THE COVENANTER
front the Blanco-ed equipment with the ‘Passive resistance’ came in.
polished brasses, your best pair of boots, Most of us only had to shave twice a
sole up showing the right number of week.......
hobnails; then (eating irons), knife, fork ‘Have you shaved this morning?’
and spoon; my tin mug, that was to become ‘Yes sergeant!’~
a part of me for the next four or so years, ‘Then next time, stand closer to the
bent, chipped and dented, but that was to razor, get that bum fluff off your chin.’
be the receptacle of many a half pint of char ‘Am I hurting you ?’
army style, hot, sweet and strong. The ‘No, sergeant.’
blankets and bunks all had to be in line, like ‘I should be., I am standing on your hair.
a line of soldiers on parade. Get it cut.!’
Each man had an extra job to do before ‘Pace forward, do up your button, and
first parade. Mine was to mop the passage put your hat on straight. Don’t walk beside
between the two rooms. Others had to clean it.‘
the wash room. One of the hardest was Another of his favourites, when on the
keeping the room’s table scrubbed white, march........
together with the brush handle. This was ‘Stop talking Pte Gore.’
done with a razor blade, scraping down to ‘I am not talking, sergeant.’
the wood. There was an empty tin used as ‘Yes, you are. You’re answering me back.
an ashtray. This also had to be highly Don’t be so pugnacious.
polished. Each man had to sweep his own This was a new word for me. It was one
area to the middle of the room, then it was of the sergeant’s favourite words. It was a
another man’s job to sweep and pick it up. long time before I looked it up in a
All was very organised, if each one did his dictionary, and I wasn’t.
job. As time passed, and we got more P.T. - Physical Training. You never
proficient, we didn’t use the ash tin, so it marched in P.T. kit, shorts, vest and
only had to have a quick rub, the table we plimsolls, always at the double or a steady
covered with a blanket. Finding a spare trot, to the gym, to us (the torture
brush that we stole from an empty room, chamber). A PT corporal took charge of us.
perhaps borrowed sounds better, one for There was a name for these corporals and it
inspection, one for sweeping up. The begins with a ‘B’, most were about 5’6’ tall
passage only had a wetting. Having a good and very thick set, super fit, with muscles
wash and shave the night before, then in to match. The PT started off light, then as
the morning just a rub over with the wet the weeks passed the progress became
corner of your towel. harder, up and down ropes, over wooden
Before muster, the fIrst parade, came the horses, throwing what they called medicine
order ‘Stand by your beds!’ balls at each other and in groups passing
The sergeant inspected each bed, pushing telegraph poles, lifting them above the
blankets over if they were not to his heads etc.
satisfaction. Then it was the turn of the After the end of our sixteen weeks at
room, trying to find some dust, or find Goojerat Barracks we became nearly super
somewhere that had not been swept. If he fit. In fact it was the fittest I ever was in my
found too many faults, it meant another life, never been quite that standard since,
inspection after parades. Muster parade - though there was a lot more PT to come in
Platoons lined up along the parade ground the next four years. ‘
for inspection by the orderly officer, or the Unarmed combat - how to take a knife
R.S.M. (Regimental Sergeant Major), off a person, how to use a knife to kill,
backbone of the British Army. keeping the blade flat, where to stick it
If they were, not on parade, the sergeant between the bones or the downward stab,
inspected us. kicking in the privates, or fingers in the eyes
This was worse.............. or up the nose and twist, an army steel
‘Attention! Stand still! Eyes front! Chest comb scraped across the bottom of the
out! Shoulders back! Fists clenched! Thumbs nose, most painful!, the downward chop or
to the front! Heels together!’ all in one across the face, with the side of the hand, a
breath. It seemed to come out of his big kick in the back of the knee and of course
mouth automatically. Looking at him all the throat throttle. Always ending with in
you could see was his mouth working. Then order to kill the enemy.
up and down the three lines, inspecting Square bashing - drill marching up and
each man individually. This is where down, or advancing, about turning, the
39
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