Chapter 9

Four thirty the alarm went off dragging me out of a dream about Trish, we were making love in the sun, the result was a stiff cock. No time to beat off so I dove into the shower and cooled it off. Semi erect I stuffed it into my pants and dressed in my fatigues ready for work.

I stepped out of the barracks to be greeted by a frosty morning. Puckapunyal in winter is bloody cold and in summer bloody hot. I was to experience both, the end of winter and the start of summer.

Entering the cook house I was met by Tiny, "Glad to see you on time Tony, bloody cold out there, at least the pickets have kept the fires stoked up overnight."

"One of the benefits of being a cook Tiny, always warm."

"Yeah, until summer then this place is like a sauna."

I changed into a clean set of whites and got ready for breakfast. Ross and Bob were giving the grunts their instructions as I walked into the main kitchen area.

"Tony, you take these two men and start on the scrambled eggs, the eggs are in the dry goods storeroom. Work on two eggs per man, so that's eight hundred eggs, mix them up in dixies and put the mix in trays and do them in the oven."

"Right Bob, you two come with me." I led them down to the preparation area and told one of them to get four large dixies, the other to help me get the trays of eggs from the storeroom. When we had everything in place I set them to breaking the eggs into the dixies. At first they were breaking one at a time.


"If you go at this pace fellas we will be in time for tonight's tea. Watch and I'll show you how to do two at a time."

I demonstrated the one handed break, then showed them how to do it with both hands. Soon they were breaking eggs like a professional. When we had all the eggs in the dixies I mixed in the milk and seasoning, we then carried them out to the stove and poured the mix into shallow oven trays ready to go into the oven. Bob had the bacon in trays also ready to go into the oven while Ross had two of the grunts slicing loaves of bread through the slicer. A big pot of oatmeal was bubbling on top of the stove, seems like everything was under control.

When it was time the bacon and scrambled eggs went into the oven and Ross set the two grunts to work manning the toasters, they were the biggest toasters I had ever seen, ten slices at a time and there were four machines.

"Ten minutes" the call went out. Like a well oiled machine everything was ready to go out to the serving points. As the scrambled eggs came out the oven I gently ran the balloon whisk through them fluffing them up.

"That's a new one on me Tony" I looked up to see Tiny checking me out.

"Make it look a bit more appetising Tiny."

"Hmm, I keep that one in mind for the future."

Every thing in place at the serving points, the troops came through. Serving was progressing smoothly until one big mouth declared, "What's this shit?"

Tiny had been supervising the serving, with a snarl he bailed up the miscreant.

"That man, step back and stand to attention. About face, you will stand to attention facing the wall until the rest of the troops have been served. The army provides food of better quality than your parents could ever afford, it is cooked by professionals. The food and the menus are selected by nutritional experts to provide the best possible meals for you men. You will not call our food 'shit' and you will not insult my cooks. All of you, make sure you understand that because if I hear any remarks like that in the future that person will be put on a charge."

As the line moved through the serving point, big mouth was jeered at by his fellow soldiers. When the last man had been served Tiny told him to turn around. A very subdued sapper turned with a very embarrassed face.

"Well sapper, what do you have to say for yourself?" demanded Tiny.

"I was only joking Sergeant, I didn't mean it was shit."

"This time I'm going to let you off, if you are stupid enough to open your big mouth again I put you on a charge of insulting an Non commissioned officer, do you understand?"

"Yes Sergeant, I'm sorry."

"Right, get you meal and think about what happened."

...

Breakfast over, it was time to work on the mid-day meal. Tiny allocated jobs to everyone except me. "Tony I want you to acquaint yourself with everything we have here. Start in the store rooms and memorise the contents, then go through the cold rooms and the vegetable stores. Lastly I want you to have a good knowledge of what equipment we have, anything you're not sure of ask either Bob, Ross or myself, OK?"

"Right Tiny, I must admit I've been itching to have a good sticky beak around."

I did the full inspection, there wasn't a cupboard I didn't open or a shelf I didn't look at. The equipment left me drooling, what wouldn't I give to have some of it in my humble cookhouse.

I finished my tour in time to help set out the mid-day meal. The army seems to work on three equal sized meals a day, I would hate to be working on a full belly, but that's what the experts demand so who am I to disagree. The meal over, the second shift came in. Tiny had told me that I was on call from midnight to midday then off until the following midday. What the hell was I going to do with all that spare time?

Tiny had the answer, "You moonlight, there's a café in Seymour that will give you part time work, cash in hand. If you're interested I'll talk to the owner."

I was interested. In the back of my mind an idea was fermenting, when I had enough money and experience I wanted to start my own business. It was a long way off but I wanted to get as much cooking experience as I could. Tiny's suggestion could well be the starting point.

"I'm definitely interested Tiny, isn't there a chance I might be caught out?"

"While you are in the Catering Corp Tony, I'm responsible for your comings and goings, if by the slimmest chance you are 'caught out' then I will explain that you are gaining experience, but there's no need to worry."

...

A few days later I was working in the café, they served two type of patrons. In front it was take away service, the usual hamburger an chips fare. While in the back it was a more restaurant menu. Sally the owner set me to work in the fast food section for a start. To say the least it was greasy, when I got back to camp I stunk of cooking fat, but the money was good.