The Cadet Corporal

by Christopher Cummings

  When all were present CSM Cleland checked with the sergeants that no-one was missing, then called them to sit to attention. He handed over to Capt Conkey who then presented prizes. Capt Conkey reminded them of the story that the area had once been the stamping ground of a notorious bushranger: Captain Flashlight. “Capt Flashlight,” he said, “used to rob the stage coaches carrying gold from Charters Towers back in the 19th Century. He liked to camp along the banks of the rivers and it is along the rivers where the wildlife lives. Very common along the river are frogs. Four Section did not find the treasure, but they did win the frogs by coming third. Corporal Kirk, come out and collect your prize.”

  Graham stood up and walked over to Capt Conkey who was handed a packet of Chocolate Frogs by Lt Maclaren. Feeling both proud and embarrassed Graham shook hands with Capt Conkey and accepted the frogs. He then walked back to sit down, aware that half the company was clapping and the other half sneering or jeering.

  Capt Conkey then went on: “All those frogs along the river attract snakes, who love to eat fat, juicy frogs. Second prize is to Five Section, Corporal Copeland.”

  Gwen went out to receive a large packet of ‘Jelly Snakes’. That caused Kirsty to say, “Aw! I’d rather have the snakes.”

  At that Andrews retorted, “I’ll bet you would!”

  Graham blushed with guilty shame but also flared with anger, which he knew was jealousy. “None of that sort of talk Cadet Andrews!” he hissed, hoping the officers hadn’t heard. He also blushed again, knowing he was being a total hypocrite.

  First prize was to Peter’s Signal Section. They got a large packet full of gold wrapped chocolate honeycomb ‘Crunchie’ bars. The win was applauded and obviously did not cause any great jealousy or resentment. Capt Conkey then reminded them that were moving after lunch and that 4 Platoon would get orders as soon as the Hutchie Men had returned to report. Graham noted that even Capt Conkey now called them the Hutchie Men. As though on cue four shapeless, shaggy bundles of camouflage came up out of the gully near 2 Platoon’s area.

  “Hutchie Men!” Cadet Halyday cried.

  The company burst into spontaneous applause. The shaggy camouflaged heaps stopped, then bowed and waved their arms. Capt Conkey let the company cheer for a minute, then called for silence. “Alright Cpl Forman, get the Hutchie Men to fill out a patrol report, and make sure they mark things accurately on the new map enlargement. CSM, take charge of the others and get ready for lunch. Company Orders Group in one hour, that is all. Carry on.”

  CSM Cleland ordered the sergeants to move their platoons back to their areas and to get ready for lunch. Graham handed out the Chocolate Frogs but they were almost liquid from the heat so he just packed his in his basic pouch. Lunch was nothing special, just sandwiches and cordial. During it Peter came and sat with Graham, Roger and Stephen. The talk drifted to discussing the exercise that was about to begin. As Graham understood it the junior platoons were to move to a new location and Heatley Cadet Unit was to move forward from the army camp and try to find them and then attempt to infiltrate. At the same time 4 Platoon and some of HQ were to carry out a raid on St Michael’s at the airfield, hitting Heatley on the way home. Peter was going on the raid.

  Graham drained his cup and said, “I wish I was going with you.”

  “I wish I didn’t have to take Carnes with me,” Peter replied.

  “Carnes! Surely he’s not being sent out on something like this?” Graham asked in surprise.

  Peter nodded. “Capt Conkey said he was to go. He is a signaller now.”

  Graham shook his head. “He should have been sent home.”

  “I agree,” Peter replied. “But apparently he can’t be.”

  “Why not?”

  “I overheard Capt Conkey say that he had contacted the parents and they are on holiday at Hamilton Island and would not cancel their bookings. So there is no-one at home to take Carnes to and the parents won’t come and get him.”

  “That’s a bit bloody unfair!” Roger cried.

  Peter nodded. “Capt Conkey thought so. He really blew his stack about it when he was explaining the situation to the officers. ‘We aren’t a bloody child minding service!’ he said. He was pretty angry. He then said that the father had told him, the boy must stay and it would make a man of him.”

