The Cadet Corporal

by Christopher Cummings

  THE

  CADET

  CORPORAL

  A North Queensland novel about Army Cadets

  C. R. CUMMINGS

  © Copyright C. R. Cummings 2007

  This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealings for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. The right of C. R. Cummings to be identified as the moral rights author has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000 (Commonwealth).

  1st Edition (Seaview Press)

  National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Cummings C. R.

  The Cadet Corporal: a North Queensland novel about army cadets.

  For secondary school age and young adults.

  ISBN 9781740084635 (pbk.). eBook ISBN: 978-0-9870620-6-2 (ebk)

  1. Military cadets – Queensland- Fiction. I. Title.

  A823.3

  This eEdition 2011 DoctorZed Publishing www.doctorzed.com

  eBook distributed by eDistributor

  BOOKS BY C. R. CUMMINGS

  THE GREEN IDOL OF KANAKA CREEK

  ROSS RIVER FEVER

  TRAIN TO KURANDA

  THE MUDSKIPPER CUP

  DAVEY JONES’S LOCKER

  BELOW BARTLE FRERE

  AIRSHIP OVER ATHERTON

  * THE CADET CORPORAL

  STANNARY HILLS

  COASTS OF CAPE YORK

  KYLIE AND THE KELLY GANG

  BEHIND MT. BALDY

  THE CADET SERGEANT MAJOR

  COOKTOWN CHRISTMAS

  THE SECRET IN THE CLOUDS

  THE WORD OF GOD

  THE CADET UNDER-OFFICER

  THE SMILEY PEOPLE

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Coward !

  Chapter 2: First Tests

  Chapter 3: In the Dark

  Chapter 4: Night Navex

  Chapter 5: ‘Hutchie Men !’

  Chapter 6: Temptation

  Chapter 7: Day Navex

  Chapter 8: Fieldcraft

  Chapter 9: Struggle of Wills

  Chapter 10: Lantern Stalk

  Chapter 11: Friction

  Chapter 12: Friction

  Chapter 13: Observation Course

  Chapter 14: ‘Don’t Drop the Soap !’

  Chapter 15: Trouble

  Chapter 16: Heated

  Chapter 17: Captain Conkey gets Angry

  Chapter 18: Hot Going

  Chapter 19: Black Knoll

  Chapter 20: In the Dark

  Chapter 21: Challenges in the Night

  Chapter 22: Under the Oc’s Eye

  Chapter 23: Under Pressure

  Chapter 24: Beside the Bunyip

  Chapter 25: On the Sand

  Chapter 26: Orders

  Chapter 27: The New Section

  Chapter 28: Moment of Truth

  Chapter 29: Decoys

  Chapter 30: Unravelled

  Chapter 31: Under the Bridge

  Chapter 32: Report

  Chapter 33: Leadership Evaluation

  Chapter 34: Campfire

  Chapter 35: Carnes

  Chapter 36: Hang On !

  Author Note

  CHAPTER 1

  COWARD !

  “You’re a coward Kirk. Yer’ gutless!”

  The jeering insult bit deep. 15 Year old Army Cadet Corporal Graham Kirk turned to face his accuser, the heat of his anger mixing with the chill of fear. He blinked to clear the sweat from his eyes while his mind raced in an attempt to find an easy way out of the crisis which had suddenly erupted. Five paces away stood the bane of his life: Cadet ‘Pigsy’ Pike. Behind and beside Pigsy stood his cronies: Waters, Franks and Moynihan. On the ground lay a cadet they were bullying.

  Pigsy sneered and bunched his fists onto his hips. “Well? Come on ya gutless wonder. Whatcha gunna do then eh?”

  Graham stared at Pigsy with a mixture of fear and distaste. His rational mind tried to tell him that theoretically the situation was simple to resolve. He was a corporal with two stripes on his sleeve and Pigsy was only a cadet with none. But he knew with gut-wrenching certainty that it was far from that simple. To start with they were only part-time army cadets, still at school and not covered by any sort of military law regulations to give him effective power. On top of that both boys were the same age and went to the same high school, as did the other bullies. Any confrontation would carry on long after the camp and could, Graham knew from bitter experience, make life a misery for months.

