Chapter 18

James lavished attention on me for the rest of our little holiday.

We didn’t spend it all in bed despite the temptation to do so. We were both sad when we had to pack and shift to the Army Base. I was placed in a room with two women, and James found that he also had two roommates.

Since the course was shifted to the base, the Army had decided that it wasn’t to be wasted, and they had added some of their own people. We had six civilians, four Police Officers and six Army Officers in the course. Six members of the group were males and the rest females.

James was the only male Police Officer. The two male civilians were bunked in with James, and the three men from the Army had been assigned the other four-bunk room.

I had been bunked in with the two female Police Officers. Teresa was twenty-seven, a tall blonde close to my own height with Swedish ancestry, while Anika was twenty-eight, from Māori stock, which gave her a medium build and height. They were both Senior Constables. The four civilian women were split into two rooms, and the three Army females were in the next.

It didn’t take me long to work out that I had a bit of competition. Two of the civilians, Rita and Carly, decided James was a catch and made no bones about pursuing him. They were pretty enough and were both brunettes.

Carly was twenty-four and had the bigger tits. Rita was twenty-three and the slimmer of the two, although neither could be considered overweight. They were both around 170cm tall. Neither of them was happy to have to stay on-site during the week.

Unfortunately for me, I attracted the Army boys. This didn’t please the Army females or James. The other four civilians seemed to pair up fairly quickly to take themselves out of circulation. The Army boys were cute enough, but they weren’t James.

James and I, and two of the Army boys were the only ones not from the Brisbane area. Aaron and Rod were currently based in Townsville. They were also the two who thought they had the best chance with me. They informed us that they were supposed to move to the new Headquarters in Oak Beach when it was ready for them. This didn’t please James either.

I was the youngest of the group. The army personnel were all within eighteen months, either side of James. Aaron was the youngest at twenty-four, and Marty was the oldest at twenty-seven. His birthdate had been a couple of days after mine. James was a December baby like my dad.

When we turned up, we were met by Sergeant Anne Smith. She assigned us our rooms and gave us a map indicating where we could and couldn’t go. We could leave the base on Friday evenings but had to be back on site by seven am on Monday mornings, as long as no emergency cases came up.

They couldn’t keep us Police Officers or the civilians here, but it would be frowned upon if we didn’t turn up when called back. We had to sign a disclaimer not to discuss any case we worked on outside of our department. We were told to expect plenty of work.

The residential building that we were in was separated from the office area by a covered walkway. A small outdoor entertainment area was between the buildings and just off the path. Some of the rooms were for permanent residents, and some like ours were for visitors.

The lower floor of the residence comprised a cafeteria, a large dining hall, a smaller recreation area, and another room, which had couches for study with our peepers and several desks that we could use if we still preferred flat-tops. (Large tablet styled PCs with built-in stands)

When I asked about the facilities available so I could exercise, I was told I could use the small, wooded area behind the two buildings for running. A lap-pool and a gym were in the basement. That explained the odd arrangement of windows in the lower metre high area of the building and why the first floor was raised that high from the ground.

Anne also mentioned that we could do PT with the Army personnel at 06:00 hours in the courtyard if we wished. Breakfast was at 07:00 hours, and we had to report to our classroom by 08:00 hours precisely.

We were then shown where the laundry was, and where we could deposit our sheets and towels and collect clean ones when we required them. If we required dry-cleaning, we needed to contact the Provisions Office to arrange for it to be sent out and returned.

I asked about the storage of our weapons and if we had access to a firing range. Anne looked at me horrified when I asked this. This caused several hurried phone calls and a lot of consternation. As far as the Army was concerned, our weapons needed to be handed to the Arms Master.

However, we were Police Officers, and as far as the course went, we were classified as being on duty. We had even been temporarily assigned to the Enoggera Police Station for the next three months. We were also supposed to be in full uniform during duty hours.

When the other two officers turned up, they had been told the same thing. So, we were allowed to keep the weapons. They had to be put in our lockers, and the lockers kept locked after duty hours. I did find out I could contact the Arms Master to organise using the indoor range. We would have to be picked up and escorted to it.

Finally, we got settled in. The bunk room wasn’t that large, and I had no idea why the local women had so much crap with them. They could, after all, go home on the weekends. I got one of the top bunks, and they also used the other bunk and locker for their stuff. It only took me minutes to unpack, and I then went to meet James for dinner in the canteen.