  “Poor bloody kid!” Graham said, shaking his head sadly. As he did he thought of his own parents and those of his friends and he found himself unable to imagine what it might be like to have parents that didn’t care. ‘I am bloody lucky!’ he thought.

  The conversation was interrupted by CSM Cleland calling on the company Orders Group to assemble. Peter hurried to finish his meal and left them. Sergeants began to urge the platoons to hurry up as well. “We want to be gone from here before Heatley’s patrols arrive,” Sgt Grenfell said.

  After that it was all rush, rush. Gear was packed, waterbottles refilled, kitbags piled beside the vehicles for transport, and ration packs issued.Graham was pleasantly surprised to note that his section worked willingly and were all ready first. Even Halyday and Andrews seemed to cheerfully co-operate. ‘They are developing into a good section,’ Graham thought.

  At 1305 CUO Masters came back. He called the section commanders and Sgt Grenfell in, then told Stephen to post two sentries facing down towards the highway. “There shouldn’t be anything to see yet,” CUO Masters added. “The OCs of all units agreed that no-one would move before thirteen hundred.”

  When Stephen returned from doing that CUO Masters gave the orders for the move and sent them off to explain it to their cadets. As they were doing that the HQ Group came past. Sgt Gayney was leading them. Graham gave Peter a ‘thumbs up’ and wished him luck. He then noted Carnes, now carrying a radio as well as his pack. ‘Poor bugger! He looks really miserable. I hope he doesn’t break down on them.’

  The Hutchie Men moved next, their numbers increased to five by adding the Corporal Storeman, Vince Brookes. They were also carrying their packs, as was 4 Platoon when they set off into the bush towards the highway. Thomo and Krissy Dunstan were sent by the CSM to fill in the latrines. The remaining members of HQ, under command of the CQMS, Staff Sgt Bates, moved to load stores and kit bags onto vehicles. As soon as Thomo and Krissy returned and handed their shovels back to the Q these were loaded. After that was done the vehicles moved off.

  CUO Masters stood up and shrugged on his pack. “Time to go. Packs on Two Platoon.”

  Excitement now began to grip Graham. He knew he was to lead a patrol that night and his mind was already dwelling on that. The cadets stood in line and adjusted their gear. Sgt Grenfell walked along from the rear counting them, then reported to CUO Masters they were all there. That was a source of some satisfaction as Graham noted two members of 3 Platoon and one from 1 Platoon who were ‘too sick’ to do the march. These were now sitting with a radio at the otherwise deserted HQ location.

  2 Platoon was the first to move. As they marched across the Sandy Ridge track and down into the gullies near where the 4 Platoon latrine had been 1 Platoon were only lining up and 3 Platoon were still milling around in their area with Sgt Yeldham shouting angrily.

  The platoon moved on a compass course. Their route took them northwards down past the rocky dyke and through the area where the dry gullies came together, then along beside the dry creek to near the Burdekin Plum Tree which had been a check point for both the day navex and the treasure hunt.

  Halyday, who was walking in the middle of the section, called out to Graham as they crossed the dry creek and began climbing the slope to the cattle grid near the shed. “If we’d known we could have stayed here this morning.”

  “Or at least brought our packs,” Andrews added.

  All the way along members of the section had been making little jokes and none had really grumbled, despite the heat. That lifted Graham’s spirits even more and he knew he was really starting to enjoy himself. There were problems however. CUO Masters halted the platoon and walked back to investigate.
It transpired that several cadets were having trouble carrying their packs in the heat.

  Graham took the opportunity to walk back along his section to check on each one and to get them to drink. “Anyone need a hand?” he asked.

  A couple did. Lucy was visibly wilting in the heat so Graham took her pack and hung it on his front. To his surprise Halyday took Dianne’s pack and Roger took Andrews’. CUO Masters came back wearing a second pack as well. “Let’s move it,” he said “Here comes One Platoon and we don’t want them to beat us.” He then got the line moving.

  The steep little slope up to the cattle grid really tested Graham and he found he was puffing and perspiring by the time he reached it. However not for anything would Graham have slowed down or admitted he was having difficulties as he could see Capt Conkey and CSM Cleland were standing there. 1 Platoon was now visible only a hundred paces back.