  Besides, Pigsy was considerably bigger, a hulking brute whose physical appearance matched his nickname: pale blue eyes close together, a scowling jowl, pug nose and close-cropped hair behind a receding forehead. Pigsy’s arms hung down like those of a gorilla and he had huge hands and feet. The feet looked even bigger, encased as they were in army boots. Graham had seen him use them to kick a person.

  ‘I could threaten to call the officers,’ Graham thought anxiously, glancing sideways to check that the object of the bullies’ attention, Cadet David Carnes, had regained his feet. Another glance flickered around the tops of the surrounding gully in the hope that one of the officers, or even a sergeant, might arrive. The confrontation was taking place in a shallow, gentle sided re-entrant among dry savannah bush. Only a hundred metres away were a whole company of cadets. The company was busy setting up camp, but none were visible.

  By this time Graham regretted he had ever walked down into the gully looking for a place to do a pee out of sight of the girls in the unit. Here he had come upon Pigsy and his toadies busy teasing and tripping Cadet Carnes. Carnes was only a new recruit and was a Year 8 student while Pigsy and his mates were, like Graham, Year 10s. It was obvious why Pigsy and Co. were there; they were a work party sent to dig the male latrine. Franks, who was a lance corporal, was obviously supposed to be in command. Equally obviously he wasn’t as he held a pick and had been digging when Graham had walked over the crest. Pigsy, needless to say, had no tool in his hands.

  Graham breathed deeply and tried to calm his heart rate. He wiped perspiration from his lips and blinked. ‘Blast!’ he thought. ‘Why did this have to happen?’ They had only arrived at the camp site half an hour earlier and he had been really looking forward to the camp. Once again he looked hopefully back to see if anyone of senior rank was visible.

  Pigsy clearly divined his thoughts. He gave an ugly laugh and said, “Hoping some officer will come along and save you are you, you snivelling little crawler?”

  At that Graham mentally winced. He knew that he could threaten to tell the officers but equally knew that, if he did, the gang would make his life hell in various ways. Instead he turned to the white-faced and crying Carnes. “Get back to your platoon Cadet Carnes,” he ordered, trying to keep the quaver of uncertainty out of his voice.

  “Stay here Carnes,” Pigsy countered.

  Carnes glanced fearfully from one to the other, uncertainty on every line of his face. Graham became exasperated. “Get going Cadet Carnes. That is an order.”

  “And I’m tellin’ you to stay here,” Pigsy growled.

  “Go!” Graham cried. “I’m the corporal. Do as I say.” Even as he said this Graham knew it would enrage Pigsy. Both he and Pigsy were ‘Second Year’ cadets but Graham had been chosen to go on the promotion course the previous December while Pigsy and his friends had not. That had caused festering resentment and many snide comments about ‘crawling’, ‘boot-licking’ and ‘being the officer’s bum boy’.

  His heart now hammering with anxiety Graham stepped closer to Carnes and pointed up the gully. “Get moving!”

  “You go and I’ll pulp ya!” Pigsy threatened. He also mo
ved a pace closer.

  Graham moved to stand between Pigsy and Carnes. He had a horrible sinking feeling that the whole situation was getting out of control and that he would have to do something. To his intense relief he heard Carnes go hurrying away up the slope, his boots rustling the tufts of dry grass and dead leaves that gave sparse covering to the ground.

  “You want a fight Kirk?” Pigsy asked, his eyes glittering with the challenge.

  “No,” Graham replied. He had trouble keeping his voice steady and his vision seemed to narrow down to just Pigsy.

  “That’s ‘cause you are gutless!” Pigsy taunted. “You are just a weakling; a gutless lump of shit.”

  Graham swallowed and wondered what to say. He had been in plenty of fights over the last few years and had even been suspended from school over it. Whatever else he wanted he didn’t want any more trouble like that. As well, he had been steadily absorbing the leadership ethos of the Australian Army and that did not include the use of physical violence to compel obedience. In fact it was specifically forbidden.

  Feeling very much caught in a cleft stick Graham tried to stare Pigsy down. The situation was not helped by Waters jeering and calling, “Smack him about Pigsy!”

