Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes

Former NAAFI shop in Osnabrück, Germany

The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) (/ˈnæfiː/) is an organisation created by the British government in 1921 to run recreational establishments needed by the British Armed Forces, and to sell goods to servicemen and their families. It runs clubs, bars, shops, supermarkets, launderettes, restaurants, cafés and other facilities on most British military bases and also canteens on board Royal Navy ships. Commissioned officers are not usually supposed to use the NAAFI clubs and bars, since their messes provide these facilities and their entry, except on official business, is considered to be an intrusion into junior ranks' private lives.

NAAFI personnel serving aboard ship are part of the Naval Canteen Service (NCS), wear naval uniform and have action stations, but remain civilians. NAAFI personnel can also join the Expeditionary Forces Institute (EFI), which provides NAAFI facilities in war zones. EFI personnel are members of the Territorial Army serving on special engagements, bear ranks and wear uniform. NCS personnel can similarly volunteer to join the Royal Navy when it goes on active service. Petty Officer John Steven Leake, NCS canteen manager in HMS Ardent, was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) in the 1982 Falklands War for his courage while manning a machine gun.

Foundation

Prior to 1914, each unit ran its own canteen, mostly contracted out to private firms. In Victorian times they had a reputation for being expensive, corrupt, unpleasant, and selling inferior goods. In 1894, three Army officers founded the Canteen and Mess Co-operative Society, which improved the situation immensely. It bought canteen goods in bulk and sold them on to the regimental canteens. During the First World War the Expeditionary Force Canteens were created for service overseas, run by uniformed members of the Army Service Corps and absorbing the Canteen and Mess Co-operative Society. On 1 January 1917 the Army Canteen Committee was created to take over canteens at home, later becoming the Navy and Army Canteen Board. In 1919 this also took over the Expeditionary Force Canteens. On 1 January 1921 the Navy and Army Canteen Board formed the nucleus of the NAAFI.

Second World War

The NAAFI's greatest contribution was during the Second World War. The Chairman & CEO during the war years was Sir Lancelot Royle and by April 1944 the NAAFI ran 7,000 canteens and had 96,000 personnel (expanded from fewer than 600 canteens and 4,000 personnel in 1939). It also controlled ENSA, the forces entertainment organisation. In the 1940 Battle of France alone, the EFI had nearly 3,000 personnel and 230 canteens.

Male EFI personnel were members of the Royal Army Service Corps until 1965, then the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. Since 1993 they have been members of the Royal Logistic Corps. Female personnel were members of the Auxiliary Territorial Service until 1949, then the Women's Royal Army Corps until 1992, when they joined the RAOC (and later the RLC).

NAAFI in British culture

• The 1950s BBC Radio comedy series The Goon Show often made reference to the NAAFI in scripts, mostly by Peter Sellers's character, Major Dennis Bloodnok. One episode was entitled The Jet-Propelled Guided NAAFI.
• The expression "You're as dim as a NAAFI candle" (i.e. stupid) is an update of the Great War veteran's slang "dim as a Toc H lamp".
• In the "Camping Out" episode of Are You Being Served?, when Mr Rumbold mentions he was in the Army Catering Corps, Mr Lucas incorrectly assumes that Mr Rumbold actually worked in the NAAFI.
• In Chapter 16 of Lucky Jim, Dixon recalls that Margaret's face reminded him of a man who "had never been seen doing anything except sweeping out the N.A.A.F.I and wiping his nose on his sleeve."
• A further reference is a quote in J. Lee Thompson's 'Ice Cold in Alex', whether the Gin carried by Captain van der Poel / Hauptman Otto Lutz was 'Import' or NAAFI, obviously raising concerns about the spirit's quality.

In addition to being the name of the Institute, NAAFI is also used in British service talk as a noun for a type of break, i.e. a "NAAFI break" -which means short break or tea break.

See also

• Stonecutters Island

References

• NAAFI Public Relations Branch, The Story of NAAFI, 1 April 1944

External links

• NAAFI official website