  As the platoon stepped carefully across the steel rails of the cattle grid Capt Conkey congratulated CUO Masters on how well the platoon was doing. But then Graham heard Capt Conkey mutter angrily, “What the devil is Three Platoon up to! They shouldn’t be walking along the road like that! Heatley will see them from miles away if they have a patrol in the area.”

  Graham glanced over his shoulder and saw what Capt Conkey meant. From the grid he could see well over a kilometre back up the road all the way to Sandy Ridge and 3 Platoon were tramping down the road in clear view.

  At the shed twenty metres further on CUO Masters turned left and led the platoon up a rough vehicle track. This ran up a long, open spur. The ground was studded with football sized rocks and almost bare of grass. Only a few scattered ironbarks gave any shade or sign of greenery. As Graham sweated and puffed up the slope he caught sight of their objective 300 metres away: Black Knoll.

  CHAPTER 19

  BLACK KNOLL

  The ridge up which the platoon was trudging was not very steep but it went on and on. Close on the left was the fence line which ran up from the grid near the shed and vanished over the wide, flat crest ahead. On the right was a rock-studded re-entrant with a similar long ridge running up parallel beyond it. The actual ‘knoll’, a pile of black coloured rocks and boulders, was at the top end of this second ridge. Between the flat crest ahead and the actual knoll was a gentle saddle across the head of the re-entrant.

  By the time they were half way up Graham was gasping and wondering if he could make it. The sheer weight of the second pack was dragging painfully at his shoulder muscles but he did not want to give up and admit in front of the others that he was too weak to carry it. He glanced back and noted that Halyday had been unable to carry his second pack. It was now being shared with Roger, who was walking beside him.

  As they neared the top of the flat crest Graham saw three vehicles parked there, just over the rise. Lt Hamilton, Lt Maclaren and Lt Standish were busy unloading a Land Cruiser. A row of water jerry cans and a pile of kitbags stood beside it. Lt Maclaren directed the platoon to turn right. They headed for the main knoll.

  As they trudged across the low saddle along a cattle pad Graham noted that the main knoll was about ten metres higher. The saddle was over a hundred metres wide. A second fence ran North-South over on their left. It came from behind the knoll over on their left and ran to meet the first fence at right angles beyond the parked vehicles.

  The climb up past several piles of rocks to the side of the knoll was a final sharp test of Graham’s grit. It took an effort of willpower but he made it, to arrive gasping on a relatively flat area at the top of the second ridge. To Graham’s great relief CUO Masters told them to drop their packs and to sit. Gwen was ordered to post two sentries facing east down the second ridge. The platoon then relaxed and waited.

  As they waited Lt Maclaren’s Land Rover and Lt Hamilton’s Landcruiser both drove back down the first ridge and away towards Sandy Ridge. Graham could see where Sandy Ridge was but the trees on its slope hid the ground. 1 Platoon came puffing and sweating around the pile of boulders and past 2 Platoon. They dropped their packs on the far side of the flat area along what Graham knew to be the top of a steep drop below which was the Canning River. About a kilometre away, clearly visible over the tops of the trees lining the far bank of the river, was the homestead and outbuildings of ‘Canning Park’ station.

  Capt Conkey, CSM Cleland and Cadet James, a signaller with a radio, came walking around from the saddle and stopped on a small flat area right below the main boulders. All were wearing packs which they dropped. Capt Conkey then checked his watch and looked impatiently back towards the first ridge. That prompted Graham to glance at his own watch. It was almost 1500 and he marvelled that it had taken nearly 40 minutes to walk only 2 kilometres. Because the four friends did hikes almost every month he was more used to covering a kilometre in about 12 to 15 minutes.

  CSM Cleland walked over and spoke to CUO Masters who set off over to where Capt Conkey waited. CSM Cleland then walked on to 1 Platoon and collected CUO McAlistair. The two walked back to join Capt Conkey, who was now looking distinctly grumpy. The reason became obvious when 3 Platoon at last straggled into view.

