The Cadet Sergeant Major (30 page)

“Hurry up Sgt Griffin,” Graham called impatiently. “And Headquarters!”

Peter burned at the rebuke and turned to follow Graham's gaze. Marcia Denton was still fiddling with her pack and Parnell was filling a waterbottle.

“Hurry up you two!” he snapped.

When all were there Capt Conkey described the activity. Having all done it one or more times they understood how it worked. The course was a circular track with incidents placed along it amongst the dunes and rubber vines.

Capt Conkey said, “We will walk quickly round once so you all know the route, and where the control points, waiting areas and water points are. After that the CUOs and Sergeants can go off to inspect their platoons and to observe while the corporals give their Verbal Orders. While they do that the people on the stands will be positioned.”

Capt Conkey looked at Peter. “Sergeant Bronsky, I will allocate some incidents to HQ. You decide who the people are to go at each. All ready? Let's go.”

The course was set out in a rough oval shape and was about 4km in length. A waiting area was designated beside the first large dune. 1 Platoon would start there with Stephen as the controller. All patrols would go counter clockwise, with a 20 minute time separation.

Over in the main flood channel near where Pancho was captured the OC said he wanted two from HQ to pretend to be two lost enemy puzzling over their navigation. The first thought that sprang to Peter's mind was that he could organize things so that he was alone with Kate for most of the day. A fleeting hope of being able to convince her shimmered tantalizingly- before he resolutely banished it. ‘I will make sure she is nowhere near me!' he decided.

He pencilled a note and looked around, to be sure he would recognize the place again, then followed the others. Further down the flood channel, near where it curved to rejoin the river, the OC indicated an Immediate Ambush site.

“Three people. CUO Sherry and two from HQ,” he said. Peter at once nominated Allison and Marcia Denton.

The course then followed the track along the river bank through scrub and rubber vines. CUO Grenfell was named for a ‘Contact Front' incident. “I want the CUOs to act as enemy,” Capt Conkey explained. “It is an ideal opportunity to observe how both the corporals and cadets perform in a crisis.”

Another 50 metres on was a second Control Point. This was also the start point for 2 Platoon so Sgt Copeland was stationed there.

“Plenty of trees, Gwen, if a wild pig attacks,” Graham pointed out with a laugh as Gwen looked dubiously around the gloomy glade.

“You will have a radio and there will be other people within call,” Capt Conkey reassured her.

As he said that Peter had a sharp flashback to the three men and the thought crossed his mind that Gwen might be in danger if they came along. He opened his mouth to say so but then realized he would have to then explain how he knew about such people. So he closed his mouth and experienced another wave of shame.

The course then cut through rubber vines away from the river, across two low ridges to the overgrown flood channel below the high bank. In an open hollow Capt Conkey indicated where he wanted two people in an ‘Enemy camp' with hutchies and a smoky fire.

“Two medics,” he insisted. “With their First Aid Kit and stretcher.”

Peter ticked off his list: Kellie Jones and Leah Allen. They were happy with the task.

The course now went back upstream along the flood channel at the base of the bluffs. The area was a jungle of rubber vine with animal pads through it. One of these had been cut wider to make an obvious track.

“Three here in an ambush- with a booby trap across the track, a trip wire with a ‘Party Popper',” Capt Conkey pointed.

“Staff Sergeant Costigan, Corporal Lacey, Corporal Parnell,” Peter said. They uttered enthusiastic sounds and nodded. Peter was now worrying. He had given all of HQ a job except himself, Kate, Henning, Martin and Ramsey. That decided him. Kate could go with Ramsey as the ‘lost navigators'.

He took the next job himself with LCpl Martin- the ‘Body and the Sniper'- in a nice little dell with a shady tree with soft, green grass under it. The body was to be there, in the open so the patrol could see it as they approached. Several thickets of weeds and rubber vines provided ample cover for the sniper.

“We can take turn and turn about,” he said to Martin, who grinned happily at the prospect.

Fifty metres further on Henning was stationed as the ‘Unexpected Prisoner'. He was to wait till the scouts were close, then step out with his hands up. A hundred metres further along CUO Bates was positioned for another frontal contact. After two hundred more they reached the well-worn cattle pad which went led from the bivouac area up to the safety vehicles.

“Three Platoon Start Point,” Capt Conkey said. “Sergeant Rankin, you will be here with a water point. Keep moving full jerry cans down from the vehicles and empty ones up.”

On along the vine-choked depression for another 150 metres- Cpl Brown for a contact front. Then a trip wire across the track. They came to the junction with Quilp Creek. The creek cut across the flood channel in a deep erosion gully where it had breached the high dunes. The sandy bed led under several very large overhanging trees.

