The Cadet Corporal (9 page)

The section all laughed. Halyday scowled. “Oh very funny!” he retorted. With the minimum of enthusiasm he took cover near a bush.

During the lesson the Hutchie Men came around to show the cadets their Yowie suits and to demonstrate once again how they were almost impossible to see if they lay still, even out in short grass. They then moved off up to where 1 Platoon was training.

At the end of the lesson Sgt Grenfell called them in and made them drink again. All were hot and sweaty and a few were starting to show the effects of the heat. By this Graham had drunk so much he needed to go to the toilet again. As most of the section needed to refill their waterbottles he led them back to the bivouac area and then headed quickly for the 4 Platoon toilet while they did this.

There was no-one at the toilet and Graham stood facing towards where he could see 4 Platoon training over near the track to Scrubby Creek while he did another pee. Thus he was able to look over the top of the Hessian screen and see that no-one was near. He relaxed. No-one from 4 Platoon could get close without him knowing. All of a sudden his senses prickled and he heard a noise behind him. Unable to stop peeing he could only glance over his shoulder. What he saw made his heart palpitate in fright. Two huge, hairy forms had risen up from the head of the gully behind him and were walking towards him, arms uplifted.

Hutchie Men!

“Oohoo! Gotcha Kirk!” cried Ziggy. Graham tried to pretend he wasn't scared and kept on peeing as they ran over to him hooting and shouting. Porno came and stood on one side of him and Ziggy on the other. Graham could not see their faces but knew who it was by the voices. He braced himself for some sort of indignity or assault but they just stood beside him and looked down. Now he came under another sort of pressure-male pride.

To Graham's dismay, from not being able to stop he now found fear was shrivelling him and drying up the flow. With an effort of will he forced himself to keep pumping.

“What a tiny dick!” Ziggy sneered.

Stung by the insult Graham retorted. “Do you go around looking do you?”

“Get stuffed!” Ziggy snarled. But Graham could tell his jibe had gone home. For a second he thought he was going to be attacked as Ziggy shouldered him. However he stood his ground and kept going. Next to him Porno heaved his Yowie suit to one side and unzipped his trousers. As he started to pee he said, “Scared you then Mister Dobber Corporal!”

Graham felt really hurt by that but he tried to stay calm. To try to defuse the situation he said as calmly as he could, “What are you blokes doing next?”

“We are just about to head off on a recon patrol over to the army camp,” Ziggy replied.

“What for?” Graham asked, surprised by the statement.

“That Heatley Cadet Unit is due to arrive at four O'clock and Capt Conkey wants to keep an eye on them,” Ziggy explained.

“Bloody Heatley! They think they are just too good!” Graham commented. The army cadet unit based at Heatley in Townsville was famous throughout North Queensland both for the tough exercises it did, and for nearly always winning some of the prizes on the promotion courses.

“We'll show them who's best!” Ziggy replied.

By then Graham was finished so he hurried back to his section. He had another big drink, refilled his own waterbottles, then joined the platoon under the big ironbark for the next lesson. This was on stretcher drill and the improvised movement of casualties. Lt Hamilton was again the instructor. HQ and the CUOs provided the demo squad. It was a very practical lesson with various drags, arm carries and lifts practised. During it Graham noted the Hutchie Men, plus Cadet James (a sig from HQ), being briefed by Capt Conkey. Peter was there as well and he was also carrying an army radio.

The patrol headed off, sparking envy in Graham. He badly wanted to lead a patrol against ‘the enemy' to earn glory. Peter did not go but instead moved the radio under a shelter near the officer's fire. He was joined there by Sgt Gayney and Cpl Forman, the black-haired girl who was the Intelligence Corporal.

The cadets were all told to have another drink and then moved over to near the shelter. Capt Conkey then briefed them, explaining that the shelter was the ‘Command Post' or CP. He then talked them through the procedure the unit would follow in case of a serious accident or snake bite. Lt Maclaren acted as Duty Officer and followed a check list to assemble a First Aid party with all the things they needed while, at the same time, informing all the people who needed to know, such as the army commander in the camp, the OC, the driver of the safety vehicle, and the Charters Towers ambulance. The First Aid party then headed off into the bush to collect the Cpl Storeman, Brookes, who was pretending to be injured.

At the end of the demo Capt Conkey reminded all of them on what to do in an emergency, then sent them back to their platoon areas for a short break. Sgt Grenfell made them all drink again, after which CUO Masters led the platoon off along the track to Scrubby Creek past 4 Platoon's bivouac area.

