The Cadet Corporal

by Christopher Cummings

  “Oh yeah!” Brown relied with a sneer. He clenched his fists and began to shape up but Graham sensed he wasn’t very keen. By now other cadets had begun to form an audience.

  CUO McAlistair’s voice cut over the babble. “What the hell is going on here? You two put your fists down!” He shoved in between Graham and Brown.

  Graham did so. After a moment Brown did likewise. CUO McAlistair looked from one to the other. “What the devil is this all about?” he demanded.

  “Brown hit me with a stone,” Graham said.

  “Did not!” Brown replied hotly.

  “Did so!” Graham cried angrily.

  “Prove it,” Brown snapped.

  “That will do!” CUO McAlistair ordered. “Both of you be quiet. Speak when you are asked to. Now, Cpl Kirk, what happened?”

  Graham described what had happened. Brown denied it, adding, “He’s just trying to get me into trouble sir.”

  “Why would he do that?” CUO McAlistair asked.

  “Because he’s a crawler who wants to be a sergeant and he’s jealous,” Brown replied. “He wants to make himself look good by making the rest of us look bad.”

  The accusation really stung Graham and he strongly denied it, although he knew he did badly want to be selected to be a sergeant the following year. CUO McAlistair could not decide so told them both to stop their nonsense and then ordered Graham back to his own platoon. Graham went, seething with the apparent injustice.

  Only to find he was now late and in trouble with CUO Masters and Sgt Grenfell. The platoon inspection was under way. Roger had the rest of the section lined up but Graham had to try to justify his absence to an irritated CUO and sceptical sergeant. He then stood at attention at the end of his section, his emotions seething. ‘Damn! If I keep getting into trouble I will never get to be a sergeant,’ he thought unhappily. Once again the statistics haunted him: half the corporals would miss out. He did not want to be one of the unlucky ones.

  As soon as they were fallen out to get ready for company parade. Graham turned to Roger. “Thanks Roger,” he said.

  “That’s OK,” Roger replied. “Besides, they were all ready on time this morning so it was no problem,” he replied.

  Graham looked at the others, noting Halyday’s cheeky grin. “Thanks gang,” Graham mumbled. He then had to explain to Roger what the incident at 1 Platoon had been about. By the time he had done this it was time for parade. As the platoon marched across to parade Graham noted the Hutchie Men, again dressed in their Yowie Suits. They were heading off from the officer’s fire in the direction of the army camp. Obviously they were going to keep an eye on the rival units again. ‘Good old Capt Conkey,’ Graham thought.

  After the company parade the unit was organised for training. The whole day was devoted to individual fieldcraft training for the junior platoons. HQ had three tasks: signals and medical training, plus maintaining the OP to warn of any other unit trying to send patrols across the highway. 4 Platoon were to act as ‘enemy’ for the juniors while the Hutchie Men were to do recons of the other cadet units.

  For 2 Platoon the morning was taken up by two observation activities, rotating with 1 Platoon. The first activity was a moving observation. This was set up by the officers along the small dry creek that ran down from 1 Platoon’s area to the highway. Along about 500 metres of the creek were placed 25 items such as pieces of webbing, tins, trip wires, pretend land mines, clothing and small objects. Cadets were sent along this one at a time, 3 minutes apart. They had to try to locate all the objects and note their sequence.

  CUO Masters went along first and Sgt Grenfell went last. He timed the cadets. In each section the corporal went first and the 2ic last. While they waited for their turn the cadets sat under the trees near 1 Platoon. 4 Section went first so Graham led the way. He had done several similar exercises and knew what to do. He enjoyed this one and only missed one item along the way.

  At the other end Graham was sent across to the second small creek and sat in the shade of a Burdekin Plum tree while waiting for the remainder of his section. Kirsty was next to arrive so he then had a few minutes to sit and talk to her alone. The first thing he did was test how she felt about him.

  “You are really nice,” he said. “I’m glad you were with me during the lantern stalk last night.”

  Kirsty shook her head and smiled. “It was good fun,” she replied.

