大象传媒

When I was called up into the army the first town that I went to was OSSET in West Yorkshire and it was an old woollen mill which had been closed for some time where we slept. On my first day in the Army, I was expecting to be shouted at by the sergeants and everybody else, but it was just the opposite, they were all friendly and considerate. I was amongst the first of a new system where we were graded into groups according to ability. We were in classrooms for the first two or three weeks, putting square pegs in square holes, and doing simple arithmetic calculations. We had to put together a bicycle pump, and various items like that, and it surprised me the number of them who couldn't do these, to me, simple things. Don't think I am being a big-head, but I think it was because I could do these tests easily, that I was sent to a Tank Training Regiment. One thing the Army were very keen on and was Physical Training. We used to go on cross-country runs, and were expected to go for boxing and any sort of exercise. When I first joined up, my weight was 10 stone 10 pounds, (approximately 68 kilos) and I was boxing other soldiers of the same weight, and I was doing quite well. The trouble came when we had the finals. I didn't realise that all the fresh air and exercise had built up my weight and when we were weighed for the finals after about 6 weeks, my weight had gone up to 12 stone 7 pounds( approximately 79 kilos). We were all matched up with an opponent of the correct weight, and needless to say, I was knocked about all over the ring. I realised that boxing wasn't one of my good points, and so that was one thing that I had to pack up. Shortly after this we were all sent to different Regular Army units, and luckily for me, I was sent with my mate, a Scot, to a Scottish Regiment.

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