  Graham knew that any comment about reporting them if they struck an NCO would lead to real aggravation as Pigsy had many lackeys who would do what he ordered. Instead Graham turned on his heel and strode away. It took an effort not to run and at every step he half-expected to be grabbed or hit.

  It was insults and jibes that followed. “Coward!”, “Gutless turd!”, “Officer’s pet!” they called.

  It hurt but Graham tried to rationalise his retreat as the best tactic in the circumstances. Even so he flamed with shame and wondered if he really was a coward. ‘What will I do when things really come to the crunch?’ he thought unhappily.

  At that moment a person appeared among the spindly, black-trunked ironbarks at the head of the re-entrant. It was the company sergeant major, Cadet Warrant Officer Cleland. The CSM pointed down the gully and shouted, “Hoy! You lot, get up here on the double!”

  Pigsy shouted back, his tone insolent. “We gotta dig a dunny.”

  “Dig a dunny SIR you mean Cadet Pike,” CSM Cleland snapped. “You can get that finished after the OC has done his briefing, now get up here.”

  By now Graham was half way up the side of the gully. Relief had swept over him to such an extent he felt ashamed of himself. ‘Am I really a coward?’ he wondered again. Also, his original problem still remained: the need to relieve himself. It was now becoming physically urgent. They had been travelling for nearly two hours after leaving the rifle range at Townsville earlier that morning and he was busting. So urgent did his need become when he thought about it that pains shot through him. He cast about for some cover, a gully or bushes. ‘I can’t wait till after the OC has finished his safety brief,’ he thought. From experience he knew that would take half an hour or more. Equally there was no way he wanted to try to do the pee in sight of Pigsy and Co. They would, he knew, tease him mercilessly.

  Over to his right was a small dip with several clumps of the small, spiky bushes which grew in the sandy soil. It wasn’t much cover but would have to do. He turned towards the bushes. That drew an instant comment from CSM Cleland. “Where are you going Cpl Kirk? Get back to your section and get them on parade.”

  “I need a leak CSM,” Graham replied, blushing with embarrassment as he did.

  “Humpf! Get a move on!” CSM Cleland snorted. He turned and strode away.

  By now Graham was so far up the slope that he could see the hutchies of the nearest platoon. These were only about 25 metres away but no-one was visible. Reaching the bushes he glanced around to check on Pigsy. The bullies were still fifty paces away and just visible. They had begun strolling in his direction.

  By this time Graham could not wait. As quickly as he could he undid his fly and started. Not wanting to allow Pigsy and Co to see it, and thus make insulting comments Graham half turned away from them.

  The approach of Pigsy and Co provided the incentive to make all the effort he could to finish. Already Graham could see them looking in his direction and it was obvious from the cruel grins that they had guessed what he was doing. Blushing with embarrassment he looked down and urged his body to complete its business.

  A giggle from the other direction attracted his attention. He glanced to his left. To his dismay he saw two heads emerging from the top of the next gully- two female heads. Even as he saw them he recognized them. Both were girls in his own section: Kirsty Weldon and Lucy Hind. It was also very obvious they could see what he was doing. Burning with shame he quickly turned away from them. That brought him into full view of Pike.

  “Don’t point that little thing at us Kirk!” Pike called.

  Hot and flustered Graham forced himself to stop and stuffed his member back into his trousers. With his back to the two girls, who had now walked up out of the gully, he did up his fly, then set off at a fast walk towards the platoon area. As he did Pike called again, “Bloody flasher! He was showing it off to the girls. Hey you sheilas, don’t look. You’ll die laughing!”

  Hot with shame Graham hurried on, sick with fear in case the girls complained to the officers. But there was annoyance too because the girls should not have been there. They had been told to go the other way to go to the toilet.

  Graham was now up on the flat, open ridge the unit was camping on. Sandy Ridge they nicknamed it because it was more sand than dry grass. The ridge was so wide and flat it extended for hundreds of metres in every direction. In the central area there were only a few trees and under the largest of these, a huge Ironbark, the company was assembling. Around the edges of the ridge were clumps of trees, mostly thin eucalypts. Among these was where the cadets were to camp.