  Graham hesitated over saying what was on his mind, knowing in his heart that it was wrong. But he was now driven by the urgent desire of lust and badly wanted to be with Kirsty (Or, he was honest enough to admit to himself, with any girl who would let him). So he moistened suddenly dry lips and asked, “Would you mind if I kissed you?”

  She smiled. “I’d like that.”

  Graham felt a surge of joy that was almost immediately replaced by worry about things going too far so he again hinted that they behave. He also did not want to incur her wrath on the old ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ principle so he said, “I want getting to know you to be really special, so I would like to wait till we are home after camp.”

  She went all doe-ey eyed at that and said, “You are really sweet.”

  He wasn’t sure if she accepted this but they had no further chance to talk because Pat finished the course and joined them. Pat and Kirsty struck up a conversation so Graham lay back and tried to sleep. The ants and the heat made this ambition difficult to achieve and he was only drowsy when Roger arrived and CUO Masters told Graham to take his section up to Lt McEwen at the flat rocks near the head of the valley.

  This was only 500metres and the rocks were visible so they just walked up the shallow valley beside the second creek. Lt McEwen told them to sit in the shade near the members of 1 Platoon who still had to complete that activity. Mostly these were 1 and 2 Sections. Graham had no particular friends in either section but Roger struck up a conversation with LCpl Lofty Ward. Once again Graham thought it would be a good opportunity to catch up on his sleep so he lay back and pulled his hat over his eyes.

  As he lay there he thought hard about Kirsty and whether she really liked him. ‘What if she is just having a bit of fun?’ he worried. ‘I don’t mind getting into trouble for true love,’ he thought. But to go down over some silly crush did not appeal at all. ‘But how do I tell?’ he wondered. It was a whole new realm of uncertainty and he looked at Kirsty with new eyes. ‘Does she like me, or is she just playing with me?’

  By her manner she really liked him. She smiled and flirted and Graham was moved to flirt back. There was a lot of eye contact and frequent secret smiles and once he was moved to hand her a tiny flower he plucked from the dry grass. As he did she went all coy and lowered her eyelids but smiled. Graham then realised that Lt McEwen was standing watching and he felt a rush of anxiety. Blushing with guilt he looked away and began talking to Pat. ‘I hope Lt McEwen didn’t notice,’ he thought.

  The activity Lt McEwen was running was a static observation. Cadets were moved one at a time to the other side of the rocks where they stood and looked. 25 items were placed within 25 metres and they had 3 minutes to spot them all and point them out to the OOC or CUO. Graham got 24 of them, failing to notice a shiny brass cartridge case right near his feet. He then went up the gully to another tree to sit in another waiting area. Here he lay down again and this time, heat and ants notwithstanding, he did go to sleep.

  It was a mistake though because when Sgt Grenfell woke him up half an hour later he felt sweaty and even tireder. His mouth had a horrible taste and his eyes felt dry and scratchy. It was 1200 by then and the platoon had all completed the activity. CUO Masters led them back to their platoon area and they were fallen out to wait for lunch.

  Lunch was cold meat and salad which Graham did not particularly like but he drank two big cups of cold lemon cordial as it was now very hot and he was very thirsty. After that he went and lay down in his hutchie to get some more rest. He did not succeed as Roger joined him and said, “You should go to sleep ear
lier at night.”

  That really twitched Graham’s guilty conscience. ‘Did Roger see me talking to Kirsty last night?’ he wondered. But he did not dare ask so he just grunted and kept his eyes closed until they were called out for the afternoon training.

  That was an individual observation and contact course along the creeks towards the Canning and 4 Platoon acted as the enemy. Graham suspected he might have a few problems but was unprepared for quite how many. The exercise developed into a major drama which he really regretted.

  CHAPTER 13

  OBSERVATION COURSE

  The afternoon exercise was conducted in the creeks and gullies running north from Sandy Ridge to the Canning River. Both of the creeks used had their beginnings near the camp and came together down near the North Gravel Scrape. Two observation courses were laid out. One went down the creek which led off to the left from beside the Scrubby Creek track. This went all the way to the junction of the two creeks. From there the second course led back up the creek that ended near 1 Platoon’s bivouac area.

