Dear editor,
Were you a BRAT? There’s a reunion planned for Comox in September.
What is a BRAT? For many parents of unruly or mischievous children, they call them brats. But for children of military families, it is a term of endearment.
The acronym BRAT originated back in the 1800s when the British army sent troops to the colonies in Africa and India. Some personnel, in particular officers, were permitted to have their families accompany them. These family members were documented as “British Regiment Attached Travellers” or BRATs. This term has stuck for several centuries and has been adopted by most countries with military families.
Occasionally, these military BRAT groups get together for reunions and that is precisely what the RCAF Station #3 (F) Wing, Zweibrucken, Germany will be doing here in Comox on Sept. 7-10, this year.
There are hundreds of retired RCAF members on Vancouver Island and many were stationed to #3 Wing with their families while the station was open from January 1953 to August 1969. So, for those ex-military members with BRATs, we encourage you to pass along word of our reunion to your children.
For information on the #3 Wing Zweibrucken BRAT reunion and all the activities to be enjoyed, visit 3wingbratsreunion2015.weebly.com/ or email us at 3wingbrats@gmail.com. Let us know where you are and if you are interested in attending.
We’d love to have you join us to help celebrate the 54-plus years since we lived in Zweibrucken, Germany.
Dave Godfrey, reunion chair,
Courtenay