  By the time Graham arrived at the big tree most of the company was already there. By then he was perspiring from the effort. He saw that his own platoon, 2 Platoon, was just arriving. As quickly as he could he reported to Sgt Grenfell, then looked to check how many of his section were there. A quick check showed five of them, including his 2ic (and close friend) Lance Corporal Roger Dunning. It was apparent that Roger had acted in his absence and had the section organized. The only ones not seated were the two girls walking across the flat behind him.

  Shameful memories made Graham fluster but he knew he had to act. He went to the back of the section and met the girls as they arrived. “Please don’t tell! I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were there,” he pleaded. The previous year he had got into real trouble over misbehaving with a girl and he did not want a repetition of that. On that occasion he had not even been in the cadets and the incident had been instrumental in his joining. Now being a cadet was so important to him that he was desperately anxious not to get into any more trouble. His heart was set on becoming a sergeant but he knew he had a real reputation to overcome.

  To his relief both girls smiled and giggled. “That’s alright,” Kirsty replied. “We didn’t really see.”

  In his relief Graham had to bite back a cheeky reply. Kirsty was only a new recruit, a Year 9 girl who had joined three weeks before. She was a slender blonde with no obvious female shape. Now, for the first time Graham really saw her. He noted the sparkling blue eyes full of mischief, the dimples, and the freckles which spotted the plain face and pale white skin. There was no way he would have described her as a beauty, unlike her companion Lucy. Lucy was another blonde, but had a ‘peaches and cream’ complexion and heart-stopping prettiness.

  The two girls were seated at the back of the section and Graham made his way to the front. As he turned to seat himself he met Kirsty’s eye and she gave him an impish smile. That sent his heart skipping, and his anxiety soaring. He knew he was a sucker for a pretty face and that women were his greatest weakness. He hoped they would not be his downfall. Knowing the strict rules in the cadets against ‘fraternisation’ and relationships, especially across the rank levels, he tried to cool t
he fire of optimistic speculation which had blazed up.

  Seeing the three bullies approaching helped. Before he sat down Graham glanced across to 3 Section and saw Cadet Carnes. Carnes was a thin, pasty-faced cadet who looked miserable most of the time. For a second Carnes met Graham’s gaze, then lowered his head so that all Graham could see was the top of his hat. ‘Poor bugger!’ he thought. ‘He looks as though he invites bullying.’

  When he was seated at the front of 4 Section Graham tried to relax as CSM Cleland checked with the sergeants that all the cadets were present. The company was seated in section lines behind their corporals so that the whole unit fitted into a very small area and it was easy for the CSM and sergeants to check if everyone was there. When this was done CSM Cleland turned and strode off in the direction of a clump of trees a hundred metres to the left front. Four vehicles were parked there and a group of people stood in the shade talking: the Officers of Cadets and Cadet Under-Officers.

  The OC, Capt Conkey, a tubby, middle-aged man who was also Graham’s History and Geography teacher, walked back with the CSM. He was followed by the four Cadet Under-Officers. The CUOs were cadets who had reached the highest rank they could and they were the cadet equivalent of a 2nd lieutenant. All were 17 and were in Year 12 at school.

  Graham made himself comfortable, knowing what was coming. It was done at the start of every weekend bivouac and camp: a Ground Orientation and Safety Brief. The only difference was that, at the end of the briefing Capt Conkey got every new cadet to come out the front and promise personally to him that they would do the right thing and behave.

  As they did Graham had several sharp flashbacks to doing the same thing the previous year when he had joined cadets. Shame at the memory of breaking his promise now made him silently vow to try even harder to keep it. ‘Capt Conkey gave me a second chance,’ he thought. ‘The best I can do is repay him by not causing trouble.’

  That this might turn out to be more difficult than he had supposed became evident even as he thought it. One of the new cadets was Kirsty and as she walked back after making her promise to Capt Conkey she looked at Graham and smiled. It had a very unsettling effect. ‘Surely she isn’t giving me the eye?’ he thought. In his patchy experience of females he had suffered so many rebuffs that it did not seem likely. Even so it was food for ‘perhaps’ thoughts.