Newsletter 2J1993 October 1993

Newsletter 2J1993 October 1993 Duntroon - A More Recent Memory E.G. Vikingur For years I have enjoyed and admired the articles by of Duntroon and were always referred to as the Dogs. I P.G. Heffernan and others published in the Duntroon hardly need add that the rest of the Corps regarded the Society Newsletter. The more Chronologically Challenged Dogs as beyond both the pale and salvation. Our OC was (I think it high time the Newsletter became more Major P.T.H. Thome (1962), a wonderful man who politically correct), with their fine articles on Duntroon, thought he would chastise us one tie,after a bad incident have been shaming the recent Graduates - in the case of of collective misdemeanour, by calling our block a bastion this one, all the way to his word processor. of barbarism. He did not realise that this phrase would My experience of Duntroon came in four doses become the Dogs' catch-cry and a source of great pride. administered in varying degrees of severity. Firstly there The Corps did five weeks' military training at the start was Fourth Class, a time which made such an impression of the year, during which time the Fourthies underwent that it must be described in its own compartment. a very intensive introduction to the Army in general and Secondly, there were the three years as a senior Duntroon in particular. One remembers it all as a classman, a time I loved greatly. Thirdly, I was in ;he first bewildering mixture of impossible demands and new group of undergraduate officers to complete their experiences, punctuated by events and personalities which degrees after being commissioned, in 1978. Fourthly, I made especially strong impressions. The CSC Mess was was on the staff as Instructor Artillery in 1983-4. So my a dreaded place. Firstly, the Army had received a windfall tenure spanned the core of Duntroon's time as an of tinned chemes at about that time and we were given independent university faculty. For all intents and those for dessert for weeks, always served with custard. purposes the College was a small private academy, with Enormous quantities of custard must have been prepared a unique and rich character. The College's intellectual at a time because a bottle of aftershave was emptied into stature and standing had risen greatly since 1969, but its the custard one day and this vile but fragrant batch lasted rigour and tribal customs had remained undamaged. The for several days. We always suspected one of the stewards cadets of those days had to perform well academically in (or Seals, as they were known in cadetspeak), but the truth order to survive, but the essential hardness of the place still never emerged. The second thing we Fourthies dreaded worked its wonders for the four years of the course. about the Mess was the need to excuse yourself I would like to record some of my memories of these correctly at a table, in accordance with an arcane set of adventurous years. It will naturally be a one-sided view, rules. The trick was to excuse oneself to the senior cadet but it might prompt others of my era to come forth and or cadets, by his name if there was only one cadet or to thus produce a more balanced picture. the 'Gmtlemen' if there were two of the same seniority I entered the RMC in January 1974 and was allottec present. As a Second Class with rank did not outrank a to Kokoda Company. There were five companies in the Second Class -~~ithoutrank and a First Class cadet Corps, each with its particular character. Alamein and outranked a Second Class with rank, there was room for Gallipoli were normally grouped together as being fairly error. Also, a single Second Class outpolled any number relaxed, although Gallipoli generally could be counted on of Third Class and one had to produce a name before for a greater effort. Long Tan, being brand new to the being permitted to sit down. So the first few weeks saw game, was yet to find its feet but was universally known most Fourthies wandering about the Mess with cdd food, as the Lepers. This unfortunate sobriquet arose because trying to master hundreds of names and the delicate the Company Commanders in 1973 had conspired to nuances of the system by which these names were to be transfer cadets they considered undesirable, to the new employed. Naturally we were also forced to lem the frst company. Although J do not know what sort of selection names of our classmates, of which there were some one criteria they used, I do know that Long Tan sported a hundred and thuzy. At the time, frightened out of his wits, number of interesting characters. The fourth company, the Fourthie thought of this as cruel and unusual Kapyong, had a reputation for toughness and punishment. In fact, this ritual was a very important part competitiveness and even strove for the honour of of the process of cementing the Corps together as a whole, becoming the Sovereign's Company, an attainment which and separately, Fourth Class in adversity. With survival Alamein would ever deny seeking. The last, Kokoda demanding it, we learned some four hundred names with Company, was the roughest and the most traditional in astonishing speed. A by-product was a training course in terms of discipline, class distinctions and raucous memorising people, a very useful skill for an officer. behaviour in the blocks. In Kokoda we were taught to The impressive setting of Duntroon makes its own despise Alamein as softies, Gallipoli as full of wind, contribution to the atmosphere at the foot of Mt Kapyong as uncouth and Long Tan as, well, lepers. On the Pleasant, but at any one time it is the personalities who other hand, we were the repository for all the old values really stamp the place. For most cadets, new to the Army, the RSM is the apotheosis of the soldier - a Field Marshal course, eating raw food along the way. So, we played at beating me about the head with his jewel-encrusted baton boat races and a game called 'Bottles', the purpose of would have made less of an impact in the first five weeks which was to cause huge volumes of beer to disappear. I than did one scowl from W01 L.A. (Len) Williams. He was a non-drinker and after much protest was permitted was a veteran of the Korea and Vietnam Wars and an to drink milk, which I imbibed in enormous quantities. extremely handsome and determined looking man with Supervised by a gleeful Third Class, we then sprinted a chin which was actually blue! He was always around a circuit eating slimy and squishy sausages, doing beautifully turned out and cut a perfect figure on the push-ups, gulping down raw eggs, drinking beer (or milk!) square as he strove to prepare the Corps for parades. He at a rapid rate and completing various other exertions in was also human, because he 'square-gaited" several paces a frenetic manner. Not surprisingly, the desired results in front of the whole Corps in December 1974. We loved came thick and fast, each one greeted as a success story him all the more for it. On the same rehearsal he awarded by the senior classes. I suspected the Ironman Race was me an extra drill for following with my eyes, the passage not officially sanctioned, a thought which proved not of the new Sovereign's Company in front of the Corps. I unfounded as I learned more about Duntroon. I made was guilty, as I should have been looking to the front, but some remarks earlier about personal degradation having I thought it harsh at the time. largely disappeared from the Corps and despite that day Our Adjutant was Captain S.A. Sainsbury (1965), an I still hold that view. My reason is that the event was officer I came to know a little, and like a great deal, many conducted with goodwill and good humour. Whilst the years later. He was the subject of an incident which senior classes were determined to make the Fourthies illustrates the extreme tension generated for Fourthies in perform, we were determined to show that we were men their first days at Duntroon. It was Week Zero and I was enough to take it all in good spirits. In the end, honour was sprinting around Ack Block with my Kokoda classmates satisfied on both sides and the afternoon is recalled on our way to FT, and we were lost and late and in a panic. without a grudge. Suddenly, from around a corner, I was confronted by an The second tradition of note was 'A Thousand Days angry Adjutant waving his cane at me. I am honoured to To Go', a violent festivity which celebrated Third Class's report that I momentarily lost control of my bladder, such not so imminent Graduation. On the day in question, Third was my alarm as I turned blindly and fled. The damage and Fourth Classes gathered at opposite ends of the was slight and I did not have to make any explanations, gymnasium with the rest of the Corps in attendance. The but I kept the incident to myself for 15 years. I must add BSM, from the safety of a balcony, tossed a sturdy, rag- here that my reaction on that occasion has not become a filled canvas bag into the centre of the floor and all hell habit.

Load more