| Subject: JLRRA (Pt3) - |
Author:
Dave P.
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Date Posted: 18:05:53 04/19/05 Tue
I hated school. I was convinced I was a thick git and would never amount to anything, particularly as that was what my old headmaster told me when I left school. In fact, he went further and told me that I would, in all probability, end up inside as I was a waste of space. Remember when I told you about passing the aptitude tests with flying colours? I was totally shocked because it went against everything that I was being told by my school. Imagine my horror then, when I went to Milne troop and found out I had to go back to school. All our military training was to be augmented by education every alternate day. But what a difference from school! The teachers where nearly all military with a few civvies. They actually treated us like grown ups with regular smoke breaks and never talking down to us and always taking the time to explain things if you were having trouble understanding the lesson. Within 12 months I had my ACE 2nd class under my belt and was well on the way to my 1st class. I actually got four subjects at the end of that year, English, Math, Physics and Map reading and after being told that that was all I needed to get to WOI (RSM was the pinnacle of my ambition with no thoughts of commission or higher education) so I sort of switched into low gear and coasted for the rest of my boys service.
So, first positive aspect, an education. Second positive aspect, after only twelve months at Bramcote, I was 5' 9" and 11st ( I grew so quick, in fact, that there was some concern that I was growing too fast) but it was just the change to a good diet, regular exercise and, most of all, clean air! Birmingham in those days, like most UK major cities, was smog bound for most of the summer months (the Clean Air Act was only introduced in 1967, I think?) and most of my contemporaries that grew up and stayed in Brum are only an average 5' 6".
Third positive aspect, I guess? I grew up fast! From sniveling fifteen year old to confident, trained soldier in two quick years. There was a bit of a downside to this though, a thing I have always been a little disappointed by. I missed being a teenager. I went from boy to man with such an accelerated learning curve, that I missed out on the 'silly' years. Some may say "not a bad thing" but somehow I feel there is something missing. This wasn't helped by the fact that, 12 days before my 19 birthday, I was married with a sprog on the way. Nothing to do with the Army, of course, and I have no regrets about marrying Norma and having any of my 5 kids (another pointer to how grown up I had become) but it didn't help. The other little disappointment I have, is that I never quite lived up to the promising start. Not altogether my fault, I'm bound to say, but the way that the Army looked upon the results of the Junior Leader programme. Mostly with disdain, I'm sorry to say. We were tended to be treated as upstarts who, given the chance, would tell our grannies how to suck eggs. Despite the fact that most of us were better trained and qualified than the average Gunner with five years in. A case in point! The J/RSM. The top dog, head honcho of the Regt had proven himself and, as a reward, was entitled to muster into mans service with the rank of L/Bdr. To my knowledge, NO Junior RSM EVER took up that entitlement because he would have been ripped to shreds by the regulars he was joining. It took me three years to get my first and only stripe, and only then after coming 1st on a Junior Sigs Instructor course, attending one of the Army's toughest outward bound course in Norway (to prove my character?) and completing an NCO's Cadre course. Is it any wonder I became disillusioned? Maybe, but I still wouldn't have missed it for the world.
Right, back on track...............stay tuned
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