The last lesson of the day was to be on stalking and movement. Once again the corporals were to teach it. Graham led his section a hundred paces further on, going down into a shallow dip towards Scrubby Creek. The other sections also spread out and training was commenced. Graham stood the section in a line in the shade.

“This lesson is on movement,” he said, “On the various ways you can creep and crawl when you are stalking the enemy.”

Andrews guffawed and said to Roger, “You'll be good at that.”

“Good at what?” Roger asked.

“Crawling!”

“Get knotted Andrews!” Roger retorted, anger mottling his face.

Graham glared at Andrews. “Be quiet so we can get on with the lesson,” he snapped. He then proceeded to explain when they would need to use such fieldcraft. To conclude he said, “There is to be an exercise against other cadet units later in the camp and stalking will be an important part of it.”

Again Andrews guffawed, but this time he turned to Dianne and said, “Storking! You'll like that Williams.”

It took Dianne a few moments to get the crude innuendo. Then her temper flared and she moved to slap Andrews. “Keep your filthy comments to yourself!” she cried angrily.

“That's enough! Andrews, apologise to her,” Graham ordered.

Lucy then interrupted, “And to me! I was offended too!”

Graham nodded and insisted. With bad grace Andrews mumbled an apology. It wasn't much but Graham felt he could not push the issue and was worrying that he was losing control of his lesson. He could see CUO Masters and Sgt Grenfell standing on top of the slope a hundred paces away and became anxious they might be able to see this.

To get the lesson moving he demonstrated and explained ‘The Walk', then got them all to practise this. That went easily enough and he began to recover his confidence. Then he went on to show them how to do a ‘Monkey Run'. This did not work as well because the cadets were reluctant to get down.

“The sand is hot!” Lucy complained.

“It's only your hands and knees!” Graham cried in exasperation. “Have a go for a few seconds.”

Reluctantly they did this. Then Graham got down to demonstrate the ‘Leopard Crawl'. The sand was hot, he had to admit, but he kept on with it. Dusting his hands he stood up. “OK, your go. Get down and do that,” he said.

Again there were mumbles and complaints but Graham insisted. The only one who wouldn't get down was Halyday. “Get down Cadet Halyday. It's not that hot,” Graham ordered.

Halyday looked askance at Roger and Pat, both of whom were down on their stomachs. “I don't want to get dirty,” he muttered.

Graham was astonished. “What rot! Surely you expected to do this sort of thing when you joined the army cadets?”

Halyday shook his head. “No. I thought there'd be a lot of drill, marching and stuff, but I didn't think I'd have to crawl around like an animal.”

Graham shook his head in amazement and struggled to think of a policy that might work. In the end he said, “Either get down and practice or go up to CUO Masters and tell him you want a transfer from this section.”

Halyday glanced to where CUO Masters stood, gave Graham a sulky look, then very reluctantly knelt down and lowered himself onto his stomach. Graham heaved a silent sigh of relief and talked them through the actions. As the cadets stood up at the end of their practise Halyday made a big show of wrinkling his nose with distaste and of brushing off the sand and dust. As they were all sweating heavily in the heat there was plenty of this stuck to their skin.

Getting Halyday down to practice the ‘Hunger or Kitten' crawl was even harder. After more threats Graham managed to get him down but he hardly moved at all when he was. Exasperated and bemused Graham moved the section to a nearby dry creek bed. This was only a metre or so wide and was little more than a knee deep rill.

“The next part of the lesson is about selecting lines of advance when you are stalking,” he said. “This is where you need a good eye for ground. You need to be able to pick out ‘dead ground' and ‘covered routes'.”

“What sort of roots?” Andrews asked with a snicker.

The double meaning at once annoyed and embarrassed Graham. His eyes briefly met Kirsty's and it was obvious she was thinking the same thing, and wasn't shocked. He hastily looked away. The dilemma of how to cope with this caused him a momentary fluster. ‘Do I just ignore it, or make a big deal of it?' he wondered. He decided to pretend he had not understood the double entendre. “Covered routes Cadet Andrews,” he grated. “It means a..a.. (he groped for some other word than route).. a way of getting from one place to another under cover and without being seen by the enemy.”

He then quickly went on to talk about how to read the ground and got them to consider how they would move across the area. The half hour was almost up by then and he found that he was both very thirsty and again needed a pee.