  Along each course cadets from 4 Platoon were positioned, along with trip wires and pretend land mines. Cadets were sent along each course singly, depending on their good observation to detect and avoid the problems. The time between each cadet was 5 minutes. 1 Platoon was sent to the junction of the two creeks via the Canning Road. They were to work their way up, then cross to the other creek and go down it. At the same time 2 Platoon and some of HQ were to start down the other creek and then come back up the first one.

  Graham’s section was led across to the start point on the Scrubby Creek track by CUO Masters and CUO Grey. His section was then told to sit in the shade. They were told they would be moving after HQ. Graham was surprised to find Peter there.

  “I thought you were out on some sort of guard patrol,” Graham said.

  “I was,” Peter replied. “Corporal Forman is out there now with two others.”

  “See anything?”

  “Not a sausage,” Peter replied.

  Noting Carnes lying in the shade nearby Graham gestured with his head towards him. “How did Carnes go?”

  “Just sat there feeling sorry for himself,” Peter answered.

  “Do you know what his problem is?” Graham asked.

  Peter shook his head. “No. Didn’t ask him. I’m not pleased he got stuck in my section.”

  At that moment CUO Grey called on the first HQ person. That was Peter. He stood up and moved off. “Good luck,” Graham called after him.

  “I prefer to use skill,” Peter quipped. He gave a grin and added, “It is only Four Platoon we are fighting and they aren’t nearly as good as they think they are.” With that he walked off and vanished into the head of the gully.

  ‘Four Platoon!’ Graham thought. The idea made him feel distinctly anxious and he wished he didn’t feel the need to go to the toilet. ‘It’s just all that cordial reaching the bottom of the plumbing,’ he tried to rationalise. However, after a moment’s reflection, he decided that a nervous pee before action might be a good idea.

  But where? He stood up and looked around. The vehicle track ran along the crest of a very gentle ridge covered with sparse grass and scattered ironbarks. The nearest privacy appeared to be about fifty metres away across the track, where several small gullies led down towards Scrubby Creek. These were the same gullies where he and Roger had been kicked by Pigsy and Co. ‘No chance of anyone being there now,’ he decided. 1 Platoon was down near the North Gravel Scrape and 3 Platoon and the rest of HQ were doing the observation courses he had done during the morning.

  With that in mind Graham started walking off through the bush. He had only gone twenty paces when he heard boots in the grass behind him. He glanced back and saw that it was Kirsty. ‘Oh blast!’ he thought. That caused him to cast a guilty look back to where the platoon lay or sat in the grass. No-one seemed to be taking any notice.

  “Where are you going Graham?” Kirsty called.

  “You should call me Corporal Kirk,” he replied.

  At that Kirsty poked her tongue. “Oh poo! No-one can hear. Where are you going?”

  “To have a leak, so go back to the others please,” Graham replied.

  “Oh! Do I have to? I want to be with you.”

  At that Graham’s heart rate shot up and he remembered previous conversations. “I don’t want to offend you and I don’t want to get into trouble. Please go back.”

  Kirsty pouted but stopped. But Graham was now both interested and aroused. By then they were well down the slope and out of sight of the others. He said, “Wait there. I will be back in a minute.” With that he continued walking for another twenty paces and went down into the head of a gully so that he was sure Kirsty could only see his head. Graham stopped and looked back towards the track and then scanned the open country out between where he was and Scrubby Creek. There was no-one in sight. His heart was now hammering fast and he was amazed at how dry his mouth felt and at the sweat which had broken out on his hands. After another quick glance around he undid his fly and began to pee.

  Footsteps behind him made him glance back. It was Kirsty. She was walking closer and out to one side. “Kirsty! Stay back,” he cried.

  “But I’ve never seen it,” Kirsty answered, but she stopped walking.

  Graham was astonished. “You must have,” he answered.

  “Oh only little boys,” Kirsty answered. “I’ve never seen a man do it.”

