Smudger Snippets
Created | Updated Nov 12, 2003
I suppose it's because I have so much time on my hands these days, that all these memories come flooding back to me.
Navy Larks - Part Two: After Landing
When I came to and saw this horrified marine instructor shouting at me, I got up, wiped the blood from my face and staggered over to join the rest of the landing party. The problem was, they were not my group - they had left some time earlier without me. This point was made more obvious to me by the screaming marine instructor who was shouting into my face.
We had been told earlier that these marines were the invaders of the mock up village. They took this exercise really seriously and would stop at nothing to win, so we were told to be ready.
It was some time later before I found the rest of my group; in fact it was getting dark and I was still walking around in a dazed trance! I was given a position near some dustbins at the end of two WWII Nissan huts, and told to keep my eyes and ears open. It was a bitterly cold night and we were freezing. We kept in touch with whispers that seemed loud when travelling through the cold, foggy air. The fact that we would have to repeat this exercise if we failed made it seem more important to us than the elements in we found ourselves.
Then I heard the shout of one of my mates telling me that someone was heading my way. I listened with so much intent that the silence deafened me. Then I heard this noise, rat tat tat; my mind was in overdrive trying to analyse this noise. Then it came to me - it was the scabbard of a bayonet rubbing against the side of the corrigated steel Nissan hut. I waited, too scared even to breathe, until the noise was so close that I could hear this guy breathing. It was then that I jumped up pointed my weapon and screamed 'Stop'.
Now this bloke was about four feet above me, as I was crouched down in the dug-out area where the bins were kept. He must have got such a fright that he fell forward and, in so doing, grabbed my shoulder.
Bearing in mind what we had been told earlier about just how far these guys would go to evade capture, I then turned my rifle around and lashed out with the butt end, which must have made contact as he went down like a stone. I then jumped on him and sat on his chest, trapping his arms with my knees. He screamed at me saying that I had broken his arm, but I was not falling for that old gag, and kept my position until help arrived, and took him away.
Feeling really pleased with myself, I forgot about my own pain and the cold, hungry feelings that I had experienced before, and went back to my position for the rest of the night. This was uneventful, but very long. Next morning we all piled into the back of a ten-ton truck that was taking us back to our ship. We had been told that we had, indeed, passed that exercise, which made our group of shivering, cold, wet and hungry sailors happy, as you can imagine.
It was just as our truck was pulling out that I saw the very same angry marine instructor, who had made me feel so small the day before. He was talking to a marine who had his arm in a sling and was being pointed in my direction. The truck came to a sudden stop and my name was called to go to the tail gate. It was just as I put my head out to see what was happening that the fist came flying towards me, and then the lights went out again. It appeared that I had broken this guys arm, along with his pride, hence the black eye. This did not bother me really, the main thing was that we had passed that overnight exercise first time, an achievement that we were told was very rare!