CUO White with Clyde, Fisk and Bax were to go there in another camp. This was easy as it was in fact 4 Platoon's bivouac area. In the dell beyond it, where Peter had embraced Kate, the OC indicated 4 Platoon's Waiting Area.

“Sergeant Griffin will be here,” he explained. “Now, it will work like this. The platoons will all move to their waiting areas at the same time, at zero nine hundred. The sergeants will move them there by a route which avoids the course. Sergeants you will all have a radio. When you are in position let us know. Lt Maclaren will be running the activity and he will tell you when to send off the first patrol. They go counter-clockwise at twenty minute intervals. When a section reaches your checkpoint note the time. If need be hold them until twenty minutes after the previous one. Have you all got that?”

They assured him they understood.

“Where will you be sir?” Sgt Griffin asked.

“To begin with the CSM and I will be going with Cpl Doyle to find this arm,” Capt Conkey replied grimly. “After that we will just walk around the course observing.”

Peter felt a sharp chill. It was as though a cloud had suddenly covered the sun, yet he knew it was shining brightly from a clear blue sky. He looked at Kate and around the dell and bit his lip.

‘If only!'

The group walked back downstream along the main grassy flood channel. Crane and Nellis were to provide an incident there, a ‘contact rear' where they would stroll along behind the patrol until noticed. By then Kate was giving Peter questioning looks.

“You and Cadet Ramsey will be the lost navigators,” he said. Then he wondered: ‘Was that relief on her face?' Or did she despise him for not organizing it so they could be together?

It was a very unhappy Peter who followed Capt Conkey back to the bivouac area.

Back at Coy HQ the OC faced the group. “Lt Maclaren will be running this activity. I will be going with the QM, CSM, Cpl Doyle and his 2ic to investigate this story about an arm sticking out of the mud.”

That started a wave of murmuring and curious glances. Capt Conkey held up his hand for silence. “CUO Bates, send Cpl Doyle and LCpl Melchert to me at once. The remainder of his section can wait at the control point until we return. I am hoping we will only be a couple of hours.”

Stephen interjected. “Don't forget you will be following Corporal Doyle sir. It could be much longer.”

There was a ripple of laughter. Capt Conkey gave a wry grin. “Thank you for that advice Sgt Bell. Let's not be too unkind. Now, platoon commanders and sergeants go and inspect your people. Sickies to the medics. Off you go.”

The group dispersed amid a loud buzz of conversation, mostly speculation about the body. Graham caught at Peter's sleeve. “Pete, you will have to inspect HQ. But make it quick. You need to have them in position by nine.”

“I know. That's no problem. Good luck.”

Graham made a face. “I hope we don't find anything. I've seen enough dead bodies to last me a lifetime.”

Peter nodded. It made him feel ill just thinking about it and he was very relieved he did not have to go with the search. Vivid images of the murdered man they had pulled out of Lake Tinaroo in July caused him to shiver. With an effort he shook off the feelings and moved over to the bivouac area. There he began worrying about inspecting Kate. As soon as he got there he ordered HQ into line with their gear and began the inspection. As he got closer to Kate he became increasingly nervous. But when he got to her she just stared through him with a wooden expression on her face. He gave her and her gear a perfunctory scrutiny and quickly moved on.

Peter had HQ in their positions on the contact course ten minutes early. Then there was nothing to do but wait. He and LCpl Martin sat in the shade and kept a lookout along the track. There was no danger of them being surprised as there were two incidents before theirs and they clearly heard the yelling and bang! bangs! at the first.

“Sounds like the medics getting cleaned up,” Peter commented.

LCpl Martin grinned. “I'd like to clean them up,” he said with a leer. “They are a pair of real horny chicks.”

“You reckon?”

“Too right. And they are both ‘goers',” Martin added.

“So people say,” Peter replied, his voice heavy with scepticism.

“They do. They went off with Crane an' Brown last night,” Martin insisted, more than a tinge of envy in his voice.

“When was that? I saw them walking around,” Peter replied.

“They did. I seen ‘em. Well, I seen ‘em go off together- an' they didn't come back for about an hour,” Martin said.

Peter bit his lip. ‘Poor Graham!' he thought. Then he remembered his own transgressions and blushed. Another unpleasant thought surfaced. “What about Erika Goltz?” he asked.

“Aw her! What a troll!” Martin cried. “She's even hotter.”

“Where was she last night?”

“Her an' Costigan were together; or so I heard,” Martin replied.

That made Peter feel even worse. He knew how much the OC and Graham wanted a trouble-free camp, yet all this was going on. And the chief perpetrators of the mischief were the very people they were most depending on to stop it: the sergeants. It made him burn with shame. A wave of nausea swept up from his stomach.

Movement in the rubber vines ended the conversation. A patrol was coming. Peter sent Martin to his hide and sprawled himself in the middle of the grassy glade.

