by Tron of Zylon
THE AMIGA SCENE IN B.A.O.R. (BRITISH ARMY OF RHINE)
Being a British Soldier stationed in WEST GERMANY now for the past 10 years, i would like to take this oppertunity to inform my German amiga friends about the B. A. O. R. scene here in WEST GERMANY. B.A.O.R. stands for "BRITISH ARMY OF THE RHINE" and we are basically british servicemen and women stationed here in West Germany, but Did you know that there are over 60'000 thousand "BRITS" living amongst you? Sure there is by far more than 6 times that in AMERICAN Troops, but they do not have a percentage ratio of 15% Amiga Users in favour of the BRITISH! Yes, readers! There are a staggering 15% of us old "LIMIES" or "TOMMIES" (which we are sometimes referred to as by our beloved "WEST GERMAN" friends) who love the AMIGA. What is more suprising is that the average age of the freak is around 25-30 years of age and some are in there 50's! Amazing Yes? No, not quite, there has always been such high numbers of owners in the "UK", far more than in any other country mainly due to COMMODORES successful marketing and this is reflected in the figures partaining to the B.A.O.R. scene, but why are we so old compared to the normal 14 to 25 years of age seen here in GERMANY? Well for a start most of the B.A.O.R. Amiga freaks are married grown up mature adults (sometimes!) who have been looking for a new hobby to take them away from their "DEMANDING" "DANGEROUS" "ADVENTUROUS" lives. (laugh!)
This is also probably why there are so many recent divorce cases amongst service men who own Amigas. (Only joking, or am i???) But more about the married Amiga users later! Single guys are not so lucky because they have to live in so called "BARRACK BLOCKS" where life is made a misery due to such shitty things as not being allowed out of camp after 22.30 hrs, or only "Smart" civilian clothes are to be worn whilst in the "PUBLIC EYE", or "ROOM INSPECTIONS" or "IN NIGHTS" (thats when everyone must clean the whole living quarters under the instructions of a newly promoted "POWER CRAZY" L/CPL or CPL) 2-3 times a week! And if that is not enough to piss you off, they must also conform to a "SET-ROOM LAYOUT" (Something that resembles a prison cell!) not to mention sharing a room with 2/3 or more cretins who come in after the end of every weekend totally "SHIT FACED" and piss on your bed cause they haven't been "HOUSE TRAINED"! Yes Army life is unjust when it comes to comparisons with our realitively free German Amiga freaks. Just imagine guys not being able to wear your favourite grotty old smelly flea ridden jeans to the local Mac Donalds or being able to leave your numerous empty coke cans around in your bedroom or feeling unsafe in leaving your mean machine lying in your room without some arsehole playing on it whilst trying to insert the disc the wrong way round! So, you see it is not practical to have such luxurious machines such as an Amiga in your "BED SPACE" as it would either get "KNICKED","FUCKED" or "PISSED ON".
Yes its very much in favour of the married man as he can come home from work, relax in the comfort of his own home, put on his grotty jeans, drinks his can of coke and proceeds to throw it over his shoulder, switch on the computer and forget about his shitty job (especially if your in the ARMY) and nagging wife (if she permits? ), and all this between EXERCISES/MANOUVERS! But what do these guys think the scene really is like? Well in every "Garrison Town" (and there are a few in Germany) they have what's known as an Amiga User Group. They are usually made up of 20 to 50 guys who asssemble once every week or month to exchange "IDEAS" and "VIEWS" and speak about how they can improve the so called "CLUB" for the benifit of the users.
This article originally appeared in the Amiga diskmagazine "Zine #5" by Brainstorm 1990.
Some content may refer to activities that are illegal in some countries. BitFellas does not support such activity.
Addresses and other contact information were only valid when this magazine was originally published, in june of 1990.
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