  ‘Man!’ thought Graham. It was balm to his male ego and he was sorely tempted to let her look. But fear of getting into trouble joined to anxiety at not being able to physically perform and he shook his head.“No.”

  “I won’t tell,” Kirsty replied. Her face was now alive with interest.

  “That’s what they all say!” Graham answered.

  Kirsty took a few more paces towards him and Graham felt a surge of anxiety that all but dried up the flow. “I won’t tell, truly,” she said, her voice earnest.

  “Promise?”

  “Yes, promise,” Kirsty said with a nod.

  It was that word that decided Graham. Already he was being torn by savage memories of how just such a situation as this had gotten him into terrible trouble a year earlier. He had been in trouble with his parents, her parents and the school. One consequence was him being given the choice of joining the cadets or being expelled from the school. ‘Capt Conkey had faith in me and has saved me,’ he thought. ‘And I promised to behave.’

  So he stopped and shook his head. “No, please go back,” he said as firmly as he could. Kirsty pouted and looked unhappy and tried to argue. “Oh please,” she said. She increased the pressure by stepping closer and craning to look. Graham felt his determination waver and he was about to say yes when a movement in the gully twenty metres away caught his eye.

  ‘Oh hell! Who is that?’ he wondered as near panic surged through him. It had been a face- a camouflaged face under a scrim net- but a face all the same. ‘Yowie men,’ was his first thought. That brought waves of scorching shame as he imagined the teasing and blackmail he would have to endure from his enemies as the word inevitably spread.

  “There’s someone in that creek bed,” Graham cried, his voice hoarse with lust and fear. He quickly did up his trousers. At the same time he stepped behind a tree. As he did he distinctly saw another camouflaged head move up behind a clump of grass.

  Kirsty gasped and went pale. Graham walked five paces sideways up the slope so he could get a better view down the gully. That brought into his view four shaggy bundles of scrim but also some details such as legs and army boots- cadets in camouflage and Yowie Suits. By then Graham felt so ill he wanted to just faint. Then his eyes detected a yellow epaulet. ‘Not ours! Heatley or St Michaels,’ he thought.

  That changed things a bit. ‘Maybe they didn’t see?’ he thought in desperation. He grabbed Kirsty’s arm. “An enemy patrol, from Heatley. Quick, back up the slope before they capture us.”

  They turned and ran. As they did Graham
got another shock. Walking along the vehicle track down from camp were Capt Conkey and Lt Maclaren! And even as Graham noted them both officers turned their heads to look. Graham’s heart turned over with a sickening lurch but he tried to act as though nothing unusual was going on.

  “Sir! Sir! There’s a recon patrol from Townsville just down there in the gully,” he cried.

  Capt Conkey frowned. “What are you two doing down there?” he asked.

  ‘What do I say?’ Graham wondered, flustering in panic. Instead of answering he called, “Four enemy Sir, in the little creek just there.”

  Capt Conkey frowned even more. “Where is your platoon?”

  ‘Oh bloody hell! I’m sunk!’ Graham thought. He pointed, “Just there sir.”

  And to his relief they were. He could see their heads above the grass. As he spoke CUO Masters and Sgt Grenfell stood up and looked towards them. By then Graham and Kirsty had reached Capt Conkey. To Graham’s intense relief Capt Conkey called CUO Masters over. “Quickly CUO Masters, get your platoon lined up in extended line along the track and sweep east towards Scrubby Creek,” he ordered. “There is a Heatley recon patrol in the gully just there.”

  In the rush of orders Graham took the opportunity to run off and get 4 Section lined up as far from Capt Conkey as he could. While he was still urging the section to spread out in extended line he heard a shout from Stephen. “There they go!”

  Graham looked and saw four shaggy creatures running off across the flat to the right. They vanished around the end of a low spur while CUO Masters shouted for 2 Platoon to run. It was good fun but they had no hope of catching the four intruders. The platoon had to change direction and the sections became mixed up. The less fit and the unenthusiastic fell quickly behind and after a hundred metres CUO Masters called a halt. Graham had to shout three times to get Halyday to stop. By then the four intruders had vanished into the thick cover along Scrubby Creek.