being of sound mind addressed the gathered rocks, “ listen in you brain dead pebble monkeys, do you see a fat AD on this Sqn,…… no you don’t, as a matter of fact you will find that most of the LtechAD’s can out run, out shoot, out drink and out Feck any of you gay bar loiterers,….. and the point is, you know it,………. now feck off before I bitch slap the lot of you”.

So one of the F’s was dropped, but we still had a sneaky suspicion that it wasn’t Fat???.

And so the acronym JAFAD was born.

I am sure that there are other versions of the above.

But when and where was this acronym started?????

[MAINJAFAD]

During a tea break in Smoking room of the Squadron I was on at Locking in the late 1990's the term JAFAD came up in a conversion I was having with a ex Rapier FS with a Dutch/South African name who asked me if I knew from where the term originated. Now I knew that it had started with the Rocks, and that it started sometime around 1984 to mid 1985, as I never heard it at Locking while in trade training (And the TC's would have used it had they known it). As for how the Rocks came up with the idea, the only time I’ve seen an acronym with JAF at the front of it before JAFAD hit the scene, was a character called Lymangood, who was a new observer in the LAPD helicopter division in the film Blue Thunder (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Thunder), He had the term JAFO put on his flying helmet and didn’t have a clue of what it stood for. The film was released in the UK in Aug 1983 and I saw it in the cinema at Locking in early 84 (which meant it was doing the rounds in station cinemas at the time). I tell the FS, Rocks came up with the term, in 1983/4, at a guess after watching Blue Thunder, to which he replies….

Spot on correct!!! Followed by

When - 1984

Where – 37 Sqn RAF Regt

Why – Some of the Rocks had seen Blue Thunder in a station cinema (RAF Stanley one, was what I was told).

And how was the acronym JAFAD coined - JAFO in the film stands for Just Another Fcuking Observer, replace O with AD, and the term was born.

Catch ya later (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085255/quotes) :PDT_Xtremez_14:

(P.S. FS was on the Sqn at the time)

[MadFad]

Nice one MJ

I always thought it was 48 Sqn that coined the phrase, in Jan - Feb 84, the lad who coined it was off "B" flight,

He may have been posted in from Bruggan as 37 sqn went to FI in Feb 84 but the lad was on 48 at the time, in saying that they did do a tour at the end of 82 taking over from 63 Sqn (if memory serves) and arrived back Jan - Feb 83

So who knows?????

[MAINJAFAD]

JAFO was a common term in US police Chopper outfits, Just as FUBAR and ClusterFcuk were used in the US. Never heard the last two until Kurt Russel and Clint Eastwood used them in films in the late 1980's. Likewise never heard of JAF before I saw it in a Film. Never had the rocks at Swinderby call me a JAFAD when I told them I wasn't a Peanut (That trade was favour of the month for insults when I went though recuit training, mainly due to the fact that most of the weak blokes on the GDT phase were TCO's). The Rock Instuctors laid off of me a bit after they found out I was going to be an L Tech AD (In fact one of then kept pushing Rapier after he found out that I was an AD, and that I could shoot a bit). So anytime before Nov 83 is out (Plus Blue Thunder didn't come out in the UK until Aug 83). Blue Thunder was doing the SSVC cinema rounds in early 84. I saw it within 6 weeks of getting to Locking hence Mid Jan - late Feb 1984 is a very good bet as for when the Rock/s that came up with JAFAD had the idea. As for what Sqn, could have happened at more that one unit within weeks, or it got around the rock sqn's rapidly. I first heard it from an AF FT from Honington the week before I left Locking in mid 85.

[JAFAD666]

Agreed, great white one.

And the reason I have 666 on the end of it is because around the same time ... circa 1984/85 RAF Locking (DAD72/75), yes I was a recourse. The film The OMEN was out and I looked like the kid (apparently), hence my nickname there "Damien". Could`ve been worse !