A few minutes later a person appeared around a rubber vine- a girl. She saw him at once and crouched back under cover. Out of his half-closed eyes Peter recognized her. ‘Graham's girl,' he thought. As Graham's best friend he had known Margaret for years and thought her a very nice person. He knew from seeing her in some desperate situations that she had plenty of guts. ‘A good kid,' he thought. He met her eye and she grinned. Peter smiled back then remembered he was supposed to be a dead body. A body! That gave him a jolt.

‘Graham is looking for a real body right now.' It made him queasy just thinking about it. He noted a second head peer through the rubber vines- Cadet Robinson. Margaret gave the silent signal for the section commander to come and look. Then she looked carefully around, a frown creasing her usually cheerful, freckled face.

‘I wish I had a girl like Margaret,' he thought wistfully. ‘Graham is a mug if he lets her go.' That made him think of Graham's little sister Kylie. She was Margaret's best friend and he knew she liked him. But Kylie had not joined the cadets. She was more into ballet and that sort of thing.

More movement. Cpl Brassington appeared briefly. Peter watched with interest as she took very firm control on the situation. From under cover Barbara signalled up her gun group and gave them quick instructions while pointing where she wanted them to go. Peter watched as LCpl Leroy began to speak back and pointed the other way.

“Don't argue LCpl Leroy!” Barbara snapped. “Just do what you are told.”

Leroy did, though with ill-grace. A smile touched Peter's lips. ‘Good, Graham was right.'

The section did a very good job and did not fall into the trap. The scouts were sent to circle around behind the bushes and not in the clearing, covered by the machine gunners. Margaret spotted Martin's boots, signalled ‘enemy', then, a little hesitantly, went “Bang!”

Peter complimented them on their effort after the area had been searched. “That way Corporal Brassington,” he said, pointing along the flood channel. “And well done.”

As they moved on Peter noted Clayfield in the rifle group. He looked tired but determined. Even better Peter noted the girl ahead of him turn and smile, then signal to Clayfield to follow. ‘He seems a bit happier with that section,' Peter thought. He knew Barbara would not tolerate bullying or harassment. ‘She's a good corporal. She will make a great sergeant, or even a CSM,' he mused.

Peter became the sniper for the next patrol. This was Fiona Davies' section. Her scouts were Cadets Tully and Livingstone and they let her down badly. Tully saw the body and signalled. Livingstone joined him. But, instead of signalling up the section commander they both walked forward into the clearing and stood over the ‘body'.

Peter saw Fiona's annoyed expression when she rounded the bend in the track. She opened her mouth to call them back. Too late. “Bang! Bang!” Peter cried.

Later he summed it up. Fiona made a good effort to regain control. She positioned her MG group correctly and led the Rifle Group through in a flank assault.

‘She's got what it takes,' he decided.

Then it was his turn to be the body again. ‘Should be Roger's section next,' he thought. ‘I hope he doesn't muff it.'

Roger didn't. He had good scouts: Walsh and Szelag, and a really good 2ic in Pat Sheehan. The section worked well as a team.

“That was good,” Peter told them afterwards. “A real workmanlike job.”

Anne Hopewell's section was next. Peter was the sniper. They didn't do very well and got themselves all mixed up. Anne got flustered and it took her a while to sort out the confusion. Finally they got it right. Peter took his turn as the body and waited.

25 minutes later Lofty Ward's section suddenly materialized behind Martin. Peter had not even heard them coming.

“Good job Lofty. Well done,” he complimented. Lofty turned to Wendy Werribee, his 2ic, and grinned. They both put up their left hands and clapped them together. Her eyes sparkled with pleasure. ‘Hmmm,' Peter thought. ‘They are a good team too. I just hope Lofty isn't getting too close to Wendy.'

Peter moved into the vines to be the sniper. Time dragged by. 1100 arrived. The air in the hollow became quite hot. There was no breeze. Bees hummed and cicadas whined. Peter felt drowsy. He perspired and was annoyed by flies. He wriggled into a more comfortable position. For a while he watched a line of ants trekking along a branch and up a vine. Something scuttled in the dead leaves. Only a lizard.

Where was the next section? Peter listened. Was that whispering he could hear? He wasn't sure. He swivelled his eyes. He thought he heard more rustling somewhere behind him. He lay still, eyes searching. A cramp began to develop. Time dragged by.

There was the sound of a twig snapping behind Peter. He screwed his head around. Cadet Hodgins was there, a grin all over his face, the stick he was pretending was a rifle held only centimetres from Peter's back.

“Gotcha Sarge!” he cried.

That was Charlie Cox's section. Hodgins had seen the body and they had crawled quietly into fire positions. It had been a good bit of scouting.

Peter was then the body again. He had a big drink before stretching himself out on the grass. It was very still. A crow ‘caaarked' in the distance. Insects hummed. Sweat trickled down his back. He went to sleep.

He could not remember the details of the dream, just that it was dark and horrible and the dead body was stumbling as it chased him. The corpse had outstretched, clawing hands of rotting green flesh. Peter tried to run and was ensnared by the rubber vines. A revolting claw reached out to grip his shoulder. He tried to scream but could only manage a groan.

“Sarge! Sarge! Are you alright?”

Peter opened his eyes and looked up. Cadet Bragg was shaking him by the shoulder. Peter blinked in the bright sunlight and rubbed his eyes. He felt awful: a foul taste in his mouth, throbbing headache, skin sticky with sweat. The shade had moved and he was lying in the sun. Cpl Scott and two others from his section stood next to Bragg.

‘The body! No- just a dream. What about our ambush? Why doesn't Martin fire?' Peter wondered. He rolled over and looked around. Martin stood under guard.

“He was asleep too,” Cpl Scott said.

Peter sat up and groaned.

“You OK Sarge? You look like death warmed up,” Scott said.

“Yeah. Just a bit tired,” Peter replied. He thought of The Body. Had they found it? “Is Doyle back?” he asked.

“Dunno. Don't think so,” Cpl Scott replied.

After Scott's came Laidley's section. Peter thought they were a disorganized rabble. ‘The real leader of this mob is the 2ic,' he decided. He noted Dave Kenny down as worth promoting.

Then came Erika Goltz's section. They did everything wrong. The whole section crowded into the clearing to look at Peter, who was taking his turn as the body. Martin fired at them and cadets went in all directions. They ignored the corporal's orders and back answered her.

‘Well,' Peter mused. ‘That's what they think of her. The book is right. Familiarity breeds contempt!'

Gallon's section came through next. They managed, except for Cactus, who got all tangled up in the rubber vines. Gallon shrieked at him and LCpl Wakely yelled, “Get a move on, you stumble bum!” Cactus glared at him and then sulked.

Frederick's section made a good job of it. The scouts were the two girls: Wallis and Morrow and they suspected the plot instantly. Tracey Rowley, the 2ic, then took control and it all flowed.

‘Good teamwork,' Peter decided. ‘Even if the boss wasn't really in charge.' He made more notes, before taking over as ‘body'.

It was 1400 by then. Peter nibbled biscuits and had a drink.

Martin look back along the track. “That is all of them, isn't it?” he asked.

“No. Doyle's section still has to come through,” Peter replied with a shake of his head. “We will get ready anyway.”

Cpl Doyle's section did arrive, half an hour later. Peter could hardly restrain his curiosity. As soon as the action (bungled!) was over he asked Doyle. “Corporal Doyle, was it a body you saw?”

Doyle appeared to change colour to a sickly white. His eyes opened wide. “Too right it was! It looked even worse in the daylight. The OC reckoned he'd been dead only a day or so. It...he, hasn't really started to smell yet.”

Peter felt bile rise in his throat. “It was a bloke was it?” He felt gripped by a morbid fascination.

Doyle nodded. “Yeah. It was a man's arm. Had some tattoos on it. The OC reckoned he'd been buried in the mud and the wild pigs came along and rooted him up, just enough so the arm was exposed. They had a bit of a chew on it.”

“Doyle!” Martin cried in horror. He looked very pale.

“Did you dig him up?” Peter asked.

“No fear! The OC went and had a good look then took us all away so we wouldn't disturb things too much. He and Lt Hamilton are there with the police now.”

Peter felt his stomach turn over. A nagging sense of dread settled in the bottom of his chest. This was followed by a feeling of chill which made him break into goose bumps and his hair stand on end. While he had been pretending to be a ghost and using dummies to scare people there had been a real corpse nearby!

“Where was it... is it?”

“You know the big slimy waterhole where the CSM was?” Doyle replied. In response to Peter's nod he added, “Well it was in the next flood channel over, away from the river.”

Peter shivered. Only about a hundred metres from where they had been! “You'd better keep going Corporal Doyle,” he instructed. Doyle took his section off and Peter sat down to discuss the find with Martin.

At 1445 Lt Maclaren came along with the other ‘enemy' from the start point of the circuit. “We can roll things up,” he said. An outburst of yelling and noise indicated that Doyle's section had encountered the next contact, so they walked along, collecting Henning on the way. They arrived just as CUO Bates sent Cpl Doyle's section on. Checkpoint 3 was just ahead and they found Capt Conkey and Graham there.

“Time to finish 2ic,” Capt Conkey said. “Corporal Doyle's section has completed three quarters of the circuit and everyone else is finished and back getting ready for a swim. We will end the exercise now.” Capt Conkey turned to look. “Corporal Parnell, would you mind going on around the circuit and telling all the staff and enemy to move in? Take Corporal Martin with you.”