“Sit in the shade and have a drink,” he ordered. Then he looked around, wondering where to go. Up the slope to his right seemed to be the closest and best so he walked quickly that way. Behind him the section sprawled on the ground and broke into chatter. Knowing that they all guessed what he was going to do made Graham feel very self-conscious and he felt himself to be walking in a jerky, awkward manner.

Thankfully he reached the crest and went out of sight. The track to Scrubby Creek and the North Gravel Scrape ran along there and he paused on it to look around. No other sections were visible so he quickly walked a few more paces and stopped beside a small tree. Before he started he had another careful look in all directions. Even though he knew the Hutchie Men should be many kilometres away he still had an irrational fear they would catch him. Seeing nobody he did a pee. As he finished he again looked around. There was still no sign of any one close but he saw that 5 Section was a couple of hundred paces away. ‘They won't see me from there,' he thought. Then his gaze registered on two hats moving towards him up a gully about 50 metres away. As quickly as he could he turned away and zipped up his trousers. He began walking quickly back towards his section. As he did he glanced back and saw two cadets climb up out of the gully. With a shock he realised they were not just cadets but girl cadets!

‘Oh no! I hope they didn't see me,' he thought.

CHAPTER 9

STRUGGLE OF WILLS

Graham was aghast. ‘It is Harriet Harris and Fiona Davies!' he thought. Harriet was a tall, slender girl who was a corporal in 3 Platoon and Fiona was a Year 9 girl in her section. Shame and embarrassment scorched through him as he wondered what to do. ‘If they saw me and they complain I could be chucked out of the cadets!' he thought. Vague notions of legal complications to do with indecent exposure and unpleasant thoughts about the police and courts and things like that almost paralysed him.

To apologise seemed the best course so he turned and walked back towards them. As he did his mind raced and he stared at them in dismay. It was obvious from their camouflage that they were doing the same sort of fieldcraft training as his own section. His tongue then seemed to stick to the roof of his mouth.

Fiona spoke first. “Hi Graham!” she called. “What are you doing here?”

From her words and facial expression Graham decided that the girls had not seen him, but doubt and anxiety remained. “Going to the toilet,” he explained, his voice almost breaking with anxiety. “Sorry, I didn't know you were there. I didn't mean to offend you.”

Cpl Harris shrugged. “We didn't see that. We aren't offended. It's OK,” she replied.

Graham began to relax slightly. “Where is your section” he asked.

“Back around the bend in that gully. We have to find a place to hide and they are going to look for us. They will be along in a minute or so,” Cpl Harris explained.

“I'll get back to my section then and get out of your way,” Graham answered, feeling sure now that things would be alright. Then Harriet's words sank in and the horrible thought came to him: what if her whole section was watching. He glanced anxiously down the gully and noted that he might have been seen. Hot with embarrassment he turned and walked away.

Back with his own section he still flushed with shame and hoped they would not notice his embarrassment or hear about it. It was time to begin the last 30 minute lesson for the afternoon, which covered the same movements but adapted to night. Once again Graham had trouble getting Halyday to get down and he made the minimum effort, then stood and watched.

Towards the end of the lesson Graham saw 6 Section training nearby and had the idea to try to creep up on them. He pointed them out to the section and then got down and urged them to follow him. To his annoyance Halyday only half got down and then just sat in the grass on the bank of the small gully. Graham led the others down the gully until they were close to Stephen's section, then suddenly jumped up and yelled, “Bang! Bang!Gotcha!”

Stephen quickly rallied his section and the two groups had a short, high-spirited pretend battle that ended in laughter. Graham ended up standing next to a grinning and laughing Stephen who stopped to wipe his glasses clean. “Bloody glasses keep fogging up in the heat,” Stephen grumbled.

“Oh any excuse!” Graham cried. “We caught you then.”

Stephen put his glasses back on and then pointed down the gully. “Look, here come some of Four Platoon. Let's ambush them.”

Graham looked and saw figures appearing on the edge of the trees along Scrubby Creek. Ordinarily the idea would have appealed but the thought of provoking 4 Platoon made him feel anxious. However he did not dare let Stephen suspect this so he nodded and called on his section to get under cover and to follow him. At that point the small creek was about waist deep and had a sandy bed with bends every ten or twenty metres.

A glance showed Graham that they would need to get further down the creek quickly if they were to have any chance of catching 4 Platoon. With that in mind he set off down the creek doing a monkey run. His cadets followed, with Stephen's section also piling into the creek and joining in. It was hot and sultry in the ditch but Graham was excited now and he hurried along, ignoring the sand and dust which stuck to his perspiring arms, face and hands.

It was just too far and they weren't in the right place when Graham realized they must act if they were to achieve anything at all. By then they had scurried a good fifty paces down the creek and were all gasping for breath. To check on the situation Graham cautiously raised his head, just in time to see Pigsy pointing towards him from fifty metres away.

‘Damn! He's seen me,' Graham cursed. But then he noted the direction of Pigsy's arm and that made him glance behind him. It was Halyday. He had followed but had only walked along the creek and now, much too late, lowered himself down out of sight.

While the cadets recovered their breath Graham signalled Stephen to crawl up to join him so they could discuss what to do CUO Grey acted. He signalled and waved his arms and 4 Platoon suddenly changed direction from single file to extended line and came charging towards them. There seemed only one thing left to do so Graham did it. He stuck his head up and yelled, “Bang! Bang!”

Shouting and screaming broke out on both sides. The Second Years came charging towards them at such a speed that Graham felt his heart rate shoot up with anxiety. 4 Platoon shrieked a piercing ‘rebel yell' as they ran and Graham knew they would not stop. He was also aware that the older cadets had a huge moral advantage over the First Years. To put it bluntly they were scared of them.

This showed at once. Andrews sprang up and began running. Dianne and Lucy both stood up and put their hands up. Only Pat and Roger stayed down pretending to fire at the ‘enemy'. Kirsty went down out of sight. Graham screamed for them to fight but by then it was too late. The attackers swept over them. At the last moment Graham realised that Pigsy and Waters were both running straight towards him. He was not unduly worried as one of the unit's strict rules was: ‘No physical contact on exercises'.

Pigsy yelled threats and swear words as he ran and his eyes met Graham's. Only at the last instant did Graham realise he was in trouble. By then it was too late to jump up. All he could do was duck. A boot slammed into the middle of his back, hammering him down into the sand as Pigsy stamped on him. Then Graham received a kick to the head as Waters followed him. Luckily it was only a glancing blow but even so Graham's head exploded in lights and stars. He tried to get up but Pigsy had stopped and now stood on his back, forcing him down face first into the sand.

Graham screamed in genuine alarm and anger but he had to spit sand to do it. As he did Pigsy jumped off. A boot thudded into Graham's ribs-Waters. Suddenly Pigsy called out loudly, “Oh sorry Kirky! Didn't see you there mate.”

Graham rolled over and scrambled up, furious at being assaulted. By then both Pigsy and Waters had run on. Graham saw CUO Grey running past, giving him a suspicious look. The CUO obviously knew something had happened but Graham saw no point in appealing to the ‘enemy' commander. He stood up and dusted himself, then winced at the pain in his side and back. ‘Are the others alright?' he wondered.

Stephen appeared to be and so did Pat but Roger had obviously been bowled over and was shaking sand out of his shirt and hair. Kirsty came up from her hidey-hole looking scared. 4 Platoon ran on up the creek, screaming threats and bangs. Graham saw Halyday suddenly spring up from cover, then get knocked over and trampled by Pigsy and Moynihan. That caused his temper to boil over and he set off running after them, shouting angrily.

It was to no avail. 4 Platoon ran on and did not stop till they reached the track on the crest of the ridge. Here they engaged Gwen's section till CUO Masters and Sgt Grenfell arrived and the two platoon commanders ended the ‘battle'. By then Graham had reached Halyday, who was crying and had a big bruise showing on his forehead.

“They hit me!” he whimpered.

“Yeah well, you deserve it!” Graham snapped. “If you had been under cover we could have ambushed them. It was you they saw first. And if you'd stayed with us you wouldn't have been on your own.”

“But they knocked me over!” Halyday wailed.

“And me!” Graham retorted angrily. He was now really feeling the kicks to his head and side.

“They aren't allowed to do that!” Halyday wailed. “I'm going to tell one of the teachers.”

At that Graham was torn. He didn't really want to make a big issue of it but he also knew that if he tried to prevent a cadet complaining it could come back on him. Reluctantly he said, “You can if you really want to.”

“I do!” Halyday cried. Tears began streaming down his face.

Graham looked around and saw CUO Masters looking their way. Still hoping that Halyday would forget it Graham told him to wash his face. Instead Halyday turned and walked towards the CUO. Reluctantly Graham followed, knowing he was being a coward and mentally scourging himself.

By the time they got up to CUO Masters however 4 Platoon had marched away towards camp. CUO Masters listened and looked worried. An assault charge could be serious trouble and he took out his notebook and wrote down the names of all involved and the time. “I will tell the OC,” he said. “Now round your section up and take them back to camp Cpl Kirk. You actually did well to get them that close to the other platoon unseen. I was watching from up the hill.”

Still feeling very anxious and unhappy Graham did as he was told. As they walked back past where 4 Platoon were now sitting at their hutchies Graham met Pigsy's eye and received an angry, challenging stare, coupled to a sneer, in return. Back at 2 Platoon's camp Graham fell the section out and arranged to get some washbasins and a jerry can of water so they could rinse off the sand.

“I want a bath!” Lucy moaned.

“You smell like you do,” Andrews commented.

“Shut up Andrews!” Lucy spat back.

Graham had to calm the situation, even as he watched CUO Masters talking to Capt Conkey over at the officer's camp. Then CUO Masters headed towards him. ‘Oh no,' Graham thought, his heart sinking.

CUO Masters moved both Graham's section and Stephen's over to near the officer's camp. While they were seating themselves Graham saw Lt Maclaren walk over to 4 Platoon. Then the questioning began. It was only about Halyday. Graham glanced at Roger and whispered, “Do you want to complain?”

Roger looked unhappy but shook his head. “No. What's the point?”

That was how Graham felt but, once started, the official process could not be stopped. Twenty minutes went by, making Halyday very unpopular with the others in the platoon. Finally everyone but Graham and Halyday were told they could return to the bivouac area. Capt Conkey led CUO Masters, Graham and Halyday over to where Lt Maclaren, CUO Grey and CSM Cleland stood with Pigsy, Waters, and Moynihan. The three bullies looked very hostile and resentful and that did nothing to calm Graham's anxiety.

Capt Conkey told Pigsy and Moynihan that they had to apologize to Halyday. They did so reluctantly, all the while flashing daggers at Graham. Graham and Halyday were then told to go. As they walked away Graham overheard Capt Conkey cautioning the three bullies. He said that, if there were any more incidents like it, he would consider discharging them and sending them home.

It was a very unhappy Graham who took his section to their evening meal. As he was collecting his food Pigsy walked by and ‘accidentally' bumped him. Some of Graham's custard spilled onto the ground. Pigsy hissed, “We will get you Kirk!”

That made Graham even more upset but he tried to hide it. He also noted Waters snarling at Halyday, who looked very pale and anxious. ‘Damn!' Graham thought. ‘I really wanted to enjoy this camp and do well. This is spoiling it.'

Kirsty was sympathetic and sat next to him while he ate. Stephen and Roger also sat with them. As he was eating Graham looked around. Several times he saw one of the bullies but each time he looked hastily away, then flushed with shame for being a coward.

Later, when he went to do his washing up, Graham found himself next to Peter. The two friends chatted about the camp and Graham told him about the problems with the bullies, and also how the bullies had been picking on Carnes. Peter said he'd also clashed with Pigsy and Co. He then hurried away, reminding Graham they had a night exercise to prepare for. After washing up Graham also hurried back towards his hutchie.

On the way he was joined by Kirsty, who had been washing up nearby. She grinned and flirted in such a friendly way that Graham's hopes went shooting up. He flirted back with what he thought were witty comments. Then they arrived back at the platoon area and had to end the conversation but by then Graham was feeling quite aroused and was amazed at how his mouth had gone dry and how fast his heart was beating. ‘Maybe?' he thought, exciting fantasies flitting through his mind. However the need to get the section ready for the night exercise drove these thoughts aside and he walked around urging the cadets to ensure they had their waterbottles full.

“Where are Andrews and Halyday?” he asked.

“They walked off along the track towards the road,” Pat replied.

‘Drat!' Graham thought, remembering Andrew's earlier crime. ‘I hope the little toads haven't snuck off to have a smoke.'

Dusk was setting in by then and Graham saw that there were only 15 minutes left before training began. ‘I'd better get them,' he thought. He set off walking quickly along the crest of Sandy Ridge past 1 Platoon and the meal area until he reached the vehicle track. There was no sign of anyone further along the ridge towards the Canning Road so he hurried on. A hundred paces further along the ridge the track skirted the very top of the gullies which led northwards to the Canning.

It was an obvious place for smokers to lurk so Graham moved off the track to look down the gullies. It was getting dark by then but even so he detected movement behind a big ironbark near the top of the next gully. A leg and a boot were sticking out. Mentally preparing himself to blast Halyday and Andrews if they were doing the wrong thing Graham strode angrily over to the tree. As he got closer the leg withdrew and a pale face peeked around the trunk, then vanished.