  “CUO Mitrovitch, leave Sgt Yeldham to look after your platoon and come here for orders,” Capt Conkey called.

  CUO Mitrovitch looked embarrassed and stepped out of line, pointing to the fence line along the western edge of the flat. As she made her way up to join Capt Conkey and the others, Graham saw Lt Maclaren’s Land Rover come back up the first ridge. Capt Conkey seated the CUOs and CSM facing him and began giving Verbal Orders. As he did Lt Maclaren, Lt McEwen, Lt Standish, Staff Sgt Bates and the three ‘sick’ cadets arrived to join them.

  Halyday became restless “What are we doing now?” he asked.

  “Waiting for orders,” Graham replied. “So don’t complain. Just get all the rest you can because we could be awake most of the night. Don’t forget we are going out on patrol.” As he said that Graham’s gaze travelled down the slope to where the shed was just visible, then up to the tree-covered crest of Sandy Ridge. A tingle of excitement ran through him and he was amazed at how his imagination could suddenly invest Sandy Ridge with an aura of the unknown and of hostility. But just being told that it was now ‘enemy territory’ for the exercise had that effect.

  This was reinforced when Cadet James called to Capt Conkey that the Hutchie Men had sighted about sixty cadets with yellow shoulder flashes moving up onto Sandy Ridge from the highway. ‘That will be Heatley,’ Graham thought. He found he was really looking forward to the inter-unit exercise. It was, he knew, to be followed by a second exercise in a couple of days time but the details had not been explained yet.

  Graham’s attention then wandered back to Kirsty, who had begun talking to him and was quickly recovering from the march. She joked and smiled and he knew she was teasing and flirting. ‘She must still like me,’ he decided. That both boosted his ego and aroused his interest, but also raised his concerns about having enough self-control not to let things get out of hand. At that moment he was more interested in the ‘military’ situation. However he talked to her while they waited. While they chatted the others lay back and tried to sleep, using their packs as pillows.

  There was a stir as the Company Orders Group broke up. Graham expected CUO Masters to called the platoon together but instead he made sure that each section had someone awake and watching ‘out’, then called the Platoon ‘O’ Group together: Sgt Grenfell and the three section commanders. For the next twenty minutes CUO Masters explained the orders for a company defence. To Graham this was really interesting and he wished that he was actually a real soldier on active service somewhere. In his imagination the unit really was preparing to dig in to make a desperate defence of the hill.

  At the end of the orders CUO Masters led the four NCOs around and pointed out exactly where he wanted each section to be, and where the flanking sections were to be placed. He also indicated where each section was to have its night sentry post. Graham noted that his section was astride the ridg
e leading down towards the causeway. 1 Platoon was to be on his left and 5 Section on his right. ‘It should be easy enough to defend,’ he thought, staring hard at the almost bare slope. There was almost no cover for hundreds of metres, just a few clumps of rocks and an occasional tree or bush.

  When CUO Masters was finished showing them where to put their troops the three corporals went back to their sections to pass on the orders. Before he could do this Graham had to wake up Pat and Roger, both of whom had slipped off to sleep. Then he had to overcome the negative scepticism of Andrews, who just thought the exercise story was a load of bunk.

  “It’s just those Townsville jerks,” he sneered.

  “Then let’s do this properly so they can’t tease us for not being good enough!” Graham snapped back. He had vivid memories of seeing patrols from Heatley during the annual camp at Speed Creek the previous year.“They are good and we don’t want to look like a mob of useless bloody drongos.”

  The orders complete, Graham led the cadets to their allotted area and placed them in position. This led to a difficult decision. His first idea was to put them in pairs with himself and Roger at the rear in the proper ‘depth’ position for the section commander. But the uneven number of girls then led to him wondering who to put Kirsty with. For a short while he wrestled with the strong temptation of placing Roger with Pat and having Kirsty with him. However prudence decided him to group the three girls together in the centre. His decision making was assisted by knowing that CUO Masters and Sgt Grenfell would be only twenty paces behind him, and that both Capt Conkey and CSM Cleland could clearly see him from their position. That put Pat and Roger on the left and Halyday and Andrews on the right. That meant he would